Should my nitrates disappear?

[msu]

thanks for all the advice on sand everyone. i ended up getting 60 pounds of aragonite sand. i put probably 50 pounds of it in the 110 main tank which now has about 170 pounds of sand in it. then 10 pounds went in the refugium that i just started this weakend. other stuff in the refug are one piece of rock (from main tank) Caulerpa sampler, Chaetsmorpha (spaghetti algae), Green Gracillaria, and Red Gracillaria all of which came from Inland Aquatics. i should say this was the first time i had ever dealt with them but they are very easy to work with and everything looks great even if it is sea weed.
so in making the new additions do you all think the nitrate level should be more easily managed?

[MattG]

i would guess so. prior to me running a refugium my nitrates consistenly lingered around 10. within two weeks of adding the fuge they dropped to undetectable levels where they have remained since.

[msu]

matt
when your nitrates droped did you notice any additional growth in your corals?

[MattG]

i dont think so but maybe. at the time i wasnt doing the SPS thing so many of the corals probably appreciated the dirtier water

i added the fuge maybe 2 years ago so its hard to remember

[msu]

i know i notice that when i go a long time between water changes and allow nitrates to get out of hand i will start to notice shrinkage in corals and then when i change the water and reduce the nitrates they begin to grow again. i am hopping that if the refug can keep the nitrates near 0 i will conitnue to see coral growth. does this sound logical?

[firefish2020]

msu:
Make sure your nitrate levels are 0 and you will see no ill effects in reguards to your corals. If your nitrates are above 5 you will notice polyp retraction as well as shrinkage in your soft corals. Also you may not know this but your corals are using up a lot of trace elements every day and night. When you do a water change most marine salts like Instant Ocean, Oceanic, etc, have trace elements in them so your corals always look better after a water change. This is why I add trace elements on weeks prior to my water changes. Also with softies you have a lot of chemical warfare going on in the tank water changes help keep these toxins under control. This is also why a skimmer is important as well as doing those water changes. Hope this helps.