Nopox advice Please, established tank

[proxy001]

Hello Reefers,

I have an established 180G (8+ years) with deep sand bed. Mixed reef.
Filtration includes:
-Oversized skimmer
-Carbon
-100 micron socks changed regularly
-UV
-Tunze macro algae reactor

For the longest time ever I had gravel in my sump... It wasn't my mistake but only recently, like 3 weeks ago, did I remove it from the sump.
(My phosphate were 1ppm, nitrate 50+... and the tank has been running like that for years with very few corals)

I am at the point where my nitrate level is 25 ppm and phosphate 0.2, without chemical help. No more Brightwell, no nopox.

You are going to ask me how is the tank doing? well Mixed picture:

LPS/Soft is doing ok and SPS stopped dying. ( I was severely under lighting the tank so my Monti plate bleached, now lights are where they should be it is recoloring)
I have visually very little growth for most corals, except GSP and Xenia... I know right?!
My parameters are as follow:

But I am NOT dosing ALK/Ca. Yet, I have absolutely zero use of Calcium or Alk, which tells me the reef isn't using any. ( smalls frags for the size of the tank?)
My Alk has been at 8.9 for 4 weeks...

At this point, should I be using Nopox, or just wait a bit more those levels go down naturally?
Do you guys think that my non existent use of Alk and Ca is due to high Nitrate/phosphate or those levels are acceptable is an old tank?
Thank you

 

[proxy001]

anyone?

 

[DMG Reef]

When I upgraded to a larger tank last year, I broke down my 6-year old reef and moved everything over to the new tank. I've always had high NO3 and PO4, presumably because so much was bound up in my very old live rock.

SPS have always done well in my high nutrient environment - 50 nitrates, .75 phosphates. However, I decided in April to get control of my numbers and began dosing Nopox. I was a little nervous to use it since I have a lot of high-end acropora. So I started dosing at about a quarter of the recommended dose and worked up to the full dose within a few months. My nitrates are 7 now and phosphates run .06-.10. My acros are doing great and I've definitely seen better growth with the lower numbers. Since Nopox mostly affects nitrates, I also run GFO in a reactor.

I think your new, lower numbers are just fine ime. You're probably right that you aren't needing to dose carbonate and calcium because your frags are small in a large volume of water. Do you have much coralline algae? You seem to be on the right track by lowering your NO3 and PO4, but it takes time for corals to adjust to the new parameters and start growing.

 

[proxy001]

When I upgraded to a larger tank last year, I broke down my 6-year old reef and moved everything over to the new tank. I've always had high NO3 and PO4, presumably because so much was bound up in my very old live rock.

SPS have always done well in my high nutrient environment - 50 nitrates, .75 phosphates. However, I decided in April to get control of my numbers and began dosing Nopox. I was a little nervous to use it since I have a lot of high-end acropora. So I started dosing at about a quarter of the recommended dose and worked up to the full dose within a few months. My nitrates are 7 now and phosphates run .06-.10. My acros are doing great and I've definitely seen better growth with the lower numbers. Since Nopox mostly affects nitrates, I also run GFO in a reactor.

I think your new, lower numbers are just fine ime. You're probably right that you aren't needing to dose carbonate and calcium because your frags are small in a large volume of water. Do you have much coralline algae? You seem to be on the right track by lowering your NO3 and PO4, but it takes time for corals to adjust to the new parameters and start growing.

That’s super helpful because we have a similar story. I think stuff is bound to my rock and sand. I don’t have coralline , never really did. It’s also interesting to see you were successful with nutrients on the high side, that many would consider out of range. Like you I’m a bit nervous with the nopox, I think I’m going to wait it out see what happens. Thank you !

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello Reefers,

I have an established 180G (8+ years) with deep sand bed. Mixed reef.
Filtration includes:
-Oversized skimmer
-Carbon
-100 micron socks changed regularly
-UV
-Tunze macro algae reactor

For the longest time ever I had gravel in my sump... It wasn't my mistake but only recently, like 3 weeks ago, did I remove it from the sump.
(My phosphate were 1ppm, nitrate 50+... and the tank has been running like that for years with very few corals)

I am at the point where my nitrate level is 25 ppm and phosphate 0.2, without chemical help. No more Brightwell, no nopox.

You are going to ask me how is the tank doing? well Mixed picture:

LPS/Soft is doing ok and SPS stopped dying. ( I was severely under lighting the tank so my Monti plate bleached, now lights are where they should be it is recoloring)
I have visually very little growth for most corals, except GSP and Xenia... I know right?!
My parameters are as follow:

But I am NOT dosing ALK/Ca. Yet, I have absolutely zero use of Calcium or Alk, which tells me the reef isn't using any. ( smalls frags for the size of the tank?)
My Alk has been at 8.9 for 4 weeks...

At this point, should I be using Nopox, or just wait a bit more those levels go down naturally?
Do you guys think that my non existent use of Alk and Ca is due to high Nitrate/phosphate or those levels are acceptable is an old tank?
Thank you

I don't prefer NOPOX to vodka or vinegar, but it is a fine plan to be dosing an organic carbon source.