NOPOX and phosphate

ElitePirate · Mar 29, 2019

Hi guys

Just trying to get a survey from you guys - experienced reefers..

My phosphate level seems to be bit high (not that high, but slightly increasing).. i just did a test using 2 different test kits and its showing reading like 0,20 mg/l.

Last time i used to dose NOPOX daily but i stopped using that eventually.. I'm doing regular water changes etc and im not seeing any algae growth.

So my question -

1) is it ok to use NOPOX on a daily basis like a maintenance kinda thing? or should i stop after a while
2) anyone using NOPOX daily without any issues so far?

Thanks!

Bpb · Mar 29, 2019

ElitePirate said:
Hi guys

Just trying to get a survey from you guys - experienced reefers..

My phosphate level seems to be bit high (not that high, but slightly increasing).. i just did a test using 2 different test kits and its showing reading like 0,20 mg/l.

Last time i used to dose NOPOX daily but i stopped using that eventually.. I'm doing regular water changes etc and im not seeing any algae growth.

So my question -

1) is it ok to use NOPOX on a daily basis like a maintenance kinda thing? or should i stop after a while
2) anyone using NOPOX daily without any issues so far?

Thanks!

NOPOX is designed to be used daily to maintain bacterial overgrowth which keeps nitrate levels down. It won’t do much if used intermittently. As opposed to something like phosphate rx which immediately removes phosphate via a chemical reaction.

ZoWhat · Mar 29, 2019

I have a side note: According to Randy Holmes Farley.... his words, not mine, Nopox is mostly:

50% ethanol (which is 80proof vodka)
50% vinegar at an acidity of 3-5%

Mix and dose those together and you have Nopox

I make my own on the cheap and use it DAILY for the last 9mos.... I have an encrusting monti that was 99% dead. Its now fully healed and growing like crazy with my daily vodka/vinegar dose.

I've had multi 0pl beg me to quit carbon dosing....but I will not after seeing how it brought a lot of drab corals back to life.

You def can OVERDO carbon dosing. You need to find that sweet spot. For my 240g total water system I dose I shot glass (1.5ozs) of vodka and 1 shot glass of vinegar daily.

it works great other than an occasional good bacteria bloom making the water cloudy for a week. Then I skip a couple daily doses.

I'll take cloudy water over GHA killing my Zoas every time

gtrider · Mar 29, 2019

that translates to .2 ppm, right? what reason do you want to get that down? are you having algae problems?

ElitePirate · Mar 29, 2019

Thank you @Bpb and @skimjim

@gtrider no, i do not have any algae growth.. after a very long time now only i managed to reduce nitrate level.. so thats why wanted to ask if i should continue NOPOX like a daily dose or if its gonna harm my system. seems like we should use NOPOX for a long time, but im not sure if its necessary or not.

my phosphate was around .1ppm , i can see its increasing slightly. thats why thinking of a permanent solution

jda · Mar 29, 2019

GFO or LC are better at lowering JUST phosphate than organic carbon. It can be dangerous to use to lower phosphates alone.

Organic Carbon will need a lot of nitrate to also work and you can drive nitrate too low while taking the phosphate down. If you have a nitrate problem as well, then organic carbon could be a great idea.

All of that said, .2 is not a huge problem, so you have time. Natural methods like fuges, algae reactors, turf scrubbers are good ideas. If you have a new(er) tank, then this could take care of it's self over time. In the mean time, read up on aragonite binding of phosphate because if you have phosphate in the water, there is a bunch bound in the rocks and sand too. If you started with dead/dry rock, then the phosphates might keep climbing for a year or two in which case you might need some GFO or Lan Chloride. Some more tank details might help.