TM Elimi NP

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Asked this on the TM forum but haven't gotten an answer...

Just switched from NoPox to TM Elimi-NP. Primarily because TM is more concentrated and I was burning thru NoPox. NoPox did bring my NO3 down but PO4 not so much. For PO4 I was using Rowaphos which I stopped using once I switched to TM Elimi-NP. Its been a month since the switch and I will be at my max dosage which I believe is 2.5mls for a 125g tank. Does anyone dose or found themselves having to dose greater than the recommended max dosage?

Pistondog · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
Asked this on the TM forum but haven't gotten an answer...

Just switched from NoPox to TM Elimi-NP. Primarily because TM is more concentrated and I was burning thru NoPox. NoPox did bring my NO3 down but PO4 not so much. For PO4 I was using Rowaphos which I stopped using once I switched to TM Elimi-NP. Its been a month since the switch and I will be at my max dosage which I believe is 2.5mls for a 125g tank. Does anyone dose or found themselves having to dose greater than the recommended max dosage?

I started bacto balance a month ago. I always have phosphates on he high side, 0.1 to 0.4. I dont think any carbon dosing is going to help much with high po4.
Because carbon dosing feeds bacteria, and bacteria consume oxygen in the water, exceeding manufacturers levels risk lowering oxygen levels due to more bacteria.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Why Bacto Balance. Shouldn't you be using Elimi NP until you No3 and Po4 are lower? I thought Bacto Balance was used when you reached your target numbers. Now makes sense about not exceeding the amount stated by TM.

Lavey29 · Mar 13, 2023

Pistondog said:
I started bacto balance a month ago. I always have phosphates on he high side, 0.1 to 0.4. I dont think any carbon dosing is going to help much with high po4.
Because carbon dosing feeds bacteria, and bacteria consume oxygen in the water, exceeding manufacturers levels risk lowering oxygen levels due to more bacteria.

I started half dosing phosphate RX with very good results so far.

Pistondog · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
Why Bacto Balance. Shouldn't you be using Elimi NP until you No3 and Po4 are lower? I thought Bacto Balance was used when you reached your target numbers. Now makes sense about not exceeding the amount stated by TM.

Not so concerned about the nutrient levels. Want carbon to put some bacteria in the water to help feed corals. Others, vinegar, vodka, nopox also promote cyano (bacteria). So lets try bacto balance, which also has some trace elements.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

I used Brightwell's Phosphate-e. It did work but I don't want to be dosing LC all the time. More of an emergency thing. I've seen the video and how safe it is but I've also seen the videos where all the fish died. I dosed slowly into a filter sock and didn't have any issues. Saw Marc dose his tank and I think I was going to have a heart attack. But he has been doin it for a long time so he knows what he is doing.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Pistondog said:
Not so concerned about the nutrient levels. Want carbon to put some bacteria in the water to help feed corals. Others, vinegar, vodka, nopox also promote cyano (bacteria). So lets try bacto balance, which also has some trace elements.

Ahhh. Ok. I get that now!

Pistondog · Mar 13, 2023

Lavey29 said:
I started half dosing phosphate RX with very good results so far.

I'll run lanthanum chloride when the po4 > 0.5ppm
Thanks for the response though.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
Asked this on the TM forum but haven't gotten an answer...

Just switched from NoPox to TM Elimi-NP. Primarily because TM is more concentrated and I was burning thru NoPox. NoPox did bring my NO3 down but PO4 not so much. For PO4 I was using Rowaphos which I stopped using once I switched to TM Elimi-NP. Its been a month since the switch and I will be at my max dosage which I believe is 2.5mls for a 125g tank. Does anyone dose or found themselves having to dose greater than the recommended max dosage?

I am vert familiar with elimi-NP and like No-pox and other vodka sources are often alternatives and not solutions. I have better confidence in Chemipure Blue ( which ive used over 20 years and Chemipure Elite for extreme cases.
Phoszorb. biobeads and other media are safer but truly , to elminate the problem, you have to address the source than with just liquids.
Skimming and increased skimming is always a way to reduce.
Some causes are:
- Overfeeding
- lack of maintenance
- using salt mix high in phosphate
- Use of tap water opposed to RODI water
- something decaying in tank (food or feces)
- False readings - If you have high po4 and no algae- Should raise question

Some things to lower are :
Water changes
Macroalgae
Red Sea po4 reduce
Lessen Feedings and amounts
Add mechanical filtration
Add algae scrubber
Add limewater
Reduce lighting a little

Phosphate is not toxic and it won’t directly harm anything within the tank but will keep algae very happy.
At times , we consider Phosphates above .1 as a high level and begin to combat it when is essence the zooxanthellae within coral are stimulated by phosphate which provides energy for their tissue growth. However if po4 levels are high for an extended period, the zooxanthellae can overpopulate and suddenly you see coral turning brown.
The problem with aiming for po4 levels of .04-.08 is that every tank is different and have different absorption requirements.
A general rule for me is , if I have higher phosphate but dont have algae, keep an eye on it but its likely not causing problems.

Lavey29 · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
I used Brightwell's Phosphate-e. It did work but I don't want to be dosing LC all the time. More of an emergency thing. I've seen the video and how safe it is but I've also seen the videos where all the fish died. I dosed slowly into a filter sock and didn't have any issues. Saw Marc dose his tank and I think I was going to have a heart attack. But he has been doin it for a long time so he knows what he is doing.

