Share your experience with Red Sea NOPOX

[DraggingTail]

I used nopox and hc Gfo. Nopox gets nitrates and some phosphates, hc gfo get the rest of phos.

Go slow at first and watch your nutrients.

Dang. My algae not like that. Lol

 

[1stNoel]

I use NOPOX and I like it. What I like most is when the skimmer starts processing it, it fills the room with a sweet, sugary scent as opposed to the fish poop smell.

For the algae issues you have, I'd recommend Vibrant. It works slow (as anything should in a reef tank), but within 6-8 weeks you'll get rid of a lot of the nuisance algae. It completely eradicated a bryopsis and bubble algae outbreak that I had.

 

[Mhart032]

up your flow through the fuge or add a small powerhead to get rid on the cyano. could go dark in the fuge as well. the Po2 and nitrates will still feed the macro algae, also adding a cuc to the fuge if you dont have one is a great idea. a few crabs and snails will help keep it tidy.

A holistic approach to reefing seems to be the best choice. I was very slow to learn this and dosed all kinds of stuff that inevitably lead to tear downs, rebuilds, breaks in the hobby and so on. with exception to dosing for coral growth and color if need be. In the book by Forest Rohwer Coral reefs in the microbial seas, it explains a lot about the symbiotic relationship b/t corals and microorganisms in algae specifically. (thanks @Timfish for the extended learning and book suggestions)

 

[BPF42]

I have been using NoPox for the last couple of months in two of my 55 gallon tanks with fish and live rock only. I have had issues with my nitrates between 60 and 80 ppm. After slowly using NoPox with a calcium reactor, after about a month my nitrates dropped in both tanks to 5-10 ppm. I wonder if those that say they would not use it again, maybe added too much too quickly. Overall, I have been happy with the results I have achieved with it. I should also note that I added Brightwell NO3 Cubes based on advice from my LFS.

 

[DraggingTail]

I wanted to update this thread.

I have been dosing NoPox for a while now. I auto dose 2ml per day. I started with 4ml per day and have back off down to 2ml which keeps nitrates around 2ppm.

I have noticed that my coral lightened up and then slowly darkened back up with the product. However, they are not nearly as dark as they were when nitrates were 40 ppm.

 

[Bob Escher]

I also dose NOPOX daily 3ml a day as well and and my nitrates stay at around 2ppm as well

 

[DraggingTail]

I also dose NOPOX daily 3ml a day as well and and my nitrates stay at around 2ppm as well

I think the coral like the higher nitrates but then you get the algae.....

 

[Bob Escher]

I have for some reason hair algae growing only one one rock in my whole tank. I cant explain why but only on the one

 

[DraggingTail]

I have for some reason hair algae growing only one one rock in my whole tank. I cant explain why but only on the one

I have some algae here and there. It doesn't bother me. If you want to get ride of it, squirt a little peroxide right on it. It will die immediately. I use a syringe with about 100cc of peroxide.

However, I don't think a little GHA hurts a thing

 

[Intheflesh]

my experience with NoPox: Was able to get nitrates down to 0, but always had a phosphate reading of .08 or so. Had algae issue as a result of the imbalance. Wondering if dosing nitrates would be the answer.

 

[DraggingTail]

my experience with NoPox: Was able to get nitrates down to 0, but always had a phosphate reading of .08 or so. Had algae issue as a result of the imbalance. Wondering if dosing nitrates would be the answer.

I would not dose anything. I would back off the NoPox. You don't want 0 nitrates. Feed some more, add some fish, something to get nutrients up. And, dry food is BAD, my issues have went away since I stopped sinking pellets. Sure the fish LOVE them but frozen is better for the tank

 

[Intheflesh]

I actually stopped dosing NoPox and moved to full Zeovit because I had success with it on my previous tank.

 

[Soggydrysuit]

Hi everyone again, I'll try not to hijack this thread with my own tanks but I am interested in the chemistry and biochemistry of what happens with carbon dosing? And the vinegar chart - is that 5% acetic acid in 500 ml in white vinegar, if I could ask please?

My angle is FOWLR but anything good for a reef is interesting because they have to be very stable in terms of salinity, pH and temperature to name a few parameters. So thanks to all the posters here esp Redfishbluefish, Saltyhog and Dragging tail for the info in this post.

I understand that this whole thing works by encouraging anaerobic bacteria to feed on nitrate. Those bacteria can only live in very low oxygen concentrations which can be present in low density LR or certain ceramic media or a foot deep DSB (!). From my angle I don't understand exactly how this works biochemically. From posters here I have read that NOPOX, additions of commercial bacteria (if that is possible with anaerobic bacteria) and either vinegar or vodka (does sugar work?) or both all work to reduce nitrate.

Is there a relationship between nitrate and phosphate chemistry? Or pH? I'm aware of the buffer qualities of hardness (carbonate or general) with massive pH swings (I have this from fresh water chemistry). I'm FOWLR at the moment, so my interest is cutting down slightly on the water changes I need to do. In the past and I'm sure it will happen again with my current systems my nitrate climbs over 40 ppm quite quickly.

