NoPox - to up the dose or not.

clhardy5

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Backstory....Since cycling back in December, I've had pretty high Nitrates...and 'normal' phosphates. I have a RR525xl - approx 125 total water volume. After cycling and water changes, my nitrates got stuck at 50ppm. So...I added a fuge with chaeto. It is growing well and I have to harvest every couple of weeks - but the nitrates didn't budge. I cut down my feeding to once a day - and only what the fish would eat in a couple of minutes - but the nitrates didn't budge. So, kind of as a last resort - 6 weeks ago I decided to try NOPOX. I started with half dose (7.5 ml), and have slowly ramped up to 14ml. I have my apex dos dosing during the day. My Nitrates dropped from 50 to 25 about a week and a half ago, but have not budged since. I am seeing a very small amount of Cyano in some low flow areas, but it doesn't seem to be spreading. P04 is holding steady - between .03-.08 (Hanna ULR). Corals are just ok...Not really growing fast, but not dying either. Do I keep upping the NOPOX till it drops some more? Or leave it and wait and see. No visible algae growing in main tank - but I also have some tangs that keep it pretty clean. I do have a small amount of hair algae growing where my fuge light spills over.

Current Parameters:
Nitrate: 50 Salifert
Phoshate: .06 Hanna ULR
Alk: 8.8 (trident)
Calcium: 435 (trident)
Salinity: 34 apex
Ph: 8.06 apex
temp 77.5
mag: 1390 (trident)
Bubble Magnus curve 7 skimmer - pulling nasty brown stuff - wet skim - that I empty every 3 days or so

TIA
 

NowGlazeIT

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My vote: Leave it. 25 ppm is fine. I ran too low with NoPoX and ended up with Dinos and I don't wish that on anyone
I agree. 25 is low and if your already .03 with your phos then I would stick with the balance you got
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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IMO, you could up the dose if you want. Organic carbon dosing has benefits beyond nutrient reduction (such as bacteria for filter feeders).

I personally prefer vinegar for organic dosing.
 

Jekyl

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Corals never really thrived in my tank until it matured a little more. Rather than upping dosing why not just do a series of larger water changes? Get your levels where you want them and then focus on maintaining rather than reduction.
 

WVNed

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I would stick with what you are doing now and give it a month. You will end up having to dose phosphates.
 
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clhardy5

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IMO, you could up the dose if you want. Organic carbon dosing has benefits beyond nutrient reduction (such as bacteria for filter feeders).

I personally prefer vinegar for organic dosing.
Thanks Randy. I'm planning on switching to vinegar...or a diy option after I finish this bottle.
 
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clhardy5

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Corals never really thrived in my tank until it matured a little more. Rather than upping dosing why not just do a series of larger water changes? Get your levels where you want them and then focus on maintaining rather than reduction.
Thanks! I did that at first....and it would lower nitrates temporarily, and then they would creep back up. Thus trying plan B.
 
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clhardy5

clhardy5

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Backstory....Since cycling back in December, I've had pretty high Nitrates...and 'normal' phosphates. I have a RR525xl - approx 125 total water volume. After cycling and water changes, my nitrates got stuck at 50ppm. So...I added a fuge with chaeto. It is growing well and I have to harvest every couple of weeks - but the nitrates didn't budge. I cut down my feeding to once a day - and only what the fish would eat in a couple of minutes - but the nitrates didn't budge. So, kind of as a last resort - 6 weeks ago I decided to try NOPOX. I started with half dose (7.5 ml), and have slowly ramped up to 14ml. I have my apex dos dosing during the day. My Nitrates dropped from 50 to 25 about a week and a half ago, but have not budged since. I am seeing a very small amount of Cyano in some low flow areas, but it doesn't seem to be spreading. P04 is holding steady - between .03-.08 (Hanna ULR). Corals are just ok...Not really growing fast, but not dying either. Do I keep upping the NOPOX till it drops some more? Or leave it and wait and see. No visible algae growing in main tank - but I also have some tangs that keep it pretty clean. I do have a small amount of hair algae growing where my fuge light spills over.

Current Parameters:
Nitrate: 50 Salifert
Phoshate: .06 Hanna ULR
Alk: 8.8 (trident)
Calcium: 435 (trident)
Salinity: 34 apex
Ph: 8.06 apex
temp 77.5
mag: 1390 (trident)
Bubble Magnus curve 7 skimmer - pulling nasty brown stuff - wet skim - that I empty every 3 days or so

TIA
Edit...Nitrates are currently 25 - not 50.
 
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clhardy5

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I would stick with what you are doing now and give it a month. You will end up having to dose phosphates.
Thanks. I do have Neophos on hand if they dip too low....In my old biocube I ended up with Dino's....and I don't want that again!
 

