marine biologist wrong?

[packfan2204]

the fish store i work at has a marine biologist from the local aquarium come and answer questions for people on sunday. Someone was asking about nitrates, and the biologist said at the aquarium they do not change the water until the nitrates get to about 20-25, because a little bit of nitrates is beneficial. Is this correct?

[fishfreek]

To some degree. Some corals live better in 'dirty' water. Having prestene water with nitrates lower than 5 can be detrimental to these 'dirty' water corals.

[BBReef]

Can you give a couple examples of these corals?

[sumphead]

To my inderstanding gorgonians, aka flowerpots are one.

[fishfreek]

Originally Posted by reefnewb

To my inderstanding gorgonians, aka flowerpots are one.

Actually flowerpot corals would be Goniopora or Alveopora.

And yes they are two of the 'dirty' water corals.

[jackdp]

If I'm not mistaken, Tridacna clams also need a source of nitrogen and can thrive in water that has a higher concentration of nitrate.

[reefrunner69]

All corals will need a source of nitrogen. The amount they need is very small, I do not believe there are any coral that will do poorly a 1 ppm nitrate I think your local aquarium waits because it is VERY expensive for them to do waterchanges. The salt cost alone is probably staggering for an underfunded aquarium. Fact is, the cleanest captive aquarium is still much dirtier than the dirtiest reef you can find.

[packfan2204]

yeah, i believe he said there's around 2 million gallons of water total, but at the aquarium their job is to take care of the creatures they have, and the many kinds of corals and fish look exceptional! So do u suggest waiting till nitrates are around maybe 10-15 in a smaller aquarium if keeping corals?

[Brisc0]

I prefer to have 5 - 10ppm before I add in new life because you just never know where its going to go once you introduce something new. However 0 - 20 is safe so use your best judgement and best of luck to you on your new reef!