I'm not a fan of dosing LC over long periods either. Theoretically once the saturation of phosphates in the rock and sand is used up things should stabilize lower again. They say it take a few weeks to use up what's saturated in the rocks and sand.

Lavey29 · Mar 13, 2023

Pistondog said:
I'll run lanthanum chloride when the po4 > 0.5ppm
Thanks for the response though.

Mine hit .51 so that's why I'm trying it. Dropped to .11 over 3 days dosing.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
I am vert familiar with elimi-NP and like No-pox and other vodka sources are often alternatives and not solutions. I have better confidence in Chemipure Blue ( which ive used over 20 years and Chemipure Elite for extreme cases.
Phoszorb. biobeads and other media are safer but truly , to elminate the problem, you have to address the source than with just liquids.
Skimming and increased skimming is always a way to reduce.
Some causes are:
- Overfeeding
- lack of maintenance
- using salt mix high in phosphate
- Use of tap water opposed to RODI water
- something decaying in tank (food or feces)
- False readings - If you have high po4 and no algae- Should raise question

Some things to lower are :
Water changes
Macroalgae
Red Sea po4 reduce
Lessen Feedings and amounts
Add mechanical filtration
Add algae scrubber
Add limewater
Reduce lighting a little

Phosphate is not toxic and it won’t directly harm anything within the tank but will keep algae very happy.
At times , we consider Phosphates above .1 as a high level and begin to combat it when is essence the zooxanthellae within coral are stimulated by phosphate which provides energy for their tissue growth. However if po4 levels are high for an extended period, the zooxanthellae can overpopulate and suddenly you see coral turning brown.
The problem with aiming for po4 levels of .04-.08 is that every tank is different and have different absorption requirements.
A general rule for me is , if I have higher phosphate but dont have algae, keep an eye on it but its likely not causing problems.

Ohh I know why I have Po4... I have way too many fish lol. But everything else is in check except I dont have an algea scrubber. Now that I stopped the rowaphos I might use the reactor to run biopellets or beeds and see how that goes. I really dont have much algea. I did have alot of bubble algea but with me manually removing and lowering my Po4 (hanna 0.90 Flashing limit) with Phosphate-e and then the Rowaphos I brought it down to 0.20. Now I just have the film on the glass.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Lavey29 said:
I'm not a fan of dosing LC over long periods either. Theoretically once the saturation of phosphates in the rock and sand is used up things should stabilize lower again. They say it take a few weeks to use up what's saturated in the rocks and sand.

Yeah mine was flashing 0.90 on the hanna checker so that when I dosed the Phosphate-E. Once I was around .40 I stopped and started with Rowaphos. Brought it down to 0.20.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
Ohh I know why I have Po4... I have way too many fish lol. But everything else is in check except I dont have an algea scrubber. Now that I stopped the rowaphos I might use the reactor to run biopellets or beeds and see how that goes. I really dont have much algea. I did have alot of bubble algea but with me manually removing and lowering my Po4 (hanna 0.90 Flashing limit) with Phosphate-e and then the Rowaphos I brought it down to 0.20. Now I just have the film on the glass.

I can live with the film and scrubber not a necessity but it helps. Ive seen a huge difference with coral since installed in December and it really does remove substance

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
I can live with the film and scrubber not a necessity but it helps. Ive seen a huge difference with coral since installed in December and it really does remove substance

A buddy of mine has 1 installed and its unbelievable what he harvests. I just wish I had the space for 1. IDK why but he is thinking of taking it off line and installing a bio pellet reactor. Says he wants to see if he can bring his Po4 down more. The algae scrubber did great for his tank on both Po4 and No3 but he wants to go full SPS. I guess he needs the numbers lower for that. He will leave the scrubber on line while the bio pellets kick in. He will take it off when he sees the numbers dropping.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
A buddy of mine has 1 installed and its unbelievable what he harvests. I just wish I had the space for 1. IDK why but he is thinking of taking it off line and installing a bio pellet reactor. Says he wants to see if he can bring his Po4 down more. The algae scrubber did great for his tank on both Po4 and No3 but he wants to go full SPS. I guess he needs the numbers lower for that. He will leave the scrubber on line while the bio pellets kick in. He will take it off when he sees the numbers dropping.

Space is the biggest challenge. I was able to place a glass shelf across the sump and use it as a platform and it is located in a perfect location with no interference for maintenance

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 13, 2023

Coolcasino said:
Just switched from NoPox to TM Elimi-NP. Primarily because TM is more concentrated and I was burning thru NoPox.

Why do you believe it is more concentrated?

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Why do you believe it is more concentrated?

I was dosing up to 15mls of NoPox and I couldn't find a max dose anywhere. TM says the max I should dose is 2.5mls for my tank. Of course the directions say that its super concentrated but id believe TM before Brightwell lol!

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Space is the biggest challenge. I was able to place a glass shelf across the sump and use it as a platform and it is located in a perfect location with no interference for maintenance

I might have a free 1 soon... all depends on how those biopellets do... lol.

Coolcasino · Mar 13, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Why do you believe it is more concentrated?

I might be wrong but at least theoretically I will be dosing less. But the answer is will it work the same or better than NoPox? That is what I will be finding out.