I've been using IO for 40+ years, with an 850 gallon system on auto water change, those expepnsive salts are impossible to afford. I order my IO online through Chewy ( No where ever cheaper ) free delivery and you set it up on auto delivery. I ordered salt from them 4 years ago and set up auto ship. I pay $11.00 for a 50 gallon bag ( Yields 46 at 1.026 ) I haven't ever ran out and I always have a few bags in reserve. my Alk in my tank runs right at 8.8 - 8.9. No refugium, carbon dose tropic marin and auto change 45 gallons per week. My reef has transformed in the last year and I owe it all to Neptune Apex Monitoring. Once I monitored the tank for 6 months, then I started adding Apex control. My 850 gallon reef is now steady as a rock. I just ordered new lighting Black Friday. 6 New Radion XR30 G6 lights with all mounting hardware and rails. I have a feeling I'm going to be trimming corals every month starting January !!!! My reef is 21 years old this year, did a complete tear down and bleach bath and hard reset 5 years ago. Until this year with the addition of Apex, this tank is finally almost zero work and headache. Stay slow, stay focused, & stay consistent. Everything else follows in step. Happy Reefing
Wow fantastic tank! I just added the IO 50 gallon bags to my Chewy auto ship order. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that, I get stuff from chewy all the time for my dogs.I've been using IO for 40+ years, with an 850 gallon system on auto water change, those expepnsive salts are impossible to afford. I order my IO online through Chewy ( No where ever cheaper ) free delivery and you set it up on auto delivery. I ordered salt from them 4 years ago and set up auto ship. I pay $11.00 for a 50 gallon bag ( Yields 46 at 1.026 ) I haven't ever ran out and I always have a few bags in reserve. my Alk in my tank runs right at 8.8 - 8.9. No refugium, carbon dose tropic marin and auto change 45 gallons per week. My reef has transformed in the last year and I owe it all to Neptune Apex Monitoring. Once I monitored the tank for 6 months, then I started adding Apex control. My 850 gallon reef is now steady as a rock. I just ordered new lighting Black Friday. 6 New Radion XR30 G6 lights with all mounting hardware and rails. I have a feeling I'm going to be trimming corals every month starting January !!!! My reef is 21 years old this year, did a complete tear down and bleach bath and hard reset 5 years ago. Until this year with the addition of Apex, this tank is finally almost zero work and headache. Stay slow, stay focused, & stay consistent. Everything else follows in step. Happy Reefing
I think you need to start with ElimiNP to get the levels down, then maintain lower levels with Bactobalance…that’s what i do and it works great. Carbon dosing takes at least a month to settle in.
I think NOPOX and ElimiNP are very similar and what you should be using with higher levels. I’ve used them all, they all work. Carbon dosing doesn’t eliminate the need for good maintenance, it works along side it. IMO, once dialed in, its a much better option than a refugium. There’s no macro algae to suck up your trace minerals. Be patient, still do water changes, etc., carbon dose every day (preferably auto with a doser) and it will pay off down the road. Switch to bactobalance once your levels are where you want them
I’ve been using ElimiNP for a couple of months now. Seems to work well for nitrates but not as well for phosphates so I started GFO again to get those down. I’ll continue with the NP for another month or so and then switch to the bacto balance.
