Nitrates and SPS corals

[Sea Turtle]

I have been trying to keep colors in my sps corals for three years now. I still have yet to be able to have beautiful corals in my tank. They grow slowly, some don't, and their color is usually pail or pastel. Never deep dark blues/purples. I am now thinking that maybe it could be my nitrates. I am going to pick up a test kit tonight. What are hte effects of nitrates on the hard coral? Could this be the problem?

Also, will any average test kit at the pet store work for this?

 

[Anonymous]

Usually phosphates slow or inhibit coral growth and color. Check your PO4.

 

[billym24]

I have had a reef tank for 5 years and was never able to get my nitrate to 0 until I built a algee truff scrubber, cost about $35 to build and takes about 4 weeks to get to 0 but now I test 0 all the time and ph is never a problem either.

 

[Anonymous]

I have been trying to keep colors in my sps corals for three years now. I still have yet to be able to have beautiful corals in my tank. They grow slowly, some don't, and their color is usually pail or pastel. Never deep dark blues/purples. I am now thinking that maybe it could be my nitrates. I am going to pick up a test kit tonight. What are hte effects of nitrates on the hard coral? Could this be the problem?

Also, will any average test kit at the pet store work for this?

I would get a quality test kit - don't know if your LFS carries them. I would also get the suite of test kits - ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, PO4, Mg, Ca and find out what all your levels are. Trying to see if one is a problem isn't really helpful, you need a more comprehensive set of data.

 

[Anonymous]

I have had a reef tank for 5 years and was never able to get my nitrate to 0 until I built a algee truff scrubber, cost about $35 to build and takes about 4 weeks to get to 0 but now I test 0 all the time and ph is never a problem either.

You don't need your nitrate to be 0.