Dosing

Rmckoy · Mar 16, 2020

I have been dosing nopox
Started 12ml for 100gal tank .
I recently cut that dose in half to 6ml per day .

alk was a little high 11 dkh .
but cal was extremely low 325
Ph is 7.6

i started dosing 7ml/day calcification , 7ml/day Ions and 5ml/day fuel by aquavitro to bring these numbers up to nsw levels.
Some say nopox has no effect on cal , alk or ph .

I want to put cal , Ions and fuel in a dosing pump .

dankaqua · Mar 17, 2020

It may be an oversimplification, but there is an inverse relationship between calcium and alkalinity in salt water (at a normal pH). So your calcium is low because your alkalinity is high. At 11 dKH, some calcium will precipitate out of solution as CaCO3 (calcium carbonate).

Here's a look at this inverse relationship at your levels:

I have never used aquavitro products, so can't comment there... but try to get your dKH down to around 8.5 and then retest your levels.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

dankaqua said:
It may be an oversimplification, but there is an inverse relationship between calcium and alkalinity in salt water (at a normal pH). So your calcium is low because your alkalinity is high. At 11 dKH, some calcium will precipitate out of solution as CaCO3 (calcium carbonate).

Here's a look at this inverse relationship at your levels:

I have never used aquavitro products, so can't comment there... but try to get your dKH down to around 8.5 and then retest your levels.

It definitely is oversimplified to the point of not being useful, IMO. It is not hard to have 450 ppm calcium at 11 dKH.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

Rmckoy said:
Some say nopox has no effect on cal , alk or ph .

They would be wrong.

It has no effect on calcium.

It lowers pH, some instantly and more later when the organics are metabolized to CO2.

The effect on alkalinity is complicated and not immediate. If it causes nitrate to decline through consumption, which is usually the intent of using it, that in turn causes a slight alk boost.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

Rmckoy said:
I have been dosing nopox
Started 12ml for 100gal tank .
I recently cut that dose in half to 6ml per day .

alk was a little high 11 dkh .
but cal was extremely low 325
Ph is 7.6

i started dosing 7ml/day calcification , 7ml/day Ions and 5ml/day fuel by aquavitro to bring these numbers up to nsw levels.
Some say nopox has no effect on cal , alk or ph .

I want to put cal , Ions and fuel in a dosing pump .

I advise to not use "calcification". You'll never know how much alk is being added that way. It is a complicated product that the manufacturer appears to not understand, despite my pointing out the problems to them (Seachem) more than a decade ago. It adds calcium, and some uncertain amount of alkalinity depending on what happens to the polygluconate in each individual tank.

Stick to calcium chloride for calcium boosting, especially since your alk is already high enough.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

Rmckoy said:
i started dosing 7ml/day calcification , 7ml/day Ions and 5ml/day fuel by aquavitro to bring these numbers up to nsw levels.

Ions is essentially magnesium. Do you have reason to think it low? The dose seems very high to me relative to the calcium.

Rmckoy · Mar 17, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I advise to not use "calcification". You'll never know how much alk is being added that way. It is a complicated product that the manufacturer appears to not understand, despite my pointing out the problems to them (Seachem) more than a decade ago. It adds calcium, and some uncertain amount of alkalinity depending on what happens to the polygluconate in each individual tank.

Stick to calcium chloride for calcium boosting, especially since your alk is already high enough.

The issue with why nopox was chosen .
I’ll say excessively high nitrates ..
80-100ppm
That’s with a API test kit .
Years ago , the advice I was given while carbon dosing and at the time I was using vinegar .
To dose kalk via auto top off and carbon dose to counteract the kalk .

Rmckoy · Mar 17, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Ions is essentially magnesium. Do you have reason to think it low? The dose seems very high to me relative to the calcium.

the last test I did magnesium was 1160 using Red Sea test kit .

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

Rmckoy said:
the last test I did magnesium was 1160 using Red Sea test kit .

Try your kit on your new salt water. Many folks have issues with the Red Sea magnesium kit.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 17, 2020

Rmckoy said:
The issue with why nopox was chosen .
I’ll say excessively high nitrates ..
80-100ppm
That’s with a API test kit .
Years ago , the advice I was given while carbon dosing and at the time I was using vinegar .
To dose kalk via auto top off and carbon dose to counteract the kalk .

That advice may have been to offset the low pH,not for a reason relating to calcium or alkalinity.