Biopellets or NO3:PO4-X for nutrient management

[jasonrusso]

I am currently battling a cyano outbreak because my PO4 got a bit out of hand. It got up to 0.20ppm, I got it back down to 0.06 (cyano still present) using phosguard and I am hoping to get it lower. Nitrate is about 10ppm. Once I get things stabilized, I want to use something to keep it under control. I have an unused reactor that I was planning on using with (NPX bioplastics, so they are good ones) bio-pellets, but I read that NO3O4-X might work better. I have an empty channel on my doser so I would use that for this function.

I like bio-pellets because they are a set it and forget it and kind of self regulate, but you don't really have any control over them. NO3O4-X needs to be dosed all the time, but you can add a ML here or there as needed. I also read that you may want to time the doses during high oxygen times (high light I assume).

My end goal (of course) is to keep PO4 at 0.02-0.03 and NO3 at 5-10.

Can I start the NO3O4-X now? Will it balance out my nutrients? Will it help with cyano?

 

[jasonrusso]

I also understand that the NO3-PO4-X may drop the NO3 and actually cause more cyano. I have calcium nitrate to dose to keep the nitrate up if needed.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I wouldn't assume reducing N and P somewhat will eliminate the cyano, but it might.

I' not a fan of biopellets for the reason you suggest: lack of control. It is also much slower to respond and you cannot time the dosing to happen when O2 and pH are highest (all organic carbon dosing reduced both).

Manual removal, more flow, and organic reduction (more skimming, GAC, Purigen, etc.) may help with the cyano.

 

[jasonrusso]

I wouldn't assume reducing N and P somewhat will eliminate the cyano, but it might.

I' not a fan of biopellets for the reason you suggest: lack of control. It is also much slower to respond and you cannot time the dosing to happen when O2 and pH are highest (all organic carbon dosing reduced both).

Manual removal, more flow, and organic reduction (more skimming, GAC, Purigen, etc.) may help with the cyano.

I'm not suggesting that lower nutrients will eliminate the cyano, rather stop it from coming back. If I can remove the fuel it needs, then when I manually remove it it won't be back in a day.

Going by what you said. I should dose the nopox at the highest PH time which is right before lights out. Is this accurate or should I dose right before lights on so the system will be adding O2 during the day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I generally recommend organic carbon dosing in the late AM since it is metabolized for a period of time after that.

 

[Chuk]

I've found that NOPOX does little to nothing for phosphate. It does wonderful on nitrates mine in my 90 went from 20 to <1 over 3 weeks of dosing. After that I dropped to a 1 mL per day dose just because I think there's some benefit to organic dosing and I wanted to have some organic carbon in there. If you start skimming wet like the NOPOX directions say if may help PO4 but I never actually did that. My fuge ended up eating all the phosphate once I put a good light on there.

 

[jasonrusso]

I've found that NOPOX does little to nothing for phosphate. It does wonderful on nitrates mine in my 90 went from 20 to <1 over 3 weeks of dosing. After that I dropped to a 1 mL per day dose just because I think there's some benefit to organic dosing and I wanted to have some organic carbon in there. If you start skimming wet like the NOPOX directions say if may help PO4 but I never actually did that. My fuge ended up eating all the phosphate once I put a good light on there.

I have a red sea All in one, not much room for a fuge!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Not a long term user so might not be helpful.
I have been running biopellets for about 2 months on a new tank.
I have been dosing microbacter 7 once a week with its use.

Had to take my phosphate media offline, was reading 0 on week 2.

After about a month i started getting cyano on my sand and rocks even with acceptable levels of n and p. 2 and .08.

Started abating with actually feeding more food. Went from 1/2 cube a day to 1 full cube a day.

I dose my alkalinity every hour to keep ph jumping too much. Appears to help but i use chemical tests not a submerged meter and have only done a few tests after midnight so this is not a complete picture of ph spikes.

 

[jasonrusso]

Not a long term user so might not be helpful.
I have been running biopellets for about 2 months on a new tank.
I have been dosing microbacter 7 once a week with its use.

Had to take my phosphate media offline, was reading 0 on week 2.

After about a month i started getting cyano on my sand and rocks even with acceptable levels of n and p. 2 and .08.

Started abating with actually feeding more food. Went from 1/2 cube a day to 1 full cube a day.

I dose my alkalinity every hour to keep ph jumping too much. Appears to help but i use chemical tests not a submerged meter and have only done a few tests after midnight so this is not a complete picture of ph spikes.

Did the cyano go away with the increase in feeding?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Yes.

I increased feeding hypothesizing it was a bacterial imbalance causing the cyano to outcompete. It did finally fade but thats more correlation than definitive causation.