Red Sea NOPOX good or bad?

[Surfking61]

Here is my problem. I have a 30 gallon tank in it's second month. The cycle completed
around the 3rd week and diatoms came and went. 2 weeks ago my nitrates went through the roof. Now my nitrites have gone up again and nitrates are even higher. I am doing a 20 - 40% water change every 5 days. About 10 days ago I started Dosing NOPOX. My PH went down to the low of 7.7 but nothing showed any effects. Since my PH has reestablished itself to 8.1 day and 7.95 night. These are my reading as of today.
Ammonia is 0
PO4 is .02. Red sea test kit
NO3 is 32. Red sea test kit
NO2 is 5ppm API test
Mg is 1200
KH is 12.6
CA is 420
Salinity is 1.025
I am dosing with Reef Fusion 1 & 2 for calcium and carbonate every day.
I dose Iodine once a week.
I have one fish a Radial Filefish which is small yet.
I have one Hammer, one Duncan, Xenia's and star polyps. Couple of Zoas and a
ORA Birds of Paradise. All corals are doing very well and are fully opened.
Only thing I notice is once NOPOX is dosed my Xenia's close right up and then my
Duncan will also close up .
I need some recommendations on the Dosing.
Should I keep Dosing NOPOX or stop? I am not Dosing today to see what happens.
Thanks.

 

[Lenny_S]

Unfortunately there is a bacteria bloom when you start any kind of carbon dosing for nitrate reduction. But you can start off very slow and ramp the dose up starting with literally just a few drops and just very slowly increase until you get to the optimal dose. O2 satiation, ORP, and pH will all fluctuated in the beginning but should stabilize by the time you get to the full dose.
NOPOX will bring your nitrates down pretty quickly (6-8 weeks) but long term I found that a large refugium and a generous amount of macro algae to be cheaper, more effective, and better overall for the system than carbon dosing.
I did however do an initial reduction after cycling with AZ-NO3 which is basically the same as NOPOX. My refugium and macro algae just maintain a very low nutrient level, I did not find that it would reduce a very high nitrate level.
I also supplement PO4 reduction with a small amount of GFO in a reactor. It seems the macro and bacteria can export much more nitrate than it can phosphate.
It took a decent amount of trial and patience to find the right balance for my system.

 

[Surfking61]

Thanks, maybe I will try that. I was dosing 3 ml daily. Maybe I'll add 1/2 ml for a week or two then up it a quarter of a ml each week and see where I am at. I will definitely keep up on my water change schedule but maybe cut it down to 20% every 5 days instead of the 40% every other one. See what happens. I still have diatoms on my sand but don't get them on the glass or rocks now. Thr

 

[zzzdiver]

I my case Marco algae add some great thing to the reef tank a place for pods to breed but won't lower No3 or Po4. You would need a sump the size of your tank if that was the goal .
NOPOX will work but takes time week to feed the right bacteria. I also see you have no2 showing up what he mean the cycle hasn't passed yet slow down don't change a bunch of methods and just give it time

 

[zzzdiver]

Plan on giving NOPOX 4-6 weeks

 

[Lenny_S]

Thanks, maybe I will try that. I was dosing 3 ml daily. Maybe I'll add 1/2 ml for a week or two then up it a quarter of a ml each week and see where I am at. I will definitely keep up on my water change schedule but maybe cut it down to 20% every 5 days instead of the 40% every other one. See what happens. I still have diatoms on my sand but don't get them on the glass or rocks now. Thr

That will work fine, but I would suggest ramping gradually rather than a low dose for a long time. Start with like 5 drops and add 2 drops per day more than the day before until you get to the recommended dose for your size tank. You can also cut back even further on the water changes. 10% every 2 weeks will be just fine.
The NOPOX will make your skimmer go crazy, so watch for that. And you may want to supplement Iodine and trace elements while you are treating. NOPOX and the excessive skimate will deplete those pretty quick and water changes won't keep up unless they are like > 50%. It's just easier to replenish those with the bottled stuff.

 

[AdamNC]

I've been using it since Nov. 27th and haven't noticed a drop or rise in my No3 and it's sitting at about 24-25ppm. So at 1 month, no noticeable difference. I'm going to give it another month or 2 and see what happens myself.

 

[Surfking61]

That will work fine, but I would suggest ramping gradually rather than a low dose for a long time. Start with like 5 drops and add 2 drops per day more than the day before until you get to the recommended dose for your size tank. You can also cut back even further on the water changes. 10% every 2 weeks will be just fine.
The NOPOX will make your skimmer go crazy, so watch for that. And you may want to supplement Iodine and trace elements while you are treating. NOPOX and the excessive skimate will deplete those pretty quick and water changes won't keep up unless they are like > 50%. It's just easier to replenish those with the bottled stuff.

Okay, thanks. I just got a dosing pump for Xmas and it has 4 pumps so that might make things easier when I get the where I need to be. I plan on regular dosing of Red Sea A, B, C and keep up on the NOPOX if it works for me. Thanks for the advice.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I've been using it for about two weeks so far and the results have been phenomenal. Nitrates ate down 90% and phosphates are down 80%. I've even seen some nuisance algae slowly going away. The science behind NPX, as I call it, is sound and is exactly the same methodology we use in industrial wastewater treatment systems to encourage bacterial activity. Just take it slow and easy, test frequently and you'll be okay.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It seems lIke the tank hasn't finished cycling, and some nitrate kits do not give accurate nitrate levels in the presence of so much nitrite. So you may not have 32 ppm of nitrate.

I'd go slow with organic carbon dosing such an early stage tank.

 

[Colin Arlott]

Hey Guys.
Can someone please tell me if it is ok to use nopox with pro bio f.
Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hey Guys.
Can someone please tell me if it is ok to use nopox with pro bio f.
Thanks

It's fine to add both. I'm not sure if the pro bio f will lead to a better or larger effect, but there's no conflict between the ingredients.

 

[Colin Arlott]

Thanks very much for that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks very much for that.

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

 

[MrTang13]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

Randy,

Do you agree that using NOPOX will cause the reduction of iodine and trace elements?

I plan on using NOPOX in conjunction with activated carbon and Kalkwasser. NOPOX for lowering nutrients and Kalkwasser for replenishing calcium, alk, and mag.

Thank you in advance!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Randy,

Do you agree that using NOPOX will cause the reduction of iodine and trace elements?

I plan on using NOPOX in conjunction with activated carbon and Kalkwasser. NOPOX for lowering nutrients and Kalkwasser for replenishing calcium, alk, and mag.

Thank you in advance!

FYI, I started using Nopox, but I eventually switched to a homemade version. I mix vodka and vinegar in a 5-15 v % solution. Much cheaper and just as effective, as far as I can tell.

 

[Gonzo74]

NoPox drops my PH a lot. I think i May just start doing lots of small water changes to bring my Nitrates down.

 

[Gonzo74]

What Macro do you guys think would work best for Nitrates? My LFS only has one kind and it is not growing very fast for me. It has flow and i am using a grow light with red and blues (54w).

 

[Keith Burns]

I had someone watch my tank when on vacation. Seriously over feed flakes and nitrates when north of 150 ppm. Many water changes later still could not get nitrate below 50 ppm. Trying No Pox now. Currently 3 weeks into it with little change. I plan to give it another 3 weeks.

As for Macro algae I had chaeto from LFS but it grew so slow. So I got golf ball sized clump of sea lettuce online from pod your reef. After 2 months I am at the point where I am about to start throwing clumps out when I do water changes due to its fast growth. However, my nitrates are still up near 40-50 ppm. That's why I am trying No Pox.