Corals for nutrient control, myth or reality?

[JHSteepat]

I keep hearing on various threads that coral growth will help control nutrients (phosphates and nitrates). I’m battling gha and see some encrusting corals overtaking algae, but have no idea if greater coral mass equals (or is proportionate to) greater ability to absorb nutrients to the detriment of algae.

Is that a myth or reality?

If so, are there coral types we could focus on that helps out? I have mostly stony corals, but would zoas or soft corals help?

 

[Lavey29]

What are your nutrients levels? The GHA phase is typically replaced with coralline at some point as the tank matures not really corals defeating it per se. Algae can out compete corals for nutrients also.

 

[Reeferbadness]

Corals def take up Phos and Nitrates (mostly in the form of fish poop) as they grow. The more coral you have, the larger the intake - makes total sense to me. Not sure which corals consume the most. Like many in the hobby, i also have a refugium with Chaeto. The only issue i have with the fuge is that the chaeto also consumes a ton of nitrate - so much so that i have to dose from time to time. Your GHA is a normal growing pain with the tank. Try to export as much as you can.

 

[JHSteepat]

1 year-ish old tank (marco + live), turf scrubber export + skimmer. Turf scrubber is not growing great yet, but I’m working on it.

I have gha plus ~0 nitrate and lowish phosphate, 0.8 (both hannah). Coralline is growing well as tuxedo urchins are paving the way but gha is still dominant and overgrows the second I feed the fish anything but frozen. I know the urchins are supposed to eat coralline but it seems wherever they go it turns pink fairly quickly, and I am seeing better corraline expansion with the urchins.

I was just wondering if zoas or other softies might help. i need to add some more corals anyhow. Wanted to figure if I might get something that could better compete with the algae for the resources and help turn the corner.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The myth is more that one can control algae by reducing nutrients without harming corals.

 

[rtparty]

Controlling nutrients will never control algae the way people think. Herbivores control algae.

 

[JHSteepat]

I know this is the subject of many threads, and maybe the answer is maintain status quo feeding fish until tank matures, rather than starve fish or corals.

I have low nutrients (starving corals?). This is caused by the hair algae. Do I just keep manually removing the gha, and wait? I have been adding fish slowly but not corals because the algae choked out a few. Wondering if it was a mistake not to keep adding corals.

Sounds like any corals added will compete for fish poop and nutrients, so starving is really not a good thing.

So am I left with a rather simple process. Hold steady with manual algae removal (siphoning the long stuff), urchins, adding corals slowly, not grossly overfeeding, and waiting until some sort of balance is reached as corals and corraline grow. And of course enjoying the livestock. This I can do.

 

[Lavey29]

You should be manually removing GHA daily so your cleaners can get ahead of it. Bottomed out nutrients will starve your corals and bring dinos into your dilemma.

 

[JHSteepat]

You should be manually removing GHA daily so your cleaners can get ahead of it. Bottomed out nutrients will starve your corals and bring dinos into your dilemma.

Yeah “should” is the operative word. Full time+ job, family and hobbled by knee surgery. 1-2 times a week is feasibile right now. And that seems to be slowly reducing the algae without starving the critters with 3x daily feeds (midas blenny, anthias on the way). Feeding dry flake and pellet food is what seems to be what sets me back. I am avoiding that until I have to travel and then I’ll only feed plankton, like dried mysis.

My plan is to keep feeding well and therefore keeping nutrients available, so hopefully no dinos (err on the side of gha?). As rtparty mentioned above, I hope to keep the herbivores happy. Its a 120 gallon tank with a lot of rock. Maybe I just need another urchin or 2 and give a couple away if they ever catch up.

Honestly I’ve been at this only for a year and am learning so much at every turn but the hardest lesson is being patient and trying not to change things up too quickly. I have awesome fish, inverts, and corals, so a little algae (or a lot) isn’t worth changing things up too drastically. I lost a few frags due to mishandling, algae encroachment, or too much light, and other than killing a hammer with too much light, these were on sale frags that were there as test subjects I wasn’t broken up losing while I work through the initial setup, dosing, and maturing issues.

 

[Doctorgori]

great question…matter of fact..

I'm actually seriously considering starting a build using only corals, no rock, and minimal nitrifaction sites…
A coral only tank using a skimmer and nothing else..

I plan on dosing everything….no fish, no inverts, nothing

The Trident is my biggest cost. hence the delay

 

[Badblackdog]

1 year-ish old tank (marco + live), turf scrubber export + skimmer. Turf scrubber is not growing great yet, but I’m working on it.

I have gha plus ~0 nitrate and lowish phosphate, 0.8 (both hannah). Coralline is growing well as tuxedo urchins are paving the way but gha is still dominant and overgrows the second I feed the fish anything but frozen. I know the urchins are supposed to eat coralline but it seems wherever they go it turns pink fairly quickly, and I am seeing better corraline expansion with the urchins.

I was just wondering if zoas or other softies might help. i need to add some more corals anyhow. Wanted to figure if I might get something that could better compete with the algae for the resources and help turn the corner.

