Nopox dosing, some observations

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

hey everyone

I have a 40 gal breeder that I use as a frag tank. It has a Midas blenny and a small yellow coris wrasse/canary wrasse.
Nitrates before dosing = 15-18 ppm
I did a dose of 4ml at 6pm yesterday. I estimate to have about 30-35 gal water. Hindsight I should have dosed half of the 4ml...
So I woke up this morning and the tank is hazy. Not cloudy, no bloom that I can see but it's just a little "off". I'm skimming wet. All inhabitants and coral seem fine this morning.
Also it smells different. I'm used to no smell in my tanks, and there's definitely a weird smell but I can't id it. Has anyone come across this weird smell when dosing?
Here's some pics. The nem tank is to show how clear the water was last night vs today in the 40:

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

Is there a rep from Red Sea?
@RedSeaKev
The entire room now smells weird like the aquarium....
Still pretty cloudy but as it's first dose, I don't think I could have overdosed...

Bunnee911 · Mar 18, 2017

You have a bacterial bloom from the overdose. Back off the dose and slowly ramp it up. This process takes time.

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

Hmm so overdose must be subjective lol
Now...it doesn't say to dose daily but is that what is supposed to happen? I was going to see what happened after a few days and dose maybe once a week.
i guess I'll test the important things and then wait.

AdamNC · Mar 18, 2017

It's best to does a little each day. I have been using NoPoX for about a year and in a 29 gallon with 20 gallons volume of water, I dose 2ml/day. I think I started at .5ml/day.

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

Ah so it was probably moreso a big initial dose.

AdamNC · Mar 18, 2017

Probably just the initial shock of a new chemical being added. It will clear up, just take it slow. Any type of carbon dosing dosen't happen over night. It took mine about 3 months to go from 25ppm down to about 5ppm. And that's with bi monthly 25% water changes. Everyone's tank is different, mine just took forever.

SPR1968 · Mar 18, 2017

ahiggins said:
Hmm so overdose must be subjective lol
Now...it doesn't say to dose daily but is that what is supposed to happen? I was going to see what happened after a few days and dose maybe once a week.
i guess I'll test the important things and then wait.

You need to dose it daily as basically your feeding bacteria so they multiply and very simply get rid of the nitrates and to a lesser extent phosphates. If you don't feed them they will die back

The correct dosage for nitrates above 10ppm is 3ml per 100litres or 25gallons as per instructions and then this reduces as the nitrates drop.

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

SPR1968 said:
You need to dose it daily as basically your feeding bacteria so they multiply and very simply get rid of the nitrates and to a lesser extent phosphates. If you don't feed them they will die back

The correct dosage for nitrates above 10ppm is 3ml per 100litres or 25gallons as per instructions and then this reduces as the nitrates drop.

Interesting. I'm at 15-18 ppm and I dosed 4ml for roughly 30-35 gal. And I got a bloom. I'm worried that even if I cut by 50% it will continue to get worse (the bloom)

SPR1968 · Mar 18, 2017

ahiggins said:
Interesting. I'm at 15-18 ppm and I dosed 4ml for roughly 30-35 gal. And I got a bloom. I'm worried that even if I cut by 50% it will continue to get worse (the bloom)

Just start out at 50% or maybe even less until your comfortable and then build back up to the correct dosage if your a little cautious about it.

All systems are different after all.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 18, 2017

Any organic carbon dosing can lead to a bloom, especially if added all at once so you do not build up bacteria on surfaces such as live rock.

But the bacteria need to grow somewhere. It isn't necessarily any problem that they are in the water column, except from an aesthetic standpoint.

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Any organic carbon dosing can lead to a bloom, especially if added all at once so you do not build up bacteria on surfaces such as live rock.

But the bacteria need to grow somewhere. It isn't necessarily any problem that they are in the water column, except from an aesthetic standpoint.

That's what I needed to know. Ok. Lol
Am I safe to keep adding daily-at 2ml instead of 4 for now? Assuming I don't see a drop in nitrates? Fish and coral aren't affected as of yet. I just wanted to be 100% sure it wasn't an ammonia spike or something crazy.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 18, 2017

ahiggins said:
That's what I needed to know. Ok. Lol
Am I safe to keep adding daily-at 2ml instead of 4 for now? Assuming I don't see a drop in nitrates? Fish and coral aren't affected as of yet. I just wanted to be 100% sure it wasn't an ammonia spike or something crazy.

I do not know if it will stop the bloom, but it is "safe"

ahiggins · Mar 18, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I do not know if it will stop the bloom, but it is "safe"

Well the bloom will eventually be taken care of with wet skimming. And since if safe for inhabitants, I don't need to worry about the hazy water. Am I correct?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 19, 2017

ahiggins said:
Well the bloom will eventually be taken care of with wet skimming. And since if safe for inhabitants, I don't need to worry about the hazy water. Am I correct?

probably. A few folks get blooms that won't skim out. But I'd just wait and see.

ahiggins · Mar 19, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
probably. A few folks get blooms that won't skim out. But I'd just wait and see.

Thank you

becks · Mar 20, 2017

Sorry to hijack a carbon dosing thread but does carbon dosing always cause white film to build up in the tank? On the glass etc

slicko · Mar 20, 2017

becks said:
Sorry to hijack a carbon dosing thread but does carbon dosing always cause white film to build up in the tank? On the glass etc

No not always. it is a sign of overdosing or a sign that there is not enough rock/bacteria area for the bacteria to colonate.

ahiggins · Mar 20, 2017

Good news, tank isn't cloudy anymore

FLSharkvictim · Mar 29, 2017

I just got a reading was 13 ppm on my Hanner Checker UL....I have a 120 gallon system with just a few frags of LPS & some soft corals in my tank, so I just started my NOPOX dosing @ 5mls a day.
Here a few pixs that I believe that I have a small bloom of Dinoflagellates.. So, I am reducing my intensity of my Hydra Twenty Six HD LED's. I am raising my PH to 8.4, with my Avast Kalk Reactor.
I turned off my Media reactor which has GFO and Carbon in the canister. Tomorrow will be my 2nd dose. @Randy Holmes-Farley, what are your thoughts on this issue.