Cyano outbreak during NoPoX dosing

[Stephen Maggard]

I have had a massive Cyano outbreak while dosing 20mL of NO3O4-X to my 215 Gallon (200'ish water) tank. Should I stop dosing NoPoX for a while, of should I supplement with some additional bacteria to beat out the cyano's usage of the carbon source?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Either ways seems a reasonable approach.

Do you know the level of nitrate, and is lowering it the primary reason to be using the NOPOX?

 

[Fritzhamer]

I dose 4ml a day of Nopox for my 100 gal system. I also have to dose 10ml of my KNO3 solution for it to not strip all the NO3 and leave me with just an abundance of PO4.

 

[Stephen Maggard]

It is really high ~80PPM, after a tank move where the guys moving it didn't rinse the sand in a 3 year established 125 Gallon. So the reason for the Nopox usage was to lower the nitrates, but it appears right now the Cyano is using the carbon and preventing the export of the nitrates.

If I go the way of using bacteria to out compete the cyano are there any recommended brands?

 

[Stephen Maggard]

Also I have been doing weekly vacuums of the sand to try and get some of the Cyano, and sludge out of it to help with the NO3 reductions as well. And until the NO3 issue is resolved it is essentially a FOWLR with no corals in it, so livestock is not being harmed at this point.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is really high ~80PPM, after a tank move where the guys moving it didn't rinse the sand in a 3 year established 125 Gallon. So the reason for the Nopox usage was to lower the nitrates, but it appears right now the Cyano is using the carbon and preventing the export of the nitrates.

If I go the way of using bacteria to out compete the cyano are there any recommended brands?

I expect the cyano is also consuming nitrate like most bacteria, but I agree it can become unsightly.

MB7 might be a reasonable brand to try, but I've never seen comparative data of the various brands available.