Carbon Dosing

[ATS]

I am new to carbon dosing and here is my question. I have been using Tropic Marin Elimi-NP for about 5 mo. with no luck. I have a150 gal. tank that has been set up for about 25 plus years with a lot of live rock. My question is if I keep dosing at the max rate will the nitrates and phosphates eventually come down. My nitrates are 65.1 phosphates are 2.50

 

[Isaac Alves]

Have the nitrate numbers gone down a bit in those 5 months using Elimi-NP? Or have the numbers remained stable during this time?

 

[ATS]

Have the nitrate numbers gone down a bit in those 5 months using Elimi-NP? Or have the numbers remained stable during this time?

They have gone up and down never staying down

 

[Isaac Alves]

Seems like your nutrient input is more than your system can balance. Could this be a factor?

 

[ATS]

It might be. I did a test with a piece of live rock from my tank. I put it in a bowl of new ro salt water tested the water it was 0.0 put a heater in the bowl to keep the water the same temp as the tank. The next day I tested for nitrates and phosphates and guess what both were up in the bowl when the day before they were 0.0 So I guess I am getting this out of the rocks. So at this point I really do not know what to do without taking out all the live rock that is not an option

 

[ATS]

I hope if I keep dosing with NP it will finally over take what the rocks are putting in the tank. Because it has been set up for so long without dosing.

 

[Idech]

You could dose vodka. Cheap, safe and efficient. It’s not as good for phosphates but for that you could use a media reactor if they don’t drop.

 

[ATS]

You could dose vodka. Cheap, safe and efficient. It’s not as good for phosphates but for that you could use a media reactor if they don’t drop.

I have of using vodka but I did not how much to use or if I can use it with the NP.

 

[Jamie814]

Have you tried red sea NOPOX? I've had great success with it.

 

[ATS]

Lets try this reply again. I have heard of using vodka but I did not know how much to use in my tank or if I can use it with the NP

 

[Isaac Alves]

If it’s leaching from rocks I’d suggest running some rowaphos / or other gfo in a reactor to pull the leaching PO4. This will help with phosphate control.

For nitrate you can simply use some vodka/vinegar. Just go slow. It’s much cheaper than using Nopox or elimi-NP.

Also watch your inputs.

 

[ATS]

Have you tried red sea NOPOX? I've had great success with it.

It will degrade acrylic and that is what my sump is. I originally look at that but when I found out about it I went another route

 

[ATS]

If it’s leaching from rocks I’d suggest running some rowaphos / or other gfo in a reactor to pull the leaching PO4. This will help with phosphate control.

For nitrate you can simply use some vodka/vinegar. Just go slow. It’s much cheaper than using Nopox or elimi-NP.

Also watch your inputs.

Ok thanks

 

[Jamie814]

Heres dosing chart thread for you, it's full of great info!

NEW Vodka and Vinegar Dosing Charts

The reasons I'm updating the Vinegar and Vodka dosing charts are two-fold: 1. The ramp was unnecessarily slow. There was no perceived benefit to such a tedious ramp, and it led to reefers quitting because they thought carbon dosing didn't work. 2. The ramp did not scale up correctly...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Isaac Alves]

Here’s a another resource to give you a starting point / guidance:

https://reefstable.com/blog/carbon-dosing-reef-tank

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It will degrade acrylic and that is what my sump is. I originally look at that but when I found out about it I went another route

That’s nonsense. Where did you hear that? I see no reason to use NOpOX, but no organic carbon dosing method will harm an acrylic aquarium unless you put it directly on dry plastic.

 

[Jamie814]

It will degrade acrylic and that is what my sump is. I originally look at that but when I found out about it I went another route

I have never heard that?

For nitrate you can simply use some vodka/vinegar. Just go slow. It’s much cheaper than using Nopox or elimi-NP.

NOPOX is basically a mix of these, plus. Not sure of the exact ratio but I know RHF has discussed this somewhere on R2R

 

[ATS]

That’s nonsense. Where did you hear that? I see no reason to use NOpOX, but no organic carbon dosing method will harm an acrylic aquarium unless you put it directly on dry plastic.

I emailed the maker of Nopox and that is what they told me. They said over time it would do that

 

[Jamie814]

I emailed the maker of Nopox and that is what they told me. They said over time it would do that

Red Sea told you that?
Maybe if it's poured full strength directly on acrylic and let sit there, any alcohol or vodka would do that.

 

[t5Nitro]

Can't imagine some heavily dilute nopox additive is going to negatively impact your sump when people clean their plastic aquarium equipment with things like muriatic acid.

Following along in general because I may start vodka dosing my tank for nitrates.