Nopox AND Biopellets

[ReefKeeperElite]

Trying out biopellets for the first time, since my corals seem to hate nopox, even at lower doses which still keep my nitrates at 60. Since biopellets take 1-2 months to kick in, should I leave my nopox dosing on for a while, up until when the biopellets kick in? Maybe reduce the nopox gradually over the next 1-2 months to avoid shocking the tank? Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Montiman]

Generally gradual is always better but I will say that in an already carbon dosed system the bio pellets will kick in much faster. It may only take a week.

 

[Miami Reef]

Trying out biopellets for the first time, since my corals seem to hate nopox, even at lower doses which still keep my nitrates at 60. Since biopellets take 1-2 months to kick in, should I leave my nopox dosing on for a while, up until when the biopellets kick in? Maybe reduce the nopox gradually over the next 1-2 months to avoid shocking the tank? Any thoughts appreciated.

Curious, what effects of nopox have you seen that make you believe your corals dislike it?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Curious, what effects of nopox have you seen that make you believe your corals dislike it?

Me too! I’ve been using NOPOX and I’m loving it. It’s like vodka dosing.

 

[moz71]

So beware many as like myself biopellets for whatever reason never kicked in. Eventually went to nopox. A matter of fact I still keep the biopellets going but not suggested. My point is I would slowly reduce nopox since your nitrates May rise if biopellets do not colonize

 

[Montiman]

IMO the main reason some people never have biopellets kick in is they don't use enough. The right amount of pellets is more based on bioload rather than tank size.

 

[moz71]

IMO the main reason some people never have biopellets kick in is they don't use enough. The right amount of pellets is more based on bioload rather than tank size.

May be a reason but not always. I used 5 tiimes the amount ran a slow tumble for months a fast tumble for months and gave up after a year and a half. Heard same story many times. I think as most things in this hobby depends on the tank.

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

Curious, what effects of nopox have you seen that make you believe your corals dislike it?

Zoas started to shrink and recede, hammer lost a head, goniopora don’t extend as much, some trumpets bleached out. I started dialing back the nopox and all corals looked better, so I’m sure it’s the nopox. I dialed back again today, so I’m only dosing 4ml per day now, and will cut it out completely after a couple weeks.

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

The lowest my nitrates have even been on nopox was 46, and phosphates 0.25, and that is when the coral started to dump. I was dosing 16ml per day at that time. I've since dialed back the nopox to 8ml per day for the past few months, then yesterday down to 4ml upon starting the biopellets. Main reason for nitrate control is fish health. I also believe my emperor angel has a bit of HLLE because of high nitrates. Today my nitrates are back to 61, and phosphates are off the hanna ULR scale, so > 0.61. I'll check back in after a couple months to let you know how it's going with the biopellets.

 

[moz71]

Sorry I may have not seen it in detail but did you ever try to add bacteria to boost nopox? I have recently gone though same thing. And I added the heavy dose of Microbactor 7 and boy did it kick the nopox in!! Nitrates dropped 5ppm A DAY after starting at day three or four of dosing. Acaually got scared and stopped. Just a thought!

 

[MaxTremors]

My experience has been that corals respond positively to carbon dosing, from the nutrient reduction and from the bacteria it creates that corals eat, IME it’s sort of akin to dosing an amino acid (not saying it’s the same, just that coral reaction is similar). If I had to guess, your corals were reacting to the high phosphates and to a lesser extent nitrates. Also, was your Alk stable during this period?

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

Sorry I may have not seen it in detail but did you ever try to add bacteria to boost nopox? I have recently gone though same thing. And I added the heavy dose of Microbactor 7 and boy did it kick the nopox in!! Nitrates dropped 5ppm A DAY after starting at day three or four of dosing. Acaually got scared and stopped. Just a thought!

I never tried Microbacter. I don’t know where I read it, but someone said you could use it to speed up the biopellet bacteria colonization.

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

My experience has been that corals respond positively to carbon dosing, from the nutrient reduction and from the bacteria it creates that corals eat, IME it’s sort of akin to dosing an amino acid (not saying it’s the same, just that coral reaction is similar). If I had to guess, your corals were reacting to the high phosphates and to a lesser extent nitrates. Also, was your Alk stable during this period?

My nutrients had always been in the 60 / 0.6 range, and the corals looked great, until going down the nopox path. Was just trying to make the fish happier. They are still fine, but coral didn’t like it at all, and were better at 0.6 with no nopox. My alk had always been steady at 9. Also used a co2 scrubber to oxygenate.

 

[blaxsun]

Curious, what effects of nopox have you seen that make you believe your corals dislike it?

I don't think it's the NOPOX directly, per say - rather how it can swing your alkalinity.

 

[moz71]

I never tried Microbacter. I don’t know where I read it, but someone said you could use it to speed up the biopellet bacteria colonization.

If you try it as I did you probably will then be able to lower nopox dose or help seed the biopellets. That was the difference maker for me after long time struggling with high nitrates. One other note it got my phos so low that nitrates stopped coming down so when I put a little more phos in kicked up again but you have more than enough phos. So can just do the heavy dose of Microbactor 7. Worth a try with no risk

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

If you try it as I did you probably will then be able to lower nopox dose or help seed the biopellets. That was the difference maker for me after long time struggling with high nitrates. One other note it got my phos so low that nitrates stopped coming down so when I put a little more phos in kicked up again but you have more than enough phos. So can just do the heavy dose of Microbactor 7. Worth a try with no risk

Thanks, I’m looking into this. If I proceed, would turning off the nopox be advisable, since I would then be doing biopellets, nopox, and microbacter at the same time? Also, microbacter has 2 recipes, for either medium to high-nutrient systems (5ml per 25g) or low-nutrient (5ml per 50g). Considering my situation, which would you suggest?

 

[ReefKeeperElite]

Thanks, I’m looking into this. If I proceed, would turning off the nopox be advisable, since I would then be doing biopellets, nopox, and microbacter at the same time? Also, microbacter has 2 recipes, for either medium to high-nutrient systems (5ml per 25g) or low-nutrient (5ml per 50g). Considering my situation, which would you suggest?

Maybe when you said heavy dose, the high-nutrient recipe is what you meant (5ml per 25g). I’m just being cautious, on edge after seeing the nopox damage. I’d hate to go big willy on something else and run into more issues.

 

[moz71]

Thanks, I’m looking into this. If I proceed, would turning off the nopox be advisable, since I would then be doing biopellets, nopox, and microbacter at the same time? Also, microbacter has 2 recipes, for either medium to high-nutrient systems (5ml per 25g) or low-nutrient (5ml per 50g). Considering my situation, which would you suggest?

This is what I would do and did myself. Dose the high nutrient amount daily for at least several days. Continue dosing the nopox and run the biopellet at same time with the long term goal I think you mentioned to get off the nopox. When you see the Nitrates start coming down, slowly lower the nopox dose over a period until slowly on biopellets alone if that is what you want to accomplish. Some may say you are competing the bacteria but this worked for me.

 

[moz71]

Keep in mind some people have better success with one or the other (nopox or biopellets). Don’t be surprised if you see you will have better success with nopox but at a lower dose.

 

[moz71]

Also to note, long time ago I tried dosing vinegar and just like you did nothing to lower my 50 to 60 ppm nitrates and went to really high dose and corals suffered. So stopped. But tried again with nopox but learned needed to kikick start it with bacteria and boom worked. I wished I knew to dose bacteria the first time with vinegar which is another carbon dose. Wish you luck