Has anyone been successful/tried running NOPOX with Vibrant? Right now, I'm battling to get my tank of 5 years back to a tank I'm interested in again after years of algae problems. There's some GHA all over the tank, but the past few months I've been consistently dosing NOPOX, physical removal, and doing bi-weekly water changes, which have seemed to considerably lower the amount of algae. I'm considering adding Vibrant to rid the tank of the remaining GHA, while continuing to dose NOPOX. Is this a good idea? Any problems mixing the two? Obviously I'd rather not be using two chemicals in my tank, but after years of algae problems, I'm kind of up for anything at this point.
NOPOX and Vibrant?
- Thread starter Jmunk
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ZoWhat
10K Club member
NoPox active ingredients:
1 part ethanol (like 80proof vodka)
1 part vinegar (5% acidity)
1 part RODI water
Vibrant:
95% active nutrifying bacteria
Many many many ppl DIY it themselves
1 part ethanol (like 80proof vodka)
1 part vinegar (5% acidity)
1 part RODI water
Vibrant:
95% active nutrifying bacteria
Many many many ppl DIY it themselves
Last edited:
ZoWhat
10K Club member
What's your Phosphates testing at? Nopox and Vibrant do little to reduce PO4.
A little NO3 is great for corals and zooxanthellae
PO4 has no biz being in your glass box
In my 15yrs the only ways to control PO4:
1- make sure your source RODI water doesn't have PO4
2- make sure your fish food isn't smothered in Phosphates
3- do big % water changes religiously
4- dose lanthanum chloride weekly.
I do 1, 2 and 4.
Tested two days ago, it was at .25. Actually quite a bit down since a few months ago. I actually have phosphate rx on hand, which I believe is essentially lanthanum chloride. I wonder if I shouldn't switch from NOPOX to PRX instead.
ZoWhat
10K Club member
You have to determine the source of your algae. From NO3 and/or PO4
And where it's coming from? Fish food, additives?
Well that's the whole problem, it's not really easy to tell.
If I had to guess it would be two parts:
1) Lack of husbandry for an extended period of time. There was no water changes done for several months, and so algae ran rampant.
2) PO4 leaching from the rocks, maybe because of step 1.
I don't have PO4 in new salwater, and I use frozen mysis and brine for food. I don't think I'm anywhere near overfeeding either. I also have an adequate skimmer, Reef Octopus 200 INT.
You are going to have a massive amount of P bound into the sand and rocks. Lan Chloride is going to be your best bet until you get it a lot lower. Steady, slow dosing will get the job done, but it will take work and some time, but you did not get here overnight either. You want to go slow enough that the rock and sand can unbind as you remove P from the water - you can go too fast, lower the water P level to nearly nothing and then it can jump back up over the next few days as the P unbinds from the aragonite or calcite... this kind of up/down can be harmful.
If you have room, get a second skimmer. It will really help.
Once you get the N and P to lower levels... then get an army of urchins. They are like $7 apiece at ReefTopia and they destroy algae in good numbers. They will die with high levels of N and P. Once they do thier job, then give some away to the locals and make some friends or trade for some frags. I am talking like 1 per 10 gallons, not just one or two of them.
If you have room, get a second skimmer. It will really help.
Once you get the N and P to lower levels... then get an army of urchins. They are like $7 apiece at ReefTopia and they destroy algae in good numbers. They will die with high levels of N and P. Once they do thier job, then give some away to the locals and make some friends or trade for some frags. I am talking like 1 per 10 gallons, not just one or two of them.
ZoWhat
10K Club member
Yep. My current tank is like 8yrs old.
My LR waaaaas saturated with NO3/PO4 leaching into the water with the LR being 8yrs in-service.
I recently over the course of a week....took every LR piece out individually and used a pair of tweezers to pull hair algae off and then used a syringe to spot treat any open LR spots with H2O2.
Pulling with tweezers....spotting with H2O2 then a final scrub with a small handheld nylon toothed brush...was my routine
I'm pleased with the results even though it took a lot of time.
.
Thanks for the advice.
I think that'll be the plan, slowly and steadily dose Phosphate RX and do regular water changes. I'm not looking for change overnight, so the slower the better. I guess I'll stop dosing NOPOXsine it doesn't seem to be doing much for my scenario.
I would pick one. NoPOX can be fine if you have a N problem too, but if it just P, then Phos RX would work better. What is your N?
Eventually, the Phos Rx will not work anymore and you have to switch to GFO... but this is a good thing since you will be pretty low by then.
Eventually, the Phos Rx will not work anymore and you have to switch to GFO... but this is a good thing since you will be pretty low by then.
Honestly, I'm not even sure what N is, don't have a test kit on hand for that.
I've heard a lot of people use PRX as kind of a substitute for GFO. Was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to deal with GFO.
N test kits suck. Get a Salifert and it is just a swag, but this is helpful... near clear means that you are OK and really dark means that you are in trouble. In the middle is in the middle. I know that this is not absolute, but it does help a bit to have an idea. They are only like $13.
If you are "clear" then that means that your algae is using it all up and that NoPOX will not work.
If you are "clear" then that means that your algae is using it all up and that NoPOX will not work.
Now that my plan of attack is just to slowly lower PO4 with Phosphate RX, my question now is if Vibrant is safe with Phosphate RX? Should I JUST stick with PRX, or combine it with Vibrant to rid the algae and then PRX to control the PO4 levels?
TimD
Community Member
I had an algae problem but since I’ve been rinsing my frozen food it’s got a lot better
