Nopox

[Djbetterly]

Thoughts on Nopox? I've cleaned out my sump twice, and I can't seem to get my nitrates and phosphates down. I don't know what else to do??

Yesterday my readings were:

Nitrates: 10
Phos: .101 (hanna checker) - The lowest I've been able to get phos was .07, and that was using BRS high capacity GFO.

Any words of wisdom from you fellers?

 

[QueensRob]

The thing to remember about po4 is even when you remove it from the water column, it still leaches out of your rocks and substrate. If you have a refugium keep in mind po4 is removed in proportion to nitrates so keeping the nitrates about 20ppm will enable the macro algae to remove the po4 efficiently. Try to find the source of the po4. Where did you get the rocks and sand from when you first started up the tank?


Check out this article about kalkwasser.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/di...e/a/Phosphates-In-Your-Saltwater-Aquarium.htm

 

[Djbetterly]

Ahh..ok, good points Rob. The rock was dry rock a mix that I got from Russ @ SWC and BRS Pukani.

So what you're saying is, just hang tight for a while and make sure my chaeto stays healthy. I guess I was getting concerned with the nitrates and po4 with coral. The zoas seem to like it, but my first piece of hammer coral wasn't happy and died off within a few weeks.

 

[QueensRob]

As an example. I got some nasty rocks from LFS that clamed to be cured rocks and I suffered 4 months with the same thing you are going through so be patient but don't try to remove it too fast because it will shock the system. I use rowaphos now in half dose to maintain low phospates.

 

[duke62]

Your nitrates at .10 is fine. If you really want to try lowering them use vodka. Follow the chart and you will be fine. Over 25 I would say get aggressive but your no3 is fine. Your po4 is a little high. I really wouldn't use no3 po4 X it's very strong and it does the same thing vodka does but faster which can shock your system. Plus vodka is ALoT cheaper

 

[Djbetterly]

Just to be sure, do you think it's too soon to dose vodka given that I the tank is new and I started with dry rock?

 

[Pseudo]

Don't use the NoPox. It killed 2 tanks of mine so far until I found out what it was.