Nitrates/Phosphates too high

[EakTheFreak]

Not that I'm anti.... Only issue is if ur dosing nopox have u really fixed your problem? No you haven't. You're really just covering up ur problem. So that can be over feeding, not enough water being changed, things like that. He needs to change his ways and find what's causing all this build up.

I get that, but at the same time we run regular carbon & some reefers use GFO to reduce phosphates. Wouldn’t part of the idea from NoPox be feeding corals and reducing Nitrate levels and finding a happy medium?

 

[Heres_doe_]

I understand your concern with dosing chemicals but I would say it is more natural than some other chemicals on the market such as vibrant. NoPOX is a carbon source that feeds bacteria that consumes nitrates, then you skim out said bacteria. Give this article a read, it explains it much better than I can. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/

Also there is a concern for bacterial blooms if you dose nopox, because of this I dose a carbon source directly into a low flow reactor. I was able to bring down nitrates from 60ppm(at peak- it mostly hovered in the 40ppm range) down to under 10ppm and now I am on a maintenance(reduced) dosing schedule to keep my nitrates where I want.

See in this

I get that, but at the same time we run regular carbon & some reefers use GFO to reduce phosphates. Wouldn’t part of the idea from NoPox be feeding corals and reducing Nitrate levels and finding a happy medium?

What I'm saying is bring them down till u can't anymore then if u want to use nopox that's fine....i couldn't bring my phosphates lower than .17 so i had to use GFO...if i can't get my nitrates to go down to where i want them after adding more bio media and new bacteria then I'll dose it a bit....but so far so good

 

[gbroadbridge]

Not that I'm anti.... Only issue is if ur dosing nopox have u really fixed your problem? No you haven't. You're really just covering up ur problem. So that can be over feeding, not enough water being changed, things like that. He needs to change his ways and find what's causing all this build up.

Nope, I disagree.

NoPox is simply dosing vinegar and ethanol, both of which are natural sources of organic carbon.

Some tanks need heavy feeding to keep the coral happy (particularly Acropora). You then have to adjust your export methods to remove any excess nutrients so they do not cause other problems.

It doesn't matter how you manage to balance imports and exports, whether a refugium, carbon dosing, or binding/adsorbtion, as long as the result is what you want.

 

[damsels are not mean]

For past 7 months, nitrates and phosphates are too high.


No algae problems and corals are fine.

Which one is it?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

if the corals are fine im gonna suggest you throw away your Nitrate and Phosphate tests. Your alkalinity is solid and your corals are good. quit chasing numbers on some test kit , be happy with stable alkalinity and healthy corals.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

raise your salinity to 1.026 how are you measuring salinity, if thats off, the rest of your numbers will be affected

 

[Sparkee]

Not that I'm anti.... Only issue is if ur dosing nopox have u really fixed your problem? No you haven't. You're really just covering up ur problem. So that can be over feeding, not enough water being changed, things like that. He needs to change his ways and find what's causing all this build up.

Exactly where Im coming from. I don't want to cover up problem. I want to find out why phosphate levels have been high and that nothing seems to work to bring levels down. Already stated in opening of thread things that I have tried and presently doing,

 

[Sparkee]

raise your salinity to 1.026 how are you measuring salinity, if thats off, the rest of your numbers will be affected

Im using Milwaukee refractometer

 

[Dom]

No algae issues, corals are happy, fish are happy.

Let it be.

Reefing is a visual hobby. If it looks good, leave it alone.

Begin making changes for the sake of seeing better numbers and you will create problems.