NoPox overdose - am I out of the woods?

Jeanette · May 27, 2022

48 hours ago (Wednesday 10-11am) I had an overdose of NoPox due to an error in my APEX programming.

Tank is 75gal. Normal dosage is 5 ml/daily. The overdose was 100-110 ml in a 1 hr period. I noticed the problem several hours later as my PH dropped from 7.96 to 7.62 between 10-11am. Ph was back up to 7.81 an hour later and then continued to climb.

Action taken: Added a small power head and upped the speed on the 2 MP40's. Changed the air intake to run skimmer wetter.

Yesterday morning: All fish alive and look ok. Corals look fine except that my Sunset milli colony does not have the polyp extension it usually does. Green algae on the glass turned white. No other visible algae bloom. Nitrate test result at noon - 0. Previous test was 2-4. Fed heavy and more coral food (reefroids and Brightwell amino acids).

Today: Lights not on yet, but fish are swimming and no obvious signs of any coral issues. Last phosphate test 3 weeks ago was .11. Today's test result is .01

So, am I in the clear now?? How long does it take for the added bacteria to get back to a normal level?

Is it likely that I will still get an algae bloom even though it hasn't happened in 48 hours?? Should I add some nitrates to the tank (Brightwell Neo-nitro) to hopefully avoid a cyano outbreak? Or just continue to add more coral food til I get some nitrates back? Can my MP40's be returned to lower flow rate yet??

Thanks in advance for your input!

thereefhotspot · May 27, 2022

Jeanette said:
48 hours ago (Wednesday 10-11am) I had an overdose of NoPox due to an error in my APEX programming.

Tank is 75gal. Normal dosage is 5 ml/daily. The overdose was 100-110 ml in a 1 hr period. I noticed the problem several hours later as my PH dropped from 7.96 to 7.62 between 10-11am. Ph was back up to 7.81 an hour later and then continued to climb.

Action taken: Added a small power head and upped the speed on the 2 MP40's. Changed the air intake to run skimmer wetter.

Yesterday morning: All fish alive and look ok. Corals look fine except that my Sunset milli colony does not have the polyp extension it usually does. Green algae on the glass turned white. No other visible algae bloom. Nitrate test result at noon - 0. Previous test was 2-4. Fed heavy and more coral food (reefroids and Brightwell amino acids).

Today: Lights not on yet, but fish are swimming and no obvious signs of any coral issues. Last phosphate test 3 weeks ago was .11. Today's test result is .01

So, am I in the clear now?? How long does it take for the added bacteria to get back to a normal level?

Is it likely that I will still get an algae bloom even though it hasn't happened in 48 hours?? Should I add some nitrates to the tank (Brightwell Neo-nitro) to hopefully avoid a cyano outbreak? Or just continue to add more coral food til I get some nitrates back? Can my MP40's be returned to lower flow rate yet??

Thanks in advance for your input!

If it were my tank I would recommend that you go back to your normal regiment but a little heavier on the feeding. It may be a good Idea to stop dosing NOPOX for a few days and keeping testing your nutrients. I would not add any nitrate supplements. Feed your fish slightly heavier than normal and wait for nitrate and phosphate to slowly return to its normal level. Whenever you have a huge swing in any parameter, it is typically a good idea not to try and swing it back to where it was fast. Now I understand your nutrient levels have bottomed out but that is because you have a lot of nitrifying and phosphate consuming bacteria in the tank which in turn will become food for the corals. So hopefully it won't have too bad of an effect. I would just keep a good eye on your nutrient levels over the next few days and try not to over compensate.

I do think that you can return your flow to its normal setting. Maybe slowly adjust back down over a few days.

- Gavin

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 27, 2022

I do not know if adding nitrate will deter cyano ( I expect not), but it does seem to help prevent dinos.

When you say algae bloom, I presume you mean a bacterial bloom?

I'd keep aeration high for another day or so.

Jeanette · May 27, 2022

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I forgot to mention that I did stop dosing of Nopox 2 days ago when I discovered the problem.

Yes, I meant to say bacterial bloom instead of algae bloom.

Yes, I was also actually thinking of dosing the nitrate to help prevent dinos. Not alot, but maybe to raise Nitrates to .5. I've tried raising nitrates (using Neo-Nitro) on my frag tank that doesn't have the fish load, but it seems to just go to feed green algae. So I would prefer to feed the fish heavier and also the corals to get the nitrate back up. But I don't want it to stay at 0 too long. So you are saying that the corals will eat/consume the extra bacteria?

So what removes/reduces the extra bacteria that result from the overdosing? Do the corals consume it??