Algae scrubber/Nopox/water changes

[saltwater newby]

hello guys, I'm a little confused and need help. For 3 months now I've been running an algae scrubber which I remove 50%of the algae every weekend. I've also been manually dosing Nopox for about 3-4 weeks. I also do a 5 gallon water change with Red Sea coral pro salt every weekend. My question is; now that my nitrates have gone down to about 10 ppm which I want to reduce them a little bit more. Once I reach the desired 2-5 ppm what should I continue doing? I know algae scrubbers are supposed to help with nitrates and phosphates but mine really didn't help with nitrates, the reason I started Nopox was because I was at 40ppm but Phosphates have been undetectable though and I'm guessing that's from the algae scrubber.
My questions are:
1:Should I remove the algae scrubber and stick to water changes and Nopox? Will I get an algae bloom if I do?
2: should I keep the algae scrubber and continue with Nopox maybe with a dosing pump and reduce water changes to bi weekly but if I do will my ALK, Cal and Mag suffer? I have a b b ionic 2 part but I rarely use it since parameters have been stable. They have been stable at desirable rates.
3: Should I eliminate Nopox once nitrates are low and continue with the algae scrubber and my water changes?
I just want to make sure I'm not being redundant and spinning my wheels with my filtration and maintenance schedule. My system consists of
75 gallon Red Sea reefer
75 pounds of live rock
3 inch sand bed
Bubble magus curve 7
Thank for the advice.

 

[twilliard]

Keep everything going as normal and once you hit your no3 target cut your carbon dosing in half. From there maintain that carbon dosing to keep your bacteria population happy

 

[saltwater newby]

Keep everything going as normal and once you hit your no3 target cut your carbon dosing in half. From there maintain that carbon dosing to keep your bacteria population happy

Ok! I was sort of leaning that way too. Thanks!!!

 

[watchguy123]

So it sounds like you are doing four things to help nitrates and phosphates

1). Water changes don't have much impact on either unless you are doing massive water changes. Massive water changes are not generally done unless there is some sort of calamity

2) algae scrubbers (ATS) are great at reducing nitrates and phosphate and work well long term

3) nopox is great at reducing nitrates and and somewhat at phosphates

4) protein skimmer. I don't know,your skimmer so I dont have much comment on it. Most people utilize them and probably a smaller number do not. I think they have lots of benefits.


You didn't really mention how long you have had your tank, what if any kind of livestock you maintain or how much you feed. Each of these are important because the more livestock, the more feeding, the more feeding, the more nutrients. Your livestock, feeding and nutrient export need to have a balance i.e. reach some sort of equilibrium

Five gallon water changes generally don't keep alk, mag and ca in balance. Typically dosing either manually, via doser or calcium reactor is required. There is lots of thoughts on water changes but I think most utilize them to dilute elements in the water that may be accumulating and to add trace elements that may have been consumed or diminished. Alk and ca are consumed so aggressively by coral that water changes typically can't keep up.

Zero phosphates is typically not healthy for coral. You didn't mention which test kits you use or how often you test. Test kits are far from perfect and not only is there variability from test to test with the same kit, there is also variability between different test kits.

I am fairly sure once you get your livestock, feeding schedule stabilized, that you will likely either choose an algae scrubber or carbon dosing but likely not both. It certainly depends on how efficient (size, lighting and flow) your ATS is compared to livestock and feeding. Tanks and their caretakers are each unique and you may utilize many approaches to nutrient export

If you have no livestock, well, I'm not sure why you would have a nutrient issue.

 

[watchguy123]

Oh I forgot to add, I agree with Twilliard. If you are carbon dosing (nopox), once you hit your target nitrates, you will indeed want to do what he said. And of course to continue and monitor your parameters and adjust as necessary

 

[saltwater newby]

So it sounds like you are doing four things to help nitrates and phosphates

1). Water changes don't have much impact on either unless you are doing massive water changes. Massive water changes are not generally done unless there is some sort of calamity

2) algae scrubbers (ATS) are great at reducing nitrates and phosphate and work well long term

3) nopox is great at reducing nitrates and and somewhat at phosphates

4) protein skimmer. I don't know,your skimmer so I dont have much comment on it. Most people utilize them and probably a smaller number do not. I think they have lots of benefits.


You didn't really mention how long you have had your tank, what if any kind of livestock you maintain or how much you feed. Each of these are important because the more livestock, the more feeding, the more feeding, the more nutrients. Your livestock, feeding and nutrient export need to have a balance i.e. reach some sort of equilibrium

Five gallon water changes generally don't keep alk, mag and ca in balance. Typically dosing either manually, via doser or calcium reactor is required. There is lots of thoughts on water changes but I think most utilize them to dilute elements in the water that may be accumulating and to add trace elements that may have been consumed or diminished. Alk and ca are consumed so aggressively by coral that water changes typically can't keep up.

Zero phosphates is typically not healthy for coral. You didn't mention which test kits you use or how often you test. Test kits are far from perfect and not only is there variability from test to test with the same kit, there is also variability between different test kits.

I am fairly sure once you get your livestock, feeding schedule stabilized, that you will likely either choose an algae scrubber or carbon dosing but likely not both. It certainly depends on how efficient (size, lighting and flow) your ATS is compared to livestock and feeding. Tanks and their caretakers are each unique and you may utilize many approaches to nutrient export

If you have no livestock, well, I'm not sure why you would have a nutrient issue.

Hello
I have a kole tang,blue hippo,fox face, mallenarus wrasse, 2 clowns and 6 chromis. I feed nori in the morning and LRS in the afternoon. I have a couple of euphyllia corals, 2 small birds nest, a couple of zoa frags, and 2 monti frags, and cyphastrea frag. My tsnk is 8 months old. My skimmer is rated for 125 gallon and my scrubber is for 100 gallon + system according to manufacture. I also run BRS Carbon in media bag placed in my sump I change out every 2 weeks