Nopox and phosphates

[brownjoshua475]

I'm dosing nopox in my tank but I'm still having green hair algae problems should I also run a phosphates remover, feed less, or up my dose with nopox

 

[ScottR]

In my experience, nopox doesn’t work well for phosphate removal. They recommend not running GFO while dosing nopox, but you definitely can but just make sure to watch your phosphates regularly.

Where are your phosphates and nitrates now? And what test kit are you using?

 

[brownjoshua475]

Right now nitrates .05ppm and I cant get phosphates to show up on test kit but still have algae growing in tank. I'm using the salifert line for all my parameters

 

[redfishbluefish]

What is critical with Nopox (or any and all carbon dosing) is that you need three things.....a skimmer, nitrates and phosphates. If any one of these things are missing, it doesn't work. Now export of nitrates and phosphates are in the ball park of the Redfield ratio. So for every big chunk of nitrates that are removed, a little bit of phosphates will be included. If you've depleted all your nitrates, and you still have a good amount of phosphates around, then you could consider running a phosphate lowering agent (GFO, as an example). Otherwise, I would not run a phosphate lowering agent.

I don't know what you're dosing for Nopox, but you might just need to dose more if you're not seeing N's and P's lowering.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Right now nitrates .05ppm and I cant get phosphates to show up on test kit but still have algae growing in tank. I'm using the salifert line for all my parameters

You responded while I was typing above. At that low an N number and P being undetectable, I'd actually cut back on the Nopox dosing, and consider going to a "maintenance" dose.

 

[brownjoshua475]

Ok thanks I do run a skimmer and I do know for sure i have phos in the tank because of the green hair algae in the tank

 

[mta_morrow]

Whoa there!

I dose homemade NoPox, 15 ml in 130 gal volume.

My NO3 is always 8-12 ppm and PO4 is .03 - .08 ppm.

I have no algae.

You have basically 0 nitrates and phosphates which is not good.

First how big is your tank and how long has it been up and running?

Pics too.

Are your test kits expired?

Let’s start there.

 

[brownjoshua475]

You responded while I was typing above. At that low an N number and P being undetectable, I'd actually cut back on the Nopox dosing, and consider going to a "maintenance" dose.

Ok what would a maintenance dose consist of. I know I have phosphates because of the green hair algae

 

[brownjoshua475]

It's a 32 gallon biocube and been up for a year and test aren't expirrd

 

[mta_morrow]

In my experience, nopox doesn’t work well for phosphate removal. They recommend not running GFO while dosing nopox, but you definitely can but just make sure to watch your phosphates regularly.

Where are your phosphates and nitrates now? And what test kit are you using?

Just an FYI on NoPox, when you get your NO3 and PO4 to where you want them, NoPox does great at maintaining.

I used it to get my nitrates down while using rowaphos to get phosphates in line about a year ago.

Since then, I’ve been rock steady for a year now.

Just sharing some info there

 

[mta_morrow]

Ok what would a maintenance dose consist of. I know I have phosphates because of the green hair algae

On the bottle or box are the instructions for dosing to lower and maintenance.

I don’t have either as I make my own but I used their recommendations from the website.

 

[brownjoshua475]

Just an FYI on NoPox, when you get your NO3 and PO4 to where you want them, NoPox does great at maintaining.

I used it to get my nitrates down while using rowaphos to get phosphates in line about a year ago.

Since then, I’ve been rock steady for a year now.

Just sharing some info there

Did you stop the nopox when you get to the right levels or do you keep dosing

 

[brownjoshua475]

I would go by the recommend dose but I was told I should cut the dose in half so that's what I've been doing

 

[mta_morrow]

I dose 15 ml every day now. That is my maintenance dose.

 

[brownjoshua475]

Ok thanks

 

[redfishbluefish]

Think of this as a competition...two teams....the algaes versus the bacterias. What is happening now is the the algaes are grabbing all the nitrates and phosphates before the bacterias can get to them. So what I'd do is to try to manually remove as much of the algae as you can so that you can give the bacteria an advantage at grabbing some of that nitrate and phosphate. Continue doing this until the bacteria have the upper hand on consuming the N's and P's.

As far as dosing, NOPOX came out with new dosing instructions that more or less said the same thing as the old instructions, but were very confusing and difficult to comprehend. So here's the old instructions, which for me were straight forward:

Measured Level (ppm)..............Daily Dose ml/100 L (25 gal)
NO3 above 10 ---------------------------------------3
NO3 above 2.5, but less than 10 -------------2
NO3 above 1 but less than 2.5 ----------------1

So "maintenance" dose is once you get nitrates to where you want them, you continue to dose that amount.....1 ml per 25 gallons. Adjust dose as needed to maintain that level of nitrates.


If you're interested, here are the newer instructions (which I find more confusing):

 

[mta_morrow]

+1 on what @redfishbluefish said.

How bad is your GHA?

Can you provide some pics and tank size?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Oh, and for what it's worth, I too am a DIY NOPOX user (as determined by a college professor and his grad students using NMR)....mix of 500 mls vinegar (5%), 375 mls vodka (80 proof), and 125 mls RO/DI water. Dose as per instructions for NOPOX.

 

[brownjoshua475]

Think of this as a competition...two teams....the algaes versus the bacterias. What is happening now is the the algaes are grabbing all the nitrates and phosphates before the bacterias can get to them. So what I'd do is to try to manually remove as much of the algae as you can so that you can give the bacteria an advantage at grabbing some of that nitrate and phosphate. Continue doing this until the bacteria have the upper hand on consuming the N's and P's.

As far as dosing, NOPOX came out with new dosing instructions that more or less said the same thing as the old instructions, but were very confusing and difficult to comprehend. So here's the old instructions, which for me were straight forward:

Measured Level (ppm)..............Daily Dose ml/100 L (25 gal)
NO3 above 10 ---------------------------------------3
NO3 above 2.5, but less than 10 -------------2
NO3 above 1 but less than 2.5 ----------------1

So "maintenance" dose is once you get nitrates to where you want them, you continue to dose that amount.....1 ml per 25 gallons. Adjust dose as needed to maintain that level of nitrates.


If you're interested, here are the newer instructions (which I find more confusing):

Ok thanks that helps a lot

 

[brownjoshua475]

+1 on what @redfishbluefish said.

How bad is your GHA?

Can you provide some pics and tank size?

Just a few big patches and 32 gallon