NOPOX and Vibrant

[BigOC]

Hi everyone - I have been fighting hair algae for a while and started usign Vibrant a few months ago. It seems to have some some success weakening the algae as I can peel off chunks of it on weekly basis.

I was getting a bit anxious (i know ... I shouldn't) as it has been a few months and thought of dosing NOPOX as well becuase my nitrates were getting a bit higher than usual. They have been normally around 2-3 ppm and I guess that due to the summer (less husbandry) they increased to 8-10 ppm despite the weekly water changes. I have been doing half of the recommended dosis for about 10 days now and it has done a great job bringing the nitrates down to 1 ppm.

Now my question is, will NOPOX help me control the algae if I stop dosing Vibrant? I am not sure how much they interfere with each other and if the Vibrant is still working (moderately as it was).

My system has ~43 gallons with primarily zoas a a few LPS, and a cople of ocellaries. I feed them primarily frozen once a day.

Parameters are more or less stable (due to water changes, Kalk and sporadic manual addition of Red Sea Alk/Ca/Mg)
Alk: 8.3 - 8.6 dKH
Ca: 380 - 400 ppm
Mg: 1,350 - 1,400 ppm
Nitrate: 1 - 3 ppm
Phosphate: 0.02 - 0.05 ppm

Thanks!

 

[LxHowler]

nopox won't directly help with algae in the way that vibrant does. It will help keep your nitrates and phosphate under control meaning you have less nutrients for the algae to feed on and slow the growth.
I know nopox is suppose to have metals and elements that promote benificial bacteria to prevent algae aswell I don't know how affective these are. I never found it to stop algae growth when I was dosing it but It did reduce the speed it grew at and how much cleaning was needed during maintenance.

 

[BigOC]

Thanks! That is what I thought, since I started dosing nopox I have see a significant algae growth slowdown.

I shouldn’t have any issues continuing with both right? Will there be any negative consequences? I have not been able to find much on that specific question.

 

[Tony616]

I would get more clean up crew to take care of the algae. I think your levels are fine as it is.
Don't bring your nutrients too low or you'll get hit with dinos, which is 100000 times worst than hair algae.

 

[BigOC]

Sounds good. I’ll add more clean up crew to help me out. I am actually trying to tune the nopox as it is too efficient and with half the recommended dose, the nitrates come down to 0.75ppm so I need to stop for a few days and adjust the dosing. All that with a 43 gal system is a challenge