Carbon Dosing having no effect on Nitrates?

[ClownSchool]

You haven’t really discussed how you know carbon dosing isn’t working.
Yes, you test, but it takes weeks to build up to a full daily carbon dose and you’re only on day three.
You haven’t mentioned whether you’ve notice additional export in your skimmer over the last three days (the more carbon you dose, and the higher your nitrates, the more active your skimmer should be).

About PO3…
You mentioned a ‘clean’ refugium.
I’m not sure what that means. If you have PO3 present, you should see macro algae growth. If PO3 stays at relative .0 for too long, you should have a die-off over time and a grayish-brown dust build up on the bottom of the chamber.

every time you change something - remove your refugium, add carbon, add/remove GFO - you should expect to see a negative reaction in the tank until the biome adjusts to the new conditions and it could take months…or longer.

 

[Piker]

You haven’t really discussed how you know carbon dosing isn’t working.
Yes, you test, but it takes weeks to build up to a full daily carbon dose and you’re only on day three.
You haven’t mentioned whether you’ve notice additional export in your skimmer over the last three days (the more carbon you dose, and the higher your nitrates, the more active your skimmer should be).

About PO3…
You mentioned a ‘clean’ refugium.
I’m not sure what that means. If you have PO3 present, you should see macro algae growth. If PO3 stays at relative .0 for too long, you should have a die-off over time and a grayish-brown dust build up on the bottom of the chamber.

every time you change something - remove your refugium, add carbon, add/remove GFO - you should expect to see a negative reaction in the tank until the biome adjusts to the new conditions and it could take months…or longer.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I didn't say carbon dosing wasn't working, I was saying the PO4 reduction has been significant while the NO3 is not. I'm having to dose PO4 daily. Sorry if my original message was not clear. I understand removing the refugium over a couple of weeks and switching to Carbon Dosing is a major change and I'll see some shifts; this is not one I would expect.

I mentioned my now closed down refugium being clean because if it were an algae filled mess, there would probably be significant die off throwing my nutrients off as everything died due to lack of light. I expected, regardless of the situation in the tank (unchanged, due to dosing to keep levels stable), that NO3PO4X would have worked differently.

The only thing I'm trying to chime in with is that about 2 hours after nopox is done dosing, over the last 6 days, phosphates have dropped considerably while nitrates have not. That's it other than to let the op know I had a similar experience as he did 3 months ago, see if anyone else could relate and maybe chime in on how it turned out for them in the end.

Sidenote, I think I've figured it out. As my phosphates bottomed out, my nitrates stopped reducing. I've dropped my nopox dosage and am keeping phosphates at a slightly elevated target level of .09 so that I have a larger buffer.

Cheers!

 

[Reefahholic]

About PO3…
You mentioned a ‘clean’ refugium.
I’m not sure what that means. If you have PO3 present, you should see macro algae growth. If PO3 stays at relative .0 for too long, you should have a die-off over time and a grayish-brown dust build up on the bottom of the chamber.

What is PO3?

 

[hexcolor reef]

So I've been carbon dosing in my tank for about a little over a month with Tropic Marin Elimi-NP. I started with a Nitrate level of 50ppm and Phosphate of 0.21. I started the Elimi-NP at a dose of 0.1ml per 28 Gallons. I maintained this dose for 2 weeks and then went to 0.2ml/28Gal and finally worked up to a dose of 0.3ml/28Gal.

I've been testing my Nitrate and Phosphate weekly and every time my nitrates stay around 40-50 on my Nyos test kit. My Phosphate read 0.00 tonight on my Hannah checker.

At this point I'm going to be switching to NP Bacto Balance to hopefully allow the phosphate to rise a bit. I don't want to encounter dinos. But why is it that my Phosphate is going down but my Nitrates won't?

In this tank the Nitrates have always been high, even with regular 20% water changes. I'm beginning to wonder if there is something else wrong?

Instead of carbon why not use microbe lift nite out? The same brand also has a nitrate / ammonia reducer as well

 

[Reefahholic]

Instead of carbon why not use microbe lift nite out? The same brand also has a nitrate / ammonia reducer as well

What is in that product?

 

[hexcolor reef]

What is in that product?

Info from website,
“
nitrifying bacteria contains select strains of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. Nitrosomonas oxidize ammonia to nitrite and Nitrobacter oxidize nitrite to nitrate.
MICROBE-LIFT/Nite-Out II comprises select microorganisms that are autotrophic – able to use carbon dioxide as the sole source of carbon – and are relatively slow growing, requiring specific conditions for optimum growth with typical cell divisions rates from 8 to 16 hours. Their performance and rate growth is impacted by the environmental parameters required for nitrification.”

I use it my in my tanks and both nitrate and phosphate stays balanced.

 

[Reefahholic]

Info from website,
“
nitrifying bacteria contains select strains of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. Nitrosomonas oxidize ammonia to nitrite and Nitrobacter oxidize nitrite to nitrate.
MICROBE-LIFT/Nite-Out II comprises select microorganisms that are autotrophic – able to use carbon dioxide as the sole source of carbon – and are relatively slow growing, requiring specific conditions for optimum growth with typical cell divisions rates from 8 to 16 hours. Their performance and rate growth is impacted by the environmental parameters required for nitrification.”

I use it my in my tanks and both nitrate and phosphate stays balanced.

They market it as an ammonia/nitrite reducing product.


“Specially Formulated for Rapid Ammonia and Nitrite Reduction”
“Decreases Ammonia & Nitrite Toxicity”

“For SALT & FRESH WATER”

“Contains: Nitrosomona and Nitrobactor”


Why would any established reef have high levels of ammonia or nitrite? Carbon dosing would be a much better option for reducing nitrates IMO.

 

[ClownSchool]

What is PO3?

PO4 = Phosphates
Sorry, I typo’d
I was thinking NO3 and switched the numbers.

 

[Reefahholic]

PO4 = Phosphates
Sorry, I typo’d
I was thinking NO3 and switched the numbers.

Just pulling your chain.

 

[ClownSchool]

Just pulling your chain.

No, not at all. I was fine with knowing the difference for the first two years in the hobby. I messed it up a couple times, and now I do it ALL the time. Thank you.