NoPox and GFO together

[14 foot reef]

I've read many different opinions on this and am little confused on if this is a good or bad idea. On the instructions of Red Sea NoPox, it says NOT to combine the two.(GFO & NoPox) but I've read many different opinions. My system is 850 gallons mixed reef
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate about 25 per Nyos kit
Ph 8.2
DKH 8.6
Calcium 425
po4 1.0 Yes 1.0 no typo
Magnesium about 1525 per RedSea Kit
Was running Triton method for about 18 months, but recently moving to AWC daily and weaning off the triton method.
Fritz Reef Pro
10x turn over from reef to sump
MP60's qty -2
One return pump through oceans motion valve.
9 Kessil 360's with 12' of Aquatic Life t5 over the 14' long tank.

The tank is just not doing well and loosing sps slowly a couple pieces doing ok, just nothing great. With this system it seams like I should be having much better results.
Nitrate went up to 40 or 50 before I started auto water change so introducing the NoPox and gfo to get the nitrates and po4 down. Thanks ahead of time for any advise on this method for lowering the two.

 

[andrewkw]

I've run both for years without issue. I would say it really depends on your system though. You can certainly try it and see what happens. Which of the 2 are you currently running now? I don't religiously change my gfo though. I do carbon dose on a dosing pump and have for years. I would say I'm changing high capacity gfo every 2-3 months instead of every 4-6 weeks. The other thing you don't mention is skimmer. Once you start carbon dosing you should see a drastic improvement in skimmate production.

 

[14 foot reef]

I've run both for years without issue. I would say it really depends on your system though. You can certainly try it and see what happens. Which of the 2 are you currently running now? I don't religiously change my gfo though. I do carbon dose on a dosing pump and have for years. I would say I'm changing high capacity gfo every 2-3 months instead of every 4-6 weeks. The other thing you don't mention is skimmer. Once you start carbon dosing you should see a drastic improvement in skimmate production.

Thanks for the input the Skimmer is a 6 foot tall dual beckett skimmer from Precision Marine

IMG_4241

• 14 foot reef
• Oct 5, 2018

...I haven't notice a huge change in the skimate. Forgot to mention 250 watt UV from Aqua Ultraviolet.

 

[Dan_P]

I've read many different opinions on this and am little confused on if this is a good or bad idea. On the instructions of Red Sea NoPox, it says NOT to combine the two.(GFO & NoPox) but I've read many different opinions. My system is 850 gallons mixed reef
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate about 25 per Nyos kit
Ph 8.2
DKH 8.6
Calcium 425
po4 1.0 Yes 1.0 no typo
Magnesium about 1525 per RedSea Kit
Was running Triton method for about 18 months, but recently moving to AWC daily and weaning off the triton method.
Fritz Reef Pro
10x turn over from reef to sump
MP60's qty -2
One return pump through oceans motion valve.
9 Kessil 360's with 12' of Aquatic Life t5 over the 14' long tank.

The tank is just not doing well and loosing sps slowly a couple pieces doing ok, just nothing great. With this system it seams like I should be having much better results.
Nitrate went up to 40 or 50 before I started auto water change so introducing the NoPox and gfo to get the nitrates and po4 down. Thanks ahead of time for any advise on this method for lowering the two.

The bacteria you feed with NOPOX need PO4 too. You can use GFO but only to the extend that you are not starving the bacteria. Monitor PO4 as well as NO3. Keep the PO4 level as high as you are comfortable (e.g., 0.03–0.1 ppm). PO4 might start to drop quickly when NO3 consumption ramps up. Without sufficient PO4, nitrate reduction with stall or proceed slowly.

 

[14 foot reef]

The bacteria you feed with NOPOX need PO4 too. You can use GFO but only to the extend that you are not starving the bacteria. Monitor PO4 as well as NO3. Keep the PO4 level as high as you are comfortable (e.g., 0.03–0.1 ppm). PO4 might start to drop quickly when NO3 consumption ramps up. Without sufficient PO4, nitrate reduction with stall or proceed slowly.

