Fine tuning nopox and target nitrate levels.

[Kaludar]

Hi all,

I have a RedSea 250, 65 gallon water volume. I estimate about 55 true water volume due to rock and sand. Tank is about 9 months old.

Anyway I started nopox a few months ago and my nitrates have come down from 20+ to now at 1.5ppm. I’m currently dosing 6ml per 24 hour period. Reading the bottle Redsea suggests I shoot for 1-2 ppm nitrate for a sps frag tank which is what I have, mostly sps and LPS frags.

So having said that two questions, should I try to stay at my current level or should I try to get to sub 1 ppm first? I have no macro algae in my tank currently but I’m worried if I take nitrate to low I could run into cyano or the dreaded Dino’s. And if 1.5 ppm is a good target to hold how should I go about finding a maintenance dose to hold me here. Is it primarily trial and error? Should I cut my dose of nopox in half to 3ml and see what that does for me first?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not want to see nitrate go any lower. It might be time to back off a bit on the dose. Too low of nitrate is worse than too high.

 

[Kaludar]

I would not want to see nitrate go any lower. It might be time to back off a bit on the dose. Too low of nitrate is worse than too high.

Thanks Randy, I just cut my dose in half to 3ml. I’m going to test a couple times this week and see what that does for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good. Let us know how things turn out.

 

[GregH]

results?