I was experiencing similar problems with my nitrates. I fed the fish like crazy but my nitrates were very, very low, but phosphates began to rise. I realized it was a huge patch of GSP on my back wall that was sucking up so much of the nitrates. I plan on removing about a third of the GSP and I’ve also started slowly dosing Neo-Nitro. I am using a phosphate remover as well. My parameters are moving in the right direction.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah “should” is the operative word. Full time+ job, family and hobbled by knee surgery. 1-2 times a week is feasibile right now. And that seems to be slowly reducing the algae without starving the critters with 3x daily feeds (midas blenny, anthias on the way). Feeding dry flake and pellet food is what seems to be what sets me back. I am avoiding that until I have to travel and then I’ll only feed plankton, like dried mysis.

My plan is to keep feeding well and therefore keeping nutrients available, so hopefully no dinos (err on the side of gha?). As rtparty mentioned above, I hope to keep the herbivores happy. Its a 120 gallon tank with a lot of rock. Maybe I just need another urchin or 2 and give a couple away if they ever catch up.

Honestly I’ve been at this only for a year and am learning so much at every turn but the hardest lesson is being patient and trying not to change things up too quickly. I have awesome fish, inverts, and corals, so a little algae (or a lot) isn’t worth changing things up too drastically. I lost a few frags due to mishandling, algae encroachment, or too much light, and other than killing a hammer with too much light, these were on sale frags that were there as test subjects I wasn’t broken up losing while I work through the initial setup, dosing, and maturing issues.

Reduce lights to 6 hours for a few weeks with blue and uv only no white. Get some turbos and tuxedo urchins in your cleaner crew. Raise magnesium to 1500 which weakens GHA. Dose neophos and neonitro to raise nutrients levels to avoid other problems.

 

[JHSteepat]

Reduce lights to 6 hours for a few weeks with blue and uv only no white. Get some turbos and tuxedo urchins in your cleaner crew. Raise magnesium to 1500 which weakens GHA. Dose neophos and neonitro to raise nutrients levels to avoid other problems.

I reduced the lights a week or so ago. Corals seem happier. I have 3 tuxedos and plan on getting a couple more. Mg is in that range (salifert).

I keep coming back to dosing neophos and neonitro, especially nitro, but I haven’t thought through how to do so in terms of equipment (hydros control system). On top of that, I hate the hannah packets for testing I believe low nutrients is why my turf scrubber is so difficult to implement, so keeping nitrates available will help.

On top of that I keep hearing from other threads and that just feeding healthy amounts of food should suffice. Information overload.

 

[LoneStarReef]

It’s all about finding balance for your particular tank. Corals need food: nitrates and phosphates. And if you are feeding your corals what they need to survive (at the right levels), more than likely other things like GHA grow in that environment too. That’s where your clean up crew comes in.

 

[goosemans]

I think as your tank fills out with coral it shades all the areas where algae could grow.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I keep hearing on various threads that coral growth will help control nutrients (phosphates and nitrates). I’m battling gha and see some encrusting corals overtaking algae, but have no idea if greater coral mass equals (or is proportionate to) greater ability to absorb nutrients to the detriment of algae.

Is that a myth or reality?

If so, are there coral types we could focus on that helps out? I have mostly stony corals, but would zoas or soft corals help?

Coral consume some nutrients, but aren’t reliable to use as a filter, imo. Their usage varies depending on water and light parameters from my experience. Also the type of fish food used may contribute to an unbalance as well. Manual removal of the long algae, then lots of snails and maybe a couple urchins should help. I aim for one critter a gallon.

 

[mh0ward]

There are many reefers that run pulsing Xenia in their refugiums instead of chaeto, if that tells you anything. I don’t think it’s that Xenia takes up more nutrients than chaeto, but mainly that it’s more attractive while doing so. But my understanding is that the overall consumption is comparable to chaeto.

 

[JHSteepat]

I don’t know why but my tank is a gastropod graveyard. They don’t last long. Urchins are fine, my cleaner shrimp is fine, hermits seem ok. I recently removed a couple tulip snails (thanks lfs) and maybe have a rogue hermit that isn’t what it was supposed to be. In any case i am not adding any more snails. Lost undreds of original cuc within a couple of months.

 

[JHSteepat]

There are many reefers that run pulsing Xenia in their refugiums instead of chaeto, if that tells you anything. I don’t think it’s that Xenia takes up more nutrients than chaeto, but mainly that it’s more attractive while doing so. But my understanding is that the overall consumption is comparable to chaeto.

Interesting. My old tank, years ago, had xenia overgrowth so I’m not sure about them. In this system I went from chaeto to the “neater” turf scrubber when gha overgrew the chaeto and clogged up everything making for a noisy and smelly sump. I switched by removing te chaeto and adding the scrubber before it could populate. Loss of my sump export before the scrubber could populate led to the gha problem I think. I am reluctant to change up again, though dumping a pile of chaeto in the sump might work if I choose to drop the scrubber.

 

[JHSteepat]

Interesting. My old tank, years ago, had xenia overgrowth so I’m not sure about them. In this system I went from chaeto to the “neater” turf scrubber when gha overgrew the chaeto and clogged up everything making for a noisy and smelly sump. I switched by removing te chaeto and adding the scrubber before it could populate. Loss of my sump export before the scrubber could populate led to the gha problem I think. I am reluctant to change up again, though dumping a pile of chaeto in the sump might work if I choose to drop the scrubber.

And the OP was asking about corals, so the xenia comment is absolutely on point, but not something I want to add to this particular tank.