WVNed

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NoPox doesnt seem to work as well when your Phosphates go to far below 0.1. I had to dose Neophos for a short period. Once I got my nitrates below 5 that didn't seem to matter. My tank gets cyano when I decrease the NoPox dose.
I never did understand that but dont change it anymore.

Mine go up and down between .03/2 and .1/5
 
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clhardy5

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Ok...So FINALLY nitrates are between 5-10 (where I want them. I did have to dose phosphates to get them there. My question is....now that I'm where I want to be - and do NOT want them to go any lower....How quickly do I back off the NOPOX to get to my maintenance dose. I certainly do not want them to drop to zero - dinos are my nightmare!
 

WVNed

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The NoPox directions say to decrease it by a third at 10 and if nitrates go below 2.5 decrease it another third.

I decreased it by a third and then had to raise it very slightly and that has been my long term dose.

also says
In the event that the nitrate level drops below 1ppm cut the daily dose by 50% test nitrate 2 times per week and adjust the dosage accordingly until it stabilizes between 1 and 2.5 ppm.
 
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clhardy5

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The NoPox directions say to decrease it by a third at 10 and if nitrates go below 2.5 decrease it another third.

I decreased it by a third and then had to raise it very slightly and that has been my long term dose.

also says
In the event that the nitrate level drops below 1ppm cut the daily dose by 50% test nitrate 2 times per week and adjust the dosage accordingly until it stabilizes between 1 and 2.5 ppm.
Thank you! Didn't even think about going back to read the instructions :).
 

NowGlazeIT

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Ok...So FINALLY nitrates are between 5-10 (where I want them. I did have to dose phosphates to get them there. My question is....now that I'm where I want to be - and do NOT want them to go any lower....How quickly do I back off the NOPOX to get to my maintenance dose. I certainly do not want them to drop to zero - dinos are my nightmare!
Dude this is awesome feedback, I feel like I’m going through the exact same process just a few days behind you. My phosphates started to bottom out yesterday and my nitrates are still pretty high around 30-40
 
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clhardy5

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ALWAYS read the instructions.
I did read the instructions when I first got it....but then didn't follow them because everyone said to NOT start at the dose RedSea recommended....but ramp up. So, even if I had remembered to read for the
end game', I would have still asked for advice from those that had 'been there, done that' :)
 
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clhardy5

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Dude this is awesome feedback, I feel like I’m going through the exact same process just a few days behind you. My phosphates started to bottom out yesterday and my nitrates are still pretty high around 30-40
Yep....I got stuck until I started dosing Phosphates.....Nitrates started to decline again as long as I keep po4 up .06-.1 ppm. I also did NOT want to get dinos - I knew I needed to keep Phosphates above zero.
 

Dan_P

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Backstory....Since cycling back in December, I've had pretty high Nitrates...and 'normal' phosphates. I have a RR525xl - approx 125 total water volume. After cycling and water changes, my nitrates got stuck at 50ppm. So...I added a fuge with chaeto. It is growing well and I have to harvest every couple of weeks - but the nitrates didn't budge. I cut down my feeding to once a day - and only what the fish would eat in a couple of minutes - but the nitrates didn't budge. So, kind of as a last resort - 6 weeks ago I decided to try NOPOX. I started with half dose (7.5 ml), and have slowly ramped up to 14ml. I have my apex dos dosing during the day. My Nitrates dropped from 50 to 25 about a week and a half ago, but have not budged since. I am seeing a very small amount of Cyano in some low flow areas, but it doesn't seem to be spreading. P04 is holding steady - between .03-.08 (Hanna ULR). Corals are just ok...Not really growing fast, but not dying either. Do I keep upping the NOPOX till it drops some more? Or leave it and wait and see. No visible algae growing in main tank - but I also have some tangs that keep it pretty clean. I do have a small amount of hair algae growing where my fuge light spills over.

Current Parameters:
Nitrate: 50 Salifert
Phoshate: .06 Hanna ULR
Alk: 8.8 (trident)
Calcium: 435 (trident)
Salinity: 34 apex
Ph: 8.06 apex
temp 77.5
mag: 1390 (trident)
Bubble Magnus curve 7 skimmer - pulling nasty brown stuff - wet skim - that I empty every 3 days or so

TIA
Thinking out loud here. With the Chaeto growing, carbon dosing driving bacteria growth, and coral looking just OK, could you have depleted micro nutrients to a level where photosynthetic organisms are struggling and driving cyanobacteria growth?
 
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clhardy5

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Thinking out loud here. With the Chaeto growing, carbon dosing driving bacteria growth, and coral looking just OK, could you have depleted micro nutrients to a level where photosynthetic organisms are struggling and driving cyanobacteria growth?
Just got my ICP test back...Potassium was my only really low value...so I've started dosing from RedSea's test colors. I'll see how it goes after a month. I also dose their Coral Nutrition AB+ (at half dose since I just started about a month ago, and I want to slowly ramp up)....Do you think these will help? The corals are dying....they just aren't growing much.
 
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