Trying AZ NO3... corals looked stressed... water slightly cloudy

TWT5011 · Feb 22, 2016

I decided to try AZ NO3 to reduce nitrates near 15-25ppm to lower levels.
Some hair algae was showing so I was trying bigger water changes... but not very successful.
I'm on day 9 and my water looks slightly cloudy and my corals are not happy. Should I push on? or just go back to water changes? I'm second guessing myself.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 22, 2016

AZ NO3 is, I believe, a type of organic carbon dosing (like vodka or vinegar or NOPOX) and it drives bacterial growth.

That is probably what you are seeing. Dosing less or dosing in a different way (like upstream of a refugium) may reduce the cloudiness.

Do you have a skimmer?

How much are you dosing relative to the directions?

TWT5011 · Feb 22, 2016

I'm following the dosing instructions on the bottle... a safer method I read... I'm now up to 8mls a day for 50-60G. I do have a skimmer and it's working nicely... Fish are happy, my LPS are not... maybe a few are looking normal... most look unhappy. I feel like I should have left the tank alone. I wonder if I could go back to water changes and stop my AZ NO3 dosing.

Lenny_S · Feb 22, 2016

I had a similar experience. I have a 160 gallon display tank and 60 gallon sump. I did the dosing based on 160 gallons of total water volume allowing for water displacement from the rock and such. Then I only dosed 2/3 of that. By day 7-8 full blown bacteria bloom and cloudy water. Even after suspending the use of the product the bloom would not go away. The only thing that got rid of it was the addition of a UV sterilizer.
However, I did end up going from like 30-40 ppm nitrate to zero. So it works, but it comes at a cost I guess.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 22, 2016

TWT5011 said:
I'm following the dosing instructions on the bottle... a safer method I read... I'm now up to 8mls a day for 50-60G. I do have a skimmer and it's working nicely... Fish are happy, my LPS are not... maybe a few are looking normal... most look unhappy. I feel like I should have left the tank alone. I wonder if I could go back to water changes and stop my AZ NO3 dosing.

You can certainly stop organic carbon dosing any time. I am not sure exactly how strong they make their solution, or exactly what organics are in it.