I suppose you are probably right, I will use likely leave my setup as is, and do my weekly water changes. I will test for nitrates and if I cannot control them at the ultra low levels that I want to see, I will look into something else.

This could be overkill.

Aquattro, what levels are you able to keep your nitrates at keeping it simple with LR and water changes?

I've never had levels I could measure. Now as I posted earlier, I have a zeo reactor with those cute little rocks, but on average I have changed them 3 times/yr.
I do feed liberally and have minimal cleanup crew (need to increase this, I think).
But in reef keeping, as all things in life, start with the simplest approach, and add complicated as required.
IF good rock and water changes don't do what you want, only then should you worry about how to control it. Jumping right into a denitrator might be starting from the wrong end of the problem.

I also think I will setup a poll, What's your ULNS nitrate level, what are your methods of maintaining the ULNS nitrate level?

workin on it

Oh good, we never have enough polls :)

I think that's a great idea. Things like this tend to change over time so I totally think constantly taking polls on the subject is a good way to gauge where people are at currently. It's like lighting. 10 years ago if you took a poll most people would be using halides (probably)? Five years ago you'd see a huge shift to T5s, two to three years ago up until now you'll see the results change again as people shifted to LEDs and if you took the poll now I bet we'd see some very interesting results as people are trying to figure out hybrids or possibly ditching LEDs altogether.

ultra low is very hard to do and requires alot of work to get to , just doing water changes rarely gets you there , thers a diff in low range and ultra low range. to get to ultra low range your probably going to have to carbon dose.


its simple but should note that if you have a nitrate level then you arnt ultra low ,in ULNS on lab grade test kits nitrates arnt measureable barely in the PPb so once you get to a ulns system algae cant survive, corals need supplements and the tank is purely sterile.

i would read about the diff between in both before going into to it too far as keeping a tank healthy at ulns is hard to do and needs certain requirements to keep it alive:)

personally i think low range is good enough for what most of us want to do:)

he speaks the truth! In fact, I recall reading that the ocean reefs do not operate in a truly Ultra Low Nutrient environment like we often try to achieve. That is, they have measurable nitrates! The reason we do it is so that we starve out the browning zoanthellae within the coral so that they eject them. This results in paling. To counter this you have to feed them with amino acids and various other supplements to maintain colour. It's a very delicate balance act. Stave them then feed them just enough so that they look super awesome. Many corals in the ocean reefs are naturally not as colourful as what we see in ULNS reef tanks.

yeah its a teetor totter (?) and delicate , so some steps need to be taken to keep them stable.

like i say though i dont find the need t go ULNS you get great colors, growth and overall livestock health is just fine in a low range system:)

youll still be nil for nitrates but at least its not sterile inda nil lol:)

I use Prodibio (just the main three) and I live just on the border between really low and ultra low. I also have to do very little in terms of maintenance. I will say that I cut back reefbooster to almost nothing and before I knew it my corals lost color and were starving. Since going back to their recommended dosing colors are coming back. I feed quite a bit and have to use gfo to keep phosphates in check.

A low nutrient system is the healthiest for corals, and the most stable. Undetectable nitrates and phosphates are easily achieved with live rock and GFO. I think of ULNS corals as being like super models. Nice to look at, but under fead and walking a fine line between life and death.

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