Alkalinity and Calcium dropping while dosing Nopox

Sdbuehler1

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I am dosing Soda ash (alkalinity), Calcium, and Magnesium in my 100 gallon mixed reef tank. I have been maintaining parameters as such:

Temp: 78
Salinity 1.026
PH: 8.2
Calcium: 440 ppm
Alk: 8.0 dKh
Magnesium: 1350 ppm

I test weekly and make adjustments to the dosing as necessary. I am using Hannah testers for alk, calcium, phosphate, and nitrate as well as red sea tests for backup / sanity check.

I started dosing Nopox to deal with some high nitrate and phosphate issues that I have been battling with for a while. My nitrates got as high as about 20 PPM and phosphate got up to 0.44 ppm. I started off with the recommended dosing amount of 12 ml per day for 100 gallons (for Nitrates above 10 ppm) and I'm now dosing 8 ml per day since my Nitrates are down to 5 ppm and then I will reduce to 3 ml per day once Nitrates are below 1 ppm.

What I didn't expect to happen was that my alk, calcium, and magnesium levels all dropped significantly. In just about 2 weeks, Alk went from 8 to 7, calcium went from 440 to 413, and magnesium went from 1350 to 1260. While the calcium and magnesium levels were still within acceptable parameters, the alk dropping so fast caught me way off guard. I've learned my lesson that I really need to test all params daily when starting any new dosing regimen, but I am a bit puzzled as when I read about dosing Nopox I dont see anyone mention other parameters dropping like this except for PH. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this. My PH didnt really change much at all.
 

AV corals

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20 nitrates are amazing imo. Are your corals showing signs of fatigue with these levels of nitrates? In these modern times of reef keeping, chasing "text book" numbers is not a thing anymore. My advice is listen to your corals and keep those water parameters.

In terms of your phos, I would suggest using a GFO reactor and some rowaphos... Put two tablespoons on a low tumble / low flow to reduce the phos levels slowly. Get it closer to .17 and see how your corals react.
 

Pico bam

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I'll drop around .5 alk a day w/o dosing alk could be your corals are using it up.
 
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Sdbuehler1

Sdbuehler1

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Notice any coral growth?
All of my LPS corals seem to be fine with the high nitrates and phosphates but one of my montipora colonies died (before dosing nopox) and my other SPS corals (staghorn, pocillopora, stylo) have really slowed down on the growth. I'm hoping to see the growth turnaround once I get my alk back under control and stable.
 
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Sdbuehler1

Sdbuehler1

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20 nitrates are amazing imo. Are your corals showing signs of fatigue with these levels of nitrates? In these modern times of reef keeping, chasing "text book" numbers is not a thing anymore. My advice is listen to your corals and keep those water parameters.

In terms of your phos, I would suggest using a GFO reactor and some rowaphos... Put two tablespoons on a low tumble / low flow to reduce the phos levels slowly. Get it closer to .17 and see how your corals react.
Not sure what you mean by "amazing". Do you mean that in a good or bad way? lol

I understand that chasing numbers is less important and that is more important to maintain stability. So if I am going to try and maintain my nitrates at a specific level for the purposes of stability, doesnt 20 ppm seem a bit high?
 

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