Algae Turf Scrubber

[Ace25]

I don't think I would phrase it quite that positive. When I hear the term "overdriven" when talking about photosynthesis I picture corals that are browned out due to too much zooxanthellae in the coral. There is such thing as too much light or over saturation of zooxanthellae which if I am reading Amphiprion correctly, that could happen quicker/easier to corals if the tank has high nitrates. Still not a terrible thing, there are many other things that would be considered much worse for corals, and if your maintaining water properly to keep phosphates down as low as possible it is a very good chance your also bringing nitrates down as well. It is a very rare/extreme circumstance to have a tank that would have exceptionally high nitrates and no phosphates or silicates.

 

[Amphiprion]

I don't think I would phrase it quite that positive. When I hear the term "overdriven" when talking about photosynthesis I picture corals that are browned out due to too much zooxanthellae in the coral. There is such thing as too much light or over saturation of zooxanthellae which if I am reading Amphiprion correctly, that could happen quicker/easier to corals if the tank has high nitrates. Still not a terrible thing, there are many other things that would be considered much worse for corals, and if your maintaining water properly to keep phosphates down as low as possible it is a very good chance your also bringing nitrates down as well. It is a very rare/extreme circumstance to have a tank that would have exceptionally high nitrates and no phosphates or silicates.

Long term oxidative damage, like what the corals would be receiving, is pretty serious. It take a good, long while to heal. Remember, this isn't acting at calcification sites--it's acting in the coral tissue itself.

 

[Ace25]

Couldn't the same argument be used about the use of Ozone as well? Sounds like that could cause a similar problem. I am just trying to get a firm understanding of the effects myself.

Nitrates.. so.. could it be possible to have high nitrates but use an ORP meter and make sure it doesn't go to high? Or would an ORP meter not read what is needed? Again, just trying figure out the relation between all these things and how one would check and correct issues like you described. Also, what exactly are we talking about as far as parameters and time frame before you noticed coral decline? Would it take Nitrates over 200 and time frame of 3 months before bad things happen, or nitrates over 40 for 1 week, or something in between. For the sake of the topic, lets just say an SPS coral since they would show the first signs of distress most of the time.

This is all in theory.. because I really don't know how it would be possible to have high nitrates and no phosphates.. maybe run a ton of GFO and no water changes, but no one would do such a thing, spend all that money on GFO and additives for Alk/CA/Mg and not do regular water changes.

 

[Amphiprion]

Couldn't the same argument be used about the use of Ozone as well? Sounds like that could cause a similar problem. I am just trying to get a firm understanding of the effects myself.

Nitrates.. so.. could it be possible to have high nitrates but use an ORP meter and make sure it doesn't go to high? Or would an ORP meter not read what is needed? Again, just trying figure out the relation between all these things and how one would check and correct issues like you described. Also, what exactly are we talking about as far as parameters and time frame before you noticed coral decline? Would it take Nitrates over 200 and time frame of 3 months before bad things happen, or nitrates over 40 for 1 week, or something in between. For the sake of the topic, lets just say an SPS coral since they would show the first signs of distress most of the time.

This is all in theory.. because I really don't know how it would be possible to have high nitrates and no phosphates.. maybe run a ton of GFO and no water changes, but no one would do such a thing, spend all that money on GFO and additives for Alk/CA/Mg and not do regular water changes.

Same effects as ozone or peroxide, except internally--you could use a redox probe if you could place it into the coral tissue.

There could still be phosphates--never said there wouldn't be. Besides, phosphate is almost never a limiting factor in much of anything. There's plenty of it everywhere in marine systems. Overall, though, it is possible to have lower phosphate and elevated nitrate. It doesn't happen often, but there are systems out there that experience this. One example would've been an old store system I took care of that had exceedingly low phosphate and unbelievably high nitrate. It's usually the other way around, though, relatively speaking. In any case, the damage phosphate causes is different in that it inhibits calcification, not damaging the tissue itself.

As far as time and concentrations, who knows. It is likely different for each system and coral, making it a shot in the dark as to when heavy damage occurs. You can assume that most "tan" colored (not necessarily dark brown, but tannish) are probably already damaged from it or overilluminated.