Red Sea NO3:POX4X Real Time Review.

[JaysLittleOcean]

My Red Sea Algae Management program arrived today and I was eager to get things setup. I read through the manual and got my game plan together. According to the directions. I would need to add 3 ml of the NO3O4X supplement for every 25 gallons. Since my aquarium is 45 gallons I figured a safe bet to start with would be 5 ml per day. I'm using my Jabeo 4 channel doser with 4 additional channels on the slave unit in order to dose 5 separate 1 ml doses every 4.5 hours per day. I also read on the instructions that it is recommended no to use in conjunction with phosphate removing media. So luckily enough my Innovate Marine Mini-Max reactor containing the AquaMaxx Granular Ferric Oxide was easy to remove by just pulling the reaction chamber out of the water. So now we wait until Saturday after my water change to see what my nitrate and phosphate levels looks like for the first week. I have also purchased the Red Sea Algae Management Pro Test Kit to use in conjunction for monitoring. Crossing my fingers for good results.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

The aquarium hold approximately 45 gallons of water. With displacement for the live sand and live rock I have dropped that number down a bit further. According to the Red Sea NO3O4X supplement instructions for SPS aquariums within the first week I should be adding approximately 3 ml of solutions for every 25 gallons of saltwater. So I have calculated that 5 ml per day should be about accurate for my aquarium. I have spread the dosage out as stated every 4.5 hours.

It has been approximately 24 hours since I first started administering the dosage and my first observations are as follows. I have noticed that I am experiencing Slow Tissue Necrosis on one of my corals. While most of my corals have degraded in the vibrance of their pigmentation I am not total convinced that this is due entirely to the dosing. But I did also notice that my pH levels has been suppressed since I started dosing according to the graph below from my Neptune Systems Apex Controller's pH monitoring Probe.

 

[AdamNC]

The stn and color fade could be due to too much too soon. I did that recently with 5% vinegar for dosing. I went from 5ml to 10ml to 15 ml to 20 ml over a months time, 5 ml a week increase and noticed my color was fading and stn on 4 different corals. I dropped back to 10ml daily and noticed stn stopping and color in all my corals except 1 milli started coming back. The milli may be done for

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

The stn and color fade could be due to too much too soon. I did that recently with 5% vinegar for dosing. I went from 5ml to 10ml to 15 ml to 20 ml over a months time, 5 ml a week increase and noticed my color was fading and stn on 4 different corals. I dropped back to 10ml daily and noticed stn stopping and color in all my corals except 1 milli started coming back. The milli may be done for

Thanks for the input. I will drops the dosage down by half when I get home.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you know the nitrate and phosphate levels before you began?

I recommend carbon dosing only in the daylight hours because carbon dosing decreases pH and O2, and it's best to have that happen when those are otherwise highest.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

Do you know the nitrate and phosphate levels before you began?

I recommend carbon dosing only in the daylight hours because carbon dosing decreases pH and O2, and it's best to have that happen when those are otherwise highest.

10 ppm Bitrate and Salifert was not registering a Phosphate level but I am experiencing algae over everything. Do you believe the dosage is too much? I will reschedule so that it only doses during the photoperiod.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When organic carbon dosing, slowly increasing the dose can be a better plan as it allows the bacteria that are using it to expand in numbers. I'd start at 1/4 the recommended dose and work up if it seems like the full dose is an issue (although I can't be sure that is the problem and not something else). Folks do not usually see any problem on day 1 of carbon dosing in reasonable amounts.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

When organic carbon dosing, slowly increasing the dose can be a better plan as it allows the bacteria that are using it to expand in numbers. I'd start at 1/4 the recommended dose and work up if it seems like the full dose is an issue (although I can't be sure that is the problem and not something else). Folks do not usually see any problem on day 1 of carbon dosing in reasonable amounts.

Thanks Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Keep us updated.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

Will do.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

So I went through my normal weekly maintenance routing of doing a 4 gallon water change and then testing all levels the after 24 hours. Well I stopped dosing with NO3O4X after the second day. Apparently that was too strong of a dose and test results with both Salifert and Red Sea Fish test kits showed that I completely stripped the water all detectable Nitrates. Further test shows that my phosphate levels are currently at 0.8 ppm. So I put my GFO reactor back online and gave the tank the weekend to recover as the bacterial bloom created such a cloudy mess in the aquarium. But as of yesterday evening the cloudiness has disappeared, my pH levels are returning to normal and I am slowly configuring my doser to accommodate an acclimated growth. The Hair Algae looks bad still but not as vibrant as it was a few days ago. So the product work and is actually extremely powerful. So I will give it until Wednesday before I test again to view results and make small adjustments as normal.

 

[JaysLittleOcean]

As of right now I am still holding off on dosing NO3O4X until I complete a Nitrate test tomorrow evening. As of right now the algae is not as vibrant as it first was but I do have a much more noticeable amount of hair algae. I'm going to give it another week but at this point it starting to encroach on the corals and I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I am leaving it alone. I have been considering ordering a Pygmy Sea Hare to deal with the algae but I'm willing to give it more time. Polyp extension on the corals has decreased a but on the majority of corals. So just sitting here in the low point of my aquarium.

 

[nstd]

any updates?

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Get some nutricell or such and add a pinch everyday, otherwise keep the nopox going. The stn is lack of food I would bet. Once the algae is under control you can cut back on both the nopox and the food. Take out any resin absorbents too.

 

[Bunnee911]

Would a little squirt of H2O2 help or hurt? Does it affect the carbon dosing?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Would a little squirt of H2O2 help or hurt? Does it affect the carbon dosing?

What would be the rationale for adding it?

 

[TheWhiteFord]

I use Red sea NO3PO4x and it works amazing!

 

[HiddenUser]

Ive just starting using NO3PO4-X and it seems to be doing an awesome job for me...Only annoying thing for me is that my filter socks clog within 12-24 hours now since I've started dosing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use Red sea NO3PO4x and it works amazing!

Can you clarify what is amazing about it?

Have you tried other types of organic carbon dosing?

 

[HiddenUser]

Can you clarify what is amazing about it?

Have you tried other types of organic carbon dosing?

I personally went this route because vodka and vinegar dosing seemed more complicated...NO3PO4-X gives a baseline dosage based on your nitrate levels, tells you to test once a week, and adjust when / if needed. (Plus I had bought a bottle of it a while back when I was dabbling with the different methods of carbon dosing so I figured I might as well use it up as it hadn't expired yet.)

I had a bio-pellet reactor (undersized for my 266G build though) and could never get it working well...Most likely just wasn't patient enough and I added it to a system that had been running for almost 2 years. Other thing I noticed was the Cyano that showed up and it never really went away until I took the reactor offline.

I also figured that if I was vodka dosing it'd more or less end up in a mixed drink of sorts. Why waste booze!?! (It's cold here in MN. Got to stay warm somehow!)

I personally don't think NO3o4-X is any better than the other options, probably slightly more expensive than vodka dosing and definitely more expensive than vinegar (I assume, not sure how fast you go through a gallon of vinegar)...I'd like to try pellets again, but the reactor I'm looking at just isn't in the budget at the moment. I figure that the cost is about $20-25 for almost 2 months worth of dosing and it seems to be working right now, so might as well not change it.