Dosing nopox

[gearhead]

Hi, I have been dosing red seas nopox for about 45 days. My nitrates got down to about .25 and my lps corals didn't seem to like it so I stopped dosing for about 16 days. My nitrates have come back up to 2 so I am lightly dosing again. My question is my ammonia has come up slightly and it usually never measures on my red sea kit. Is it posable this is an effect of not dosing the nopox. Did it kill some of my good bacteria?

 

[BigHildy53]

NoPox promotes nutrient reducing bacteria; the bacteria reduces nitrate and phosphate. I don't see how it would affect ammonia one way or another.

 

[User1]

What @BigHildy53 said. Also there is no harm in stopping the dose or lower it. NoPox that is.

For what it is worth I think your Nitrates are too low. You do not want 0 and there are various posts around the forums whereas people are 5, 10, 50 or more. Let the tank guide you. I shoot for 5 - 10 Nitrates and 0.5 phosphate and use NoPox. I stop as my Nitrates get to my range and then pick up if it goes above.

The only rule / requirement for NoPox is you can't piggy back or double dose. Meaning if you dosed properly on Monday and Tuesday but skipped/forget to dose on Wednesday on Thursday you can't do Wednesday and Thursday. You start with the single dose on Thursday if that makes sense. Think of it like taking a prescribed medicine. The stuff works and works well but just need to look at what measurement you saw good tank look and feel then go from there.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I have used NoPox in multiple tanks over the past few years and have never noticed a bump in ammonia, if there was a trend reasoning would make me believe it would have been reported by now.

Most likely there is another source of your ammonia (side note, API ammonia tests have a known history of false positives for ammonia, didn't know what test kit you are using).

Also, unless you are feeding your LPS regularly or supplementing with Aminos, I recommend a nitrate level of 5+ to keep them happy.

 

[Robcope]

In my case API ammonia test always reads .25. However, I have been using API test kits for 25+ years and have never had an issue. I got so concerned because I just started my first salt water tank and everything I see says don't use API. So I bought the Salifert Nitrate and Phosphate kits. Guess what; same exact results as the API. Just saying.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I doubt there is problematic ammonia. I think 2 ppm nitrate is a fine goal.