Cheapest long term po4 and no3 removal??

[Kungpaoshizi]

I keep seeing people talking about nopox. I'm going to look it up.

I consider Reef Energy a requirement though for it to fully work.. It provides a huge amount of nitrate to combat the inherent phosphate creeping upwards problem.. Get some lanthanum chloride too for safety sake until you find out which other foods introduce more phosphate than nitrate.

The whole thing works a lot better too if you dose over a 24 hour period. For example my RE doses every hour, then I dose the nopox every 2 hours. Works much better than dosing a large dose 1 or 2 times a day. Also helps a lot for NPS critters. (drew's dosers from brs rock btw)

 

[Bad Company]

The cheapest method however is a waterfall algae scrubber. After the initial investment, it only costs a few Watts to run. Now I will admit that I ran mine on a tank that had a moderate amount of corals in it, and mostly softies, so I never had to deal with huge bio-loads, or a large imbalance of PO4 versus NO3...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The cheapest method however is a waterfall algae scrubber. After the initial investment, it only costs a few Watts to run. Now I will admit that I ran mine on a tank that had a moderate amount of corals in it, and mostly softies, so I never had to deal with huge bio-loads, or a large imbalance of PO4 versus NO3...

How do you know it is cheaper than growing macroalgae?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I keep seeing people talking about nopox. I'm going to look it up.

It is one brand of carbon dosing product. It's main ingredients on a volume basis (aside from water) are ethanol (as in vodka) and acetic acid (as in vinegar). It also has small amounts of isopropanol and methanol. Red Sea says it has some other "elements" in it, but not what they are or what they are supposed to do.

 

[Waterjockey]

Thanks, so is carbon dosing as much work to get going as it looks?

Hi!
Carbon dosing, in my opinion, is the simplest and easiest method to knock nitrates/phosphates down, and keep them down. There are some pretty good guides out there for starting out, ramping up safely etc. I just finished a vodka dosing cycle for getting extremely high nitrates and phosphates down to non-detectable levels (long neglected tank). After that, a couple mls a day keeps the nitrates away . I now have mine hooked up to an auto-doser. Replace bottle once a year or so and forget.

Do a little research, some undesirable short term side-effects are not uncommon.....a fair number of people report a mini-breakout of cyano for a bit when nitrates/phosphates first hit low numbers (I have had minor outbreaks both times I have used vodka.....after a couple of weeks the cyano (for me) went away on it's own (first time. This time I have about a 2 inch x 2 inch patch on a rock that isn't growing or receding right now). A side benefit to carbon dosing from an appearance perspective, is it does help make your water appear noticeably clearer.....like people who don't keep aquariums saying "wow, I can't get over how clear that water is" clear.


Cheers!

 

[Kershaw]

I appreciate all the input on this thread. I'm defiantly looking into all the options here. I don't really have a problem yet with nutrients just trying to be proactive.

 

[blusop]

Try a 3,000k 17 w LED in your fuge for Chaeto...... you won't regret it....i don't use carbon or carbon dosing......every 7-10 days i pull 2 gallons worth out of my fuge......nitrates 0, phosphate 0.03

 

[blusop]

I run my light 24/7 and just flip the algae every other day by hand....this is what i pull in 7-10 days....

 

[Bad Company]

That's impressive blusop! When I'm running my scrubber, I cant get cheato to grow in my sump.

 

[michaelstevenbrice]

Bio pellet reactor and chaeto in the sump. I Had a hard time keeping the chaeto from coming apart too. But pull it out from time to time and ball it up fairly tight like a snowball. Then it will keep tumbling and stick together.

 

[Kershaw]

Try a 3,000k 17 w LED in your fuge for Chaeto...... you won't regret it....i don't use carbon or carbon dosing......every 7-10 days i pull 2 gallons worth out of my fuge......nitrates 0, phosphate 0.03

I'll give it a try

 

[Kershaw]

I run my light 24/7 and just flip the algae every other day by hand....this is what i pull in 7-10 days....

So where do your nitrates and phosphates sit? And do you use any other method other then skimming and water changes?

 

[blusop]

So where do your nitrates and phosphates sit? And do you use any other method other then skimming and water changes?

Only my fuge and skimmer....i do a weekly wc ....Nitrates 0...Phosphate 0.03

 

[Kershaw]

Only my fuge and skimmer....i do a weekly wc ....Nitrates 0...Phosphate 0.03

Thanks. I'll pick up 3000k bulb tomorrow.

 

[blusop]

Find me on Facebook. ..Lorenzo White...I'm in most of the groups as well...Addicted To Reefkeeping, Facebook Coral Morons, Aquatics United to name a few....

 

[abinder]

A sulfur denitrator and an algae scrubber I think is the best combo. I installed a DIY sulfur denitrator and an ATS by turbo aquatics and in two weeks my nitrate went down from 80 ppm to 0 - 5 ppm. The sulfur denitrator is my main nitrate remover and also help with phosphate some what, while the ATS works on phosphate and nitrate. The best thing is that the denitrator does not have to be clean or fiddle with and can be as simple as just putting some sulfur pellets into a chamber in your refugium.

Do you still run a protein skimmer when you have a sulfur denitrator running?

 

[c-horse]

I never ran a skimmer. That may be one reason why my nitrate was so high.

Do you still run a protein skimmer when you have a sulfur denitrator running?