Transitioning from NoPox to Vinegar Dosing

[clm65]

I've been dosing NoPox for about 2 months in an effort to bring down my nitrates and phosphates. About half of that time I’ve been dealing with a bacterial slime issue. I get long strands of slime clinging to my rocks, clogging my skimmer and drain and return lines, etc. And I have to scrape my glass daily, and that creates a ton of sheets of crap that float all over my tank. I’ve tried relocating my dosing point to the upstream side of my fuge (Randy’s recommendation), and I reduced my daily NoPox dosage, but the slime continues. Nitrates were coming down, but seem to have somewhat leveled off. I think that might be due to my dosage being less than the recommendation on the NoPox box. So I think I am going to try just dosing vinegar. My question is, do I need to start at the “day 1” dose from the vinegar dosing table? Or since I have been carbon dosing with NoPox, can I start with a higher dosage? I have about 200 gallons of total water volume in my system, and my nitrates are around 75 and my phosphates are 0.82. I am currently dosing about 15 ml NoPox per day.

 

[AdamNC]

I asked this same question about 3 years ago.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nopox-to-vinegar-ratio.271775/#post-3264973

 

[clm65]

I asked this same question about 3 years ago.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nopox-to-vinegar-ratio.271775/#post-3264973

Excellent! Thanks for the link. Looks like I can start with 4x my current dose. Great!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No need to start especially slow. In general, I'm not even sure why starting from scratch needs to be that slow.

That said, acetate (as in vinegar) is a main ingredient in NOPOX, so switching from NOPOX to vinegar may not eliminate a visible slime issue since the same bacteria may keep growing.

 

[clm65]

No need to start especially slow. In general, I'm not even sure why starting from scratch needs to be that slow.

That said, acetate (as in vinegar) is a main ingredient in NOPOX, so switching from NOPOX to vinegar may not eliminate a visible slime issue since the same bacteria may keep growing.

Thanks Randy. What would you do in my case? Lower the dosage of NoPox? Ride it out as-is? Increase the NoPox dose to the recommended 3 ml/25g to try to get nitrates down quicker so I can then decrease or stop carbon dosing sooner? Try vodka? Add some MB7 or other bacteria? I really value your opinion, so I would love to hear what you recommend.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If nitrate is 75 ppm, I'd switch to vinegar, maybe slow dosing into a refugium if you have one.

 

[clm65]

If nitrate is 75 ppm, I'd switch to vinegar, maybe slow dosing into a refugium if you have one.

Thank you! Yes, I have a refugium, which is where I currently dose the NoPox. I will swap to vinegar, with a starting dose of 50 ml per day split into 2 sessions. I picked 50 because it is a little less than 4x my current NOPox of 15 ml. Sound reasonable? Would it be better to split it into more than two dosing sessions?

 

[Dkeller_nc]

A bit off-topic, but it's a bit surprising that you've got NO3 at 75 ppm and your phosphates at 0.82 (presumably ppm - 0.82 ppb would be well below the limit of quantitation of hobbyist test kits). I say that simply because you note that you've a refugium, which presumably is growing chaetomorpha. Most hobbyists with that setup actually tend to have the opposite problem - nitrates/phosphates that are too low, perhaps even undetectable.

 

[clm65]

A bit off-topic, but it's a bit surprising that you've got NO3 at 75 ppm and your phosphates at 0.82 (presumably ppm - 0.82 ppb would be well below the limit of quantitation of hobbyist test kits). I say that simply because you note that you've a refugium, which presumably is growing chaetomorpha. Most hobbyists with that setup actually tend to have the opposite problem - nitrates/phosphates that are too low, perhaps even undetectable.

Well, long story short, the tank has been running for about 19 years. Fish only for most of that time. I made sure the fish were fed well. And my maintenance practices were not the best. So many years of building up nutrients. Now I am paying the price. And yes, my chaeto grows very well, but it and the skimmer are still not making a dent in the nutrient levels.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you! Yes, I have a refugium, which is where I currently dose the NoPox. I will swap to vinegar, with a starting dose of 50 ml per day split into 2 sessions. I picked 50 because it is a little less than 4x my current NOPox of 15 ml. Sound reasonable? Would it be better to split it into more than two dosing sessions?

I'd split into more, or saturate it with calcium hydroxide to avoid a big pH drop in the refugium when dosing.

 

[clm65]

Thanks Randy. I have a simple BRS dosing pump on a WiFi timer, so splitting it into multiple doses is easy. Plus I don’t have any calcium hydroxide, so multiple doses it is.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks Randy. I have a simple BRS dosing pump on a WiFi timer, so splitting it into multiple doses is easy. Plus I don’t have any calcium hydroxide, so multiple doses it is.

Sounds good.

Good luck!