PHOS dropping with NOPOX dosing

[Maureen Hey]

Hi everybody...I have been struggling to get my nitrates to drop below 20 for months now. I am about 5 months post every dino you can get from bottoming out NO3 and PO4 - since beating out the dinos I have been able to maintain my phos between .08 and .1 (hanna phosphorous) but Nitrates seem to want to hover around 20 - they will drop to 17 -18 after w/c (20%) bi-monthly and go back up within a day or so and maintain. I do have a small amount of green cyano as well some sea lettuce macro in the display nothing major though. After much reading I decided on trying NOPOX to try and reduce them...tank is just over a year old and is about 75g total water volume with felt or mesh sock, marine pure balls, skimmer in the sump. First day of NOPOX I dosed 2.5mls - phos was .09 and nitrate was 20 - the next morning phos was .06 and nitrate was 20. I dosed 8mls of neophos to bring phos back up to .09. Second day I dosed 2.5ml NOPOX and phos dropped to .06 and Nitrate was again 20. Is this normal for NOPOX as I understood the phos control was minimal with it. My skimmer changed from dark coffee color to light almost green tea color as well. I had been dosing Microbacter 7 and Microbacter Clean weekly and ReBiotic monthly but no dosing of this in those 2 days..today is day 3 and have not yet dosed NOPOX did my normal w/c. Help me understand please...many thanks in advance
Parameters
Nitrate -17 to 20 (hanna)
Phos -.08 to .1 (Hanna)
Alk 8.5 (Hanna)
Cal 430 (Hanna)
Mag 1360 (NYOS)
Salinity - 1.025
Temp 77.5

 

[blaxsun]

NOPOX will also reduce your phosphates, yes. A phosphate level of .06 is still elevates (ideally you want nitrates between 5-15ppm and phosphates under 0.025ppm).

 

[Spare time]

It could just be error in the testing too

 

[Rollman]

Seems like lots of dosing and chasing. Your numbers aren’t bad, what are you keeping?

 

[Maureen Hey]

Seems like lots of dosing and chasing. Your numbers aren’t bad, what are you keeping?

That's what I was wondering...I am currently keeping a mix of lps, nps gorgs and sun coral, a few easy sps but am wanting to add some more challenging sps and am told my nitrates are too high for those...that I should be looking to drop and maintain nitrates around 10....just not understanding my phos being stable where I want it for months now but nitrates refusing to drop much lower than 20 and stabilize ...even with weekly w/c and cautious feeding ...not liking the NOPOX thing not sure if it's worth it but am open to education/ideas...thanks much

 

[Maureen Hey]

It could just be error in the testing too

double checked before dosing neophos...6 hours later phos had bumped back up...don't think it's a testing error

 

[Spare time]

double checked before dosing neophos...6 hours later phos had bumped back up...don't think it's a testing error

Is it the ULR or HR phosphorus checker?

 

[Spare time]

What do you typically feed the tank?

 

[Maureen Hey]

NOPOX will also reduce your phosphates, yes. A phosphate level of .06 is still elevates (ideally you want nitrates between 5-15ppm and phosphates under 0.025ppm).

thanks for the reply...That's why I started with the NOPOX - ideally I am looking for about 10 on nitrates and around .08 to .1 on phos....nopox just dropping the phos so much so quick freaked me out and not sure if dosing to hold my phos where I want it is the course to take ...

 

[Maureen Hey]

Is it the ULR or HR phosphorus checker?

phosphorous

 

[Rollman]

IMO lay off chasing For now. Once you dose one thing for another it gets out of whack more, with different problems. Feed less, skim more to lower nutrients. Your numbers are good. They are a touch high for some acro.

 

[Maureen Hey]

What do you typically feed the tank?

I make my own fish food... oyster, prawn,white fish, scallop,nori - all seafood is fresh never frozen till I freeze it - I feed maybe the equivilent of a cube and a half of mysis once a day and a half sheet of nori every other day
Melanurus wrasse, Tomini, Bicolor Blenny, PJ Cardinal X 2, 2 small chromis, cleaner shrimp, strawberry conch, and a number of trochus, asterina and cerith long with some dwarf hermits. I dose live phyto (25mls daily) and add tisbe pods weekly or so. No aminos and only dose for alk/cal and mag daily

 

[Maureen Hey]

IMO lay off chasing For now. Once you dose one thing for another it gets out of whack more, with different problems. Feed less, skim more to lower nutrients. Your numbers are good. They are a touch high for some acro.

