No worries Barney, happy to educate here
. Nitrates become problematic depending on the livestock kept. I'll list my own "general" oppinions from what I've gleaned/experienced:
<100ppm - Fish Only setups, and also some soft corals can tolerate up this high.
<40 ppm - Shrimp, snails, inverts, all softies, most LPS and hardy SPS (provided phosphates low), and clams can do OK up to 40ppm. Hard corals may brown out.
<20 ppm - More sensetive LPS and SPS can do well up to this value. Decorative anemones (with the exception of E. quadricolor) stress much above 20ppm.
<10 ppm - Should be a goal for all stony coral keepers and sensetive invert keepers to truly promote the health of the animal. Remember, nitrates on a reef are nearly indetectable in most cases.
Having said that there's always exceptions to the rule. Heck, one of the local tank maintenance pro's around here tells me that most of his FO tanks in dentists offices and the like end up being in the 100-200ppm range of nitrate and they do just fine in there for years.
Fairy Wrasses are pretty easy fish to keep. 3 concerns you should have with them: They jump so you NEED a hood or egg-crate; They're intolerant of new fairy wrasses, so it's best to add multiples at once to lessen aggression (a la Chiclids); They sleep in the sand so they will often bury small coral frags if left in the sand bed
. My biggest worries now are that my magnesium dosing is not yeilding higher Mg levels. I dumped another cup of the additive in there last night so we'll see how things turn out tomorrow. Also nitrates were up a bit, but that could just be the flaky API kit I use. I'm gonna be miffed if the Mg isn't up when I get home...
. It wasn't all that bad due to some good fan coverage I have in there, but a decent burn nonetheless