I have had to do 25% weekly in the past to keep it under control. I think my underlying is feeding frozen food and flake to the damsels when I had those. Now it's garlic enriched brine and mysis. My current fish have only been in the DT, which is under observational QT, since Monday (occelaris clowns and coral beauty) and I'm still finding how much to feed and when (Nori being added next time I'm in a supermaket). But that nitrate will climb so I'm up for a 25% wc this weekend.

Again, I think my underlying issues are overfeeding and nitrate being released from the LR or sand, even though I did two 100% changes in the DT after I lost my last damsel. That using water I'd made up in my build tank and let it stabilise for a week before transferring to DT so as not to destroy the bacteria in my LR. I'm not going to dose anything but will go with a 25% wc this weekend. Anyway sorry for the thread hijack bit there - that was my context.

I found another post useful on this thread concerning detritus in sand and on LR - maybe this 'dirty' aspect is a breeding ground for disease causing bacteria or viruses? Tanks with LR and one or two inches of sand - maybe this was the cause of my loosing H. barbori seahorses to bacterial infection?

Looking more deeply into this reef keeping forum is already suggesting better ways of doing things better.

 

[DraggingTail]

Hi everyone again, I'll try not to hijack this thread with my own tanks but I am interested in the chemistry and biochemistry of what happens with carbon dosing? And the vinegar chart - is that 5% acetic acid in 500 ml in white vinegar, if I could ask please?

My angle is FOWLR but anything good for a reef is interesting because they have to be very stable in terms of salinity, pH and temperature to name a few parameters. So thanks to all the posters here esp Redfishbluefish, Saltyhog and Dragging tail for the info in this post.

I understand that this whole thing works by encouraging anaerobic bacteria to feed on nitrate. Those bacteria can only live in very low oxygen concentrations which can be present in low density LR or certain ceramic media or a foot deep DSB (!). From my angle I don't understand exactly how this works biochemically. From posters here I have read that NOPOX, additions of commercial bacteria (if that is possible with anaerobic bacteria) and either vinegar or vodka (does sugar work?) or both all work to reduce nitrate.

Is there a relationship between nitrate and phosphate chemistry? Or pH? I'm aware of the buffer qualities of hardness (carbonate or general) with massive pH swings (I have this from fresh water chemistry). I'm FOWLR at the moment, so my interest is cutting down slightly on the water changes I need to do. In the past and I'm sure it will happen again with my current systems my nitrate climbs over 40 ppm quite quickly.

I have had to do 25% weekly in the past to keep it under control. I think my underlying is feeding frozen food and flake to the damsels when I had those. Now it's garlic enriched brine and mysis. My current fish have only been in the DT, which is under observational QT, since Monday (occelaris clowns and coral beauty) and I'm still finding how much to feed and when (Nori being added next time I'm in a supermaket). But that nitrate will climb so I'm up for a 25% wc this weekend.

Again, I think my underlying issues are overfeeding and nitrate being released from the LR or sand, even though I did two 100% changes in the DT after I lost my last damsel. That using water I'd made up in my build tank and let it stabilise for a week before transferring to DT so as not to destroy the bacteria in my LR. I'm not going to dose anything but will go with a 25% wc this weekend. Anyway sorry for the thread hijack bit there - that was my context.

I found another post useful on this thread concerning detritus in sand and on LR - maybe this 'dirty' aspect is a breeding ground for disease causing bacteria or viruses? Tanks with LR and one or two inches of sand - maybe this was the cause of my loosing H. barbori seahorses to bacterial infection?

Looking more deeply into this reef keeping forum is already suggesting better ways of doing things better.

From what I understand carbon allows a larger population of bacteria to thrive specifically the bacteria that convert nitrate to nitrogen.

 

[Kelvin]

I also dose NOPOX daily 3ml a day as well and and my nitrates stay at around 2ppm as well

How big is your aquarium??

 

[Jonify]

Chiming in to revive the thread ... I've used NOPOX to start up 2 tanks, since it's part of Red Sea's Reef Mature program. One thing I have learned is to NOT use their recommended starting dose. It is too much, and you will end up with white slime. I did, both times. For new tanks, my recommendation is, like the others have mentioned, to start with 1/3 the recommended dose (so 1ml for a 25 gal tank), then test nitrates every couple of days and very slowly up the dose until your nitrates are hanging around 2.5 ppm. If you want to go lower, you can, but then you're in ULNS territory.

 

[User1]

Chiming in to revive the thread ... I've used NOPOX to start up 2 tanks, since it's part of Red Sea's Reef Mature program. One thing I have learned is to NOT use their recommended starting dose. It is too much, and you will end up with white slime. I did, both times. For new tanks, my recommendation is, like the others have mentioned, to start with 1/3 the recommended dose (so 1ml for a 25 gal tank), then test nitrates every couple of days and very slowly up the dose until your nitrates are hanging around 2.5 ppm. If you want to go lower, you can, but then you're in ULNS territory.

Yup!!!! 1/3 the recommended dosing is what most hobbyists recommend. No doubt. Also it is wise to factor in the real water volume and not use the tank size. There is a calculator somewhere that factors in tank size, rock, sand, sump, etc and gives a better estimate. That is what I use for all my dosing purposes .

NoPox works but I don't agree with Red Sea as a standard part of dosing but maybe you do if you do all of their additives. I've used it and it took out my phosphates first. I do like it but haven't dosed it for some time now. Pukani rock is why I had to - leaches phosphates like no tomorrow.