Appreciate your advice...am thinking the same hence no NOPOX dose today...it's just not making sense to me LOL...sounds like I could be down a crazy rabbit hole of trouble...thanks much

 

[Spare time]

I make my own fish food... oyster, prawn,white fish, scallop,nori - all seafood is fresh never frozen till I freeze it - I feed maybe the equivilent of a cube and a half of mysis once a day and a half sheet of nori every other day
Melanurus wrasse, Tomini, Bicolor Blenny, PJ Cardinal X 2, 2 small chromis, cleaner shrimp, strawberry conch, and a number of trochus, asterina and cerith long with some dwarf hermits. I dose live phyto (25mls daily) and add tisbe pods weekly or so. No aminos and only dose for alk/cal and mag daily

It might be handy to feed something a with a little more phosphates too just to help input more of that. Reef roids is an example of something a lot of people find can raise phosphates. Again this is only if it isn't a test issue

 

[Spare time]

phosphorous

Could you send a link to it? These kits have error ranges and 0.3 might be in the range of that kit. This is my guess as to what is happening

 

[Maureen Hey]

Could you send a link to it? These kits have error ranges and 0.3 might be in the range of that kit. This is my guess as to what is happening

It's this one...the literature says +/- 5ppb or 5% of the reading the 5ppb translates to .015

Phosphorus Ultra Low Range Colorimeter HI736 Hanna Checker - Marine Water

Monitoring phosphorus concentration in saltwater is important because it can cause corrosion if levels are too high. The Hanna HI736 Checker HC Handheld Colorimeter for Phosphorus ULR bridges the gap between simple chemical test kits and professional instrumentation. Accurate, affordable and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Maureen Hey]

It might be handy to feed something a with a little more phosphates too just to help input more of that. Reef roids is an example of something a lot of people find can raise phosphates. Again this is only if it isn't a test issue

so if I were to continue dosing NOPOX and dosing up my phos with Neophos will my nitrates drop eventually? I guess I am just really surprised that I am seeing this drop in phos given they have been stable for months and dropped only after NOPOX dose - all my reading says NOPOX will drop nitrates and do little for phos reduction...so am confused LOL...appreciate your time and input...thank you

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

That's what I was wondering...I am currently keeping a mix of lps, nps gorgs and sun coral, a few easy sps but am wanting to add some more challenging sps and am told my nitrates are too high for those...that I should be looking to drop and maintain nitrates around 10....just not understanding my phos being stable where I want it for months now but nitrates refusing to drop much lower than 20 and stabilize ...even with weekly w/c and cautious feeding ...not liking the NOPOX thing not sure if it's worth it but am open to education/ideas...thanks much

Do you have sand?

 

[Maureen Hey]

Do you have sand?

I do...fiji pink ...about 2 inches vacuum in 3rds each w/c

 

[Spare time]

so if I were to continue dosing NOPOX and dosing up my phos with Neophos will my nitrates drop eventually? I guess I am just really surprised that I am seeing this drop in phos given they have been stable for months and dropped only after NOPOX dose - all my reading says NOPOX will drop nitrates and do little for phos reduction...so am confused LOL...appreciate your time and input...thank you

It's this one...the literature says +/- 5ppb or 5% of the reading the 5ppb translates to .015

Phosphorus Ultra Low Range Colorimeter HI736 Hanna Checker - Marine Water

Monitoring phosphorus concentration in saltwater is important because it can cause corrosion if levels are too high. The Hanna HI736 Checker HC Handheld Colorimeter for Phosphorus ULR bridges the gap between simple chemical test kits and professional instrumentation. Accurate, affordable and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Ok. Keep in mind that number is for absolute perfect performance via the user (i.e. wearing gloves, rinsing the vial with rodi water, removing all the power perfectly).


One possible guess is that you have more nitrate being created than phosphate, and that your phosphates could be dropping but your nitrates are at a sort of equilibrium of in and out. However, usually nopox is not an overnight thing which is why I am cautious to say that you are seeing the results that fast unless the other bacterias you were dosing are present and using it (which is a possibility). Again, this is just a guess.