PHOS dropping with NOPOX dosing

[thatmanMIKEson]

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

Thats where its all at..

 

[Spare time]

Btw your phosphate is not that high I am not sure why others are saying that is an issue.

 

[Maureen Hey]

Btw your phosphate is not that high I am not sure why others are saying that is an issue.

No I don't think so either...happy enough to leave it alone...just wanted to drop 10pts off my nitrates that seem to be happy at 20... without adding more equipment...

 

[Maureen Hey]

Thats where its all at..

sorry .... not sure I understand...my nitrates are there or that's why the NOPOX is dropping my phos

 

[Rmckoy]

IME

nopox ( carbon dosing )is a very aggressive way to lower parameters . Sometimes lowering them too fast , too low and eventually causing Dino’s . There used to be easier and more
Affordable products to achieve the same results ( vinegar , vodka , sugar , ) I believe nopox is a combination of alcohol and vinegar (acidic acid) .
essentially you’re feeding another bacteria To consume nutrients .
As they colonize to larger population they gradually consume more . Sometimes without knowing of their ramped up ability
Nitrates of 20ppm aren’t bad …
And even phosphates .06 isn’t bad .
Ideally 0.03 is preferred .

 

[Maureen Hey]

IME

nopox ( carbon dosing )is a very aggressive way to lower parameters . Sometimes lowering them too fast , too low and eventually causing Dino’s . There used to be easier and more
Affordable products to achieve the same results ( vinegar , vodka , sugar , ) I believe nopox is a combination of alcohol and vinegar (acidic acid) .
essentially you’re feeding another bacteria To consume nutrients .
As they colonize to larger population they gradually consume more . Sometimes without knowing of their ramped up ability
Nitrates of 20ppm aren’t bad …
And even phosphates .06 isn’t bad .
Ideally 0.03 is preferred .

you are correct...I researched and chose NOPOX as was worried about straight vodka adding to small patch of cyano...vinegar is what a valued member here uses but honestly didn't trust my math on something new...especially having already battled and beat dinos from bottoming out nutrients...what all carbon sources had in common ( from my reading) is that they target nitrates aggressively with minimal effect on phosphate ( which I am quite happy with the # it's at) with nitrates stuck at 20 for a number of months and wanting them to drop down so I can add a few more challenging sps pieces I thought NOPOX would be a good tool - however two minimal doses for my tank sze saw the phos drop by almost half in less than 24 hours post dose so am trying to understand why

 

[Tamberav]

Numbers don’t look that bad. I bet you could grow SPS with your 20 nitrates. Lol
I mean some of these people do? 15 to 20 and even high as 50s. I never found it to be an issue personally. You just may end up with some darker colors.

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[Rmckoy]

you are correct...I researched and chose NOPOX as was worried about straight vodka adding to small patch of cyano...vinegar is what a valued member here uses but honestly didn't trust my math on something new...especially having already battled and beat dinos from bottoming out nutrients...what all carbon sources had in common ( from my reading) is that they target nitrates aggressively with minimal effect on phosphate ( which I am quite happy with the # it's at) with nitrates stuck at 20 for a number of months and wanting them to drop down so I can add a few more challenging sps pieces I thought NOPOX would be a good tool - however two minimal doses for my tank sze saw the phos drop by almost half in less than 24 hours post dose so am trying to understand why

Without dosing any carbon source I was presented with a completely different issue .
Elevated phosphates but zero nitrates .
But …. In order to lower phosphates , I had to dose nitrates to bring nutrients closer to balance .
I don’t believe you are having this issue and you’re numbers are good .
As the system matures it gets a lot easier .
My system now …. 5-10ppm nitrates
And phosphate hover around .03 to .05

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

sorry .... not sure I understand...my nitrates are there or that's why the NOPOX is dropping my phos

Thats where your nitrates are locked up at, I've never used nopox

 

[Maureen Hey]

Thats where your nitrates are locked up at, I've never used nopox

Thanks for your input ...appreciate it...will continue researching and reading

 

[Maureen Hey]

Without dosing any carbon source I was presented with a completely different issue .
Elevated phosphates but zero nitrates .
But …. In order to lower phosphates , I had to dose nitrates to bring nutrients closer to balance .
I don’t believe you are having this issue and you’re numbers are good .
As the system matures it gets a lot easier .
My system now …. 5-10ppm nitrates
And phosphate hover around .03 to .05

No for sure my issue is opposite to your...just truly not understanding the "why" the nopox jumped on my phos so quickly and that's what I hope I can figure out...other than that you think i should just let it ride out and wait till the parameters correct themselves as the tank ages and matures?

 

[damsels are not mean]

am told my nitrates are too high for those...that I should be looking to drop and maintain nitrates around 10...

Don't listen to people giving you specific numbers you need to have, because there aren't any. Some of my favorite hobbyist reef tanks have 30+ nitrates. Extreme cases like richard ross had integer level phosphate readings and triple digit nitrates and still grew sticks like weeds.

I have really not seen a tank ever that had high nitrates and crashed or noticed any serious correlation between nitrate levels and coral success. Lots of fussing about it being too high and many cases of corals being starved or worse yet dinos growing.

The way I see it, any time you have high nutrients it means you are either not growing enough stuff for the amount of food you have, or feeding more than your tank can uptake. These are of course the same thing. Add more livestock or feed less. You can't have too much nitrate if you do not feed too much.

 

[Uncle99]

Nopox does little to phosphate levels as there’s so little in the water.
Stable reduction of nitrates through carbon dosing (Nopox) takes months of measured daily dosing.
If you need to lower phosphate, you can mop up that nutrient with GFO, but keep careful watch on the reduction, you must maintain a trace amount for your good bacteria to thrive.
Life needs carbon, nitrogen and phosphate.

 

[vetteguy53081]

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

NoPox is similar to vodka dosing. It also does fuel dinos- be careful with it.
Phos is high- should be <.04
My preferred method to reduce nitrates is adding a pouch of chemipure blue or elite which will reduce it and keep it in check

 

[vetteguy53081]

Don't listen to people giving you specific numbers you need to have, because there aren't any. Some of my favorite hobbyist reef tanks have 30+ nitrates. Extreme cases like richard ross had integer level phosphate readings and triple digit nitrates and still grew sticks like weeds.

I have really not seen a tank ever that had high nitrates and crashed or noticed any serious correlation between nitrate levels and coral success. Lots of fussing about it being too high and many cases of corals being starved or worse yet dinos growing.

The way I see it, any time you have high nutrients it means you are either not growing enough stuff for the amount of food you have, or feeding more than your tank can uptake. These are of course the same thing. Add more livestock or feed less. You can't have too much nitrate if you do not feed too much.

Regarding nitrates, there is a balance with it. Elevated nitrates can promote unwanted algae and other bacterias such as calothrix. Many corals can be impacted by nitrate while others may not be bothered by elevated nitrate, or may even grow more rapidly with the readily available nitrogen. But keep in mind that certain corals, especially those that calcify will have negative effects from elevated nitrate. The belief is the high nutrient levels encourage rapid growth of the symbiotic algae within the corals tissue known as zooxanthellae The zooxanthellae is brownish in color and the more of it contained within the corals tissue the more brown the coral will appear. In extreme cases the zooxanthellae population will be so high that the coral completely browns out and overtakes all of the corals natural coloration pigments.
Additionally high nitrates promote and support Cyano bacteria.