Thank you, my PO4 is at 1.0 right now per my Hanna checker, took it to LFS and they have a higher end lab grade meter and the PO4 tested .72 this am.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As long as phosphate is not too low, it is fine to use them together.

Just to make it clear, that isn't opinion. It's a simple fact that organisms do not know if you are using GFO, they only know what the resulting chemical levels are in the water. If the GFO does not drive anything too low, there's won't be a problem.

Warnings to not use them together, like many hobby manufacturer recommendations, are based on general recommendations, and are often overly broad if not downright wrong.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you, my PO4 is at 1.0 right now per my Hanna checker, took it to LFS and they have a higher end lab grade meter and the PO4 tested .72 this am.

Those units are ppm phosphate? ppb P? ppb phosphate?

1 ppb phosphate may be undesirably low.

 

[14 foot reef]

Those units are ppm phosphate? ppb P? ppb phosphate?

1 ppb phosphate may be undesirably low.

Randy thanks as always !!! and its measure ppm for sure......after 24 hours of running 2 cups of High capacity GFO from BRS the Phosphates are measuring .5 on hanna, so cut in about a half in 24 hours. Running the GFO slow no tumbling in a Bashsea Reactor.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy thanks as always !!! and its measure ppm for sure......after 24 hours of running 2 cups of High capacity GFO from BRS the Phosphates are measuring .5 on hanna, so cut in about a half in 24 hours. Running the GFO slow no tumbling in a Bashsea Reactor.

Sounds good. Good luck and happy reefing.

 

[14 foot reef]

Following up on this. Amazing, the Combo of NoPox and GFO dropped my po4 from 1.0 to .05 ppm in 5 days. And my nitrates from 25 to about 12-15 ppm. I pulled the GFO off line and am continuing the NoPox at a maintenance level.... I'll keep testing evey other day to watch po4 and see if it stays at .05 or with GFO out it starts climbing again. I'll report back in a week or so. Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

 

[mta_morrow]

Gotta love carbon dosing.

When used properly, it can’t be beat. ........IMO!

 

[cjpitt80]

Following up on this. Amazing, the Combo of NoPox and GFO dropped my po4 from 1.0 to .05 ppm in 5 days. And my nitrates from 25 to about 12-15 ppm. I pulled the GFO off line and am continuing the NoPox at a maintenance level.... I'll keep testing evey other day to watch po4 and see if it stays at .05 or with GFO out it starts climbing again. I'll report back in a week or so. Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

Any update on this over the summer?

 

[14 foot reef]

PO4 still comes back up without GFO ... Nitrates are 4-6 and with GFO PO4 staying around .05........If I pull the GFO it rises, can't find the PO4 spurce, but just updated the skimmer to a massive RK2 Comercial Skimmer. See my other post for pics.

The red cirled skimmer is the old Precision Marine with dual becketts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the update!

 

[ReefBud508]

I've read many different opinions on this and am little confused on if this is a good or bad idea. On the instructions of Red Sea NoPox, it says NOT to combine the two.(GFO & NoPox) but I've read many different opinions. My system is 850 gallons mixed reef
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate about 25 per Nyos kit
Ph 8.2
DKH 8.6
Calcium 425
po4 1.0 Yes 1.0 no typo
Magnesium about 1525 per RedSea Kit
Was running Triton method for about 18 months, but recently moving to AWC daily and weaning off the triton method.
Fritz Reef Pro
10x turn over from reef to sump
MP60's qty -2
One return pump through oceans motion valve.
9 Kessil 360's with 12' of Aquatic Life t5 over the 14' long tank.

The tank is just not doing well and loosing sps slowly a couple pieces doing ok, just nothing great. With this system it seams like I should be having much better results.
Nitrate went up to 40 or 50 before I started auto water change so introducing the NoPox and gfo to get the nitrates and po4 down. Thanks ahead of time for any advise on this method for lowering the two.

Thats such a ****** tank man wow is it me or can you separate the two ends and have like 3 different tank in one? if so that is genius awesome way to be able to have everything you want all in one kinda of jealous