NoPOx and Reactor in Use...Zero on Phos/Nitrates

[jphilip813]

So I tested two nights ago (Salifert Test Kits) and noticed I had registered Zero on phosphates as well as Nitrates...I currently dose the RedSea NoPOX as well as have a reactor with RowasPhos running and biopellets running; yet still see what looks like cyanobacteria. I also have a refugium where the cheato on a daily basis needs to be freed from the dark colored slim of what I think is cyanobacteria....who knows..., YET, I still have cyanobacteria on some of my corals...(See Photos) So I needed your advice on what I am possibly doing wrong...should I stop dosing or shut off the reactor or both?

 

[Vamsi]

I think with the NoPOX, reactor with RowasPhos is running your readings negative. And I think due to that imbalance you are getting cyano. Did you try stopping NoPOX and putting the reactor offline and see what the results are ?

NoPox clearly states that you shouldn't be using with any-other nutrient control methods. Cant recall the exact wordings.

How old is the tank? How are your corals doing. Post some readings please.

 

[SPR1968]

You want to keep very low phosphate levels at around 0.03 as a good guide, so I would leave the rhowaphos in place, but you don’t want zero nitrate otherwise as you’ve found it can cause issues so I would try and increase it.

In my new system I deliberately added many fish (30 on day one, but it’s big) from the start, with skimmer off, to get nitrates up as quickly as I could to try and avoid such issues.

You could add more fish as an easy solution and feed them more and in the meantime I would reduce the Nopox dose to a minimum, as per the instructions. If you don’t want to add fish then try feeding more.

I would possibly consider slowly reducing and then stopping Nopox dosing altogether until you need it again, but I’m a little hesitant to say stop incase it triggers a bacteria issue of some kind.

 

[jphilip813]

I think with the NoPOX, reactor with RowasPhos is running your readings negative. And I think due to that imbalance you are getting cyano. Did you try stopping NoPOX and putting the reactor offline and see what the results are ?

How old is the tank? How are your corals doing. Post some readings please.

HI, thanks for the response...the tank is about 4yrs old...The corals are doing ok...except for the Green star polps...they seems to struggle...attached are the latest numbers

 

[Miller535]

I have a similar issue from running bio-pellets and a gfo reactor. It caused me to get dinos. I am about to start dosing nitrates and microbacter7

 

[jphilip813]

You want to keep very low phosphate levels at around 0.03 as a good guide, so I would leave the rhowaphos in place, but you don’t want zero nitrate otherwise as you’ve found it can cause issues so I would try and increase it.

In my new system I deliberately added many fish (30 on day one, but it’s big) from the start, with skimmer off, to get nitrates up as quickly as I could to try and avoid such issues.

You could add more fish as an easy solution and feed them more and in the meantime I would reduce the Nopox dose to a minimum, as per the instructions. If you don’t want to add fish then try feeding more.

I would possibly consider slowly reducing and then stopping Nopox dosing altogether until you need it again, but I’m a little hesitant to say stop incase it triggers a bacteria issue of some kind.

I like your idea of feeding more...I only feed twice a day....10am and 4pm and I probably will reduce the NoPOx to half of what I put in there....Thanks for the feedback

 

[Vamsi]

HI, thanks for the response...the tank is about 4yrs old...The corals are doing ok...except for the Green star polps...they seems to struggle...attached are the latest numbers

I think your numbers are ok, concern would be your Kh is 9 on the higher side and your tank is very low in nutrients. Irrespective what you use for nutrient control, your phosphates and Nitrates should never be zero. a good phosphate numberis would <.1 and some Nitrates. I do not want to specify a number for the Nitrates cos every tank is different. I believe right now your Phosphates and Nitrates are zero. And that is what is causing your cyano as there is no balance between those two. Someone more experienced can chime in and give you more advice.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Corals seem a little unhappy could be hungry since phosphates and nitrates are zero something like Red Sea A & B coral nutrition would give them nutrients

 

[jphilip813]

Corals seem a little unhappy could be hungry since phosphates and nitrates are zero something like Red Sea A & B coral nutrition would give them nutrients

HI thx for your input, greatly appreciated...I actually use A/B Red-sea once or twice a week

 

[jphilip813]

I have a similar issue from running bio-pellets and a gfo reactor. It caused me to get dinos. I am about to start dosing nitrates and microbacter7

Let me know what are your results...very interested to know