NOPOX and Foundation B supplementing help

[mynamesadam]

Hi Kev,

I've been dosing NOPOX since first maturing my new Nano tank (75 litres after displacement), and have watched my nitrate levels fall steadily dosing 2.25ml daily for the first 21 days. My nitrate was measuring 7.5ppm at that time, and for the next week I dosed 1.5ml daily. My nitrates fell to 3ppm a week later, and then 2ppm a week after that. I changed my daily dose to 0.75ml to try and keep levels between 2-3ppm (looking for accelerated growth not colours), but even at 0.75ml daily my nitrate is now less than 1ppm.

Should I now reduce my daily dosage again to 0.375ml and test again in a few days, or should I continue to dose 0.75ml daily and monitor it?

Second question is regarding Reef Foundation B. During the first 21 day maturation I was using Coralline Gro, but since swapped to RFB to get my alk levels up to 4.5meq. Over that last four days I dosed 18ml, 18ml, 18ml and finally 9ml and today my KH is spot on at 4.5meq!

Trouble is I don't know what to do next?! If I continue to supplement daily do I just divide the qty dosed over the last few days and divide by 4 for my daily dosage? (so 15.75ml daily?). Do I dose that indefinitely and just test the kH levels weekly? My Mg is 1360, and Ca is 460 so I've not touched the A and C supplements yet. I'm also dosing Reef Energy A&B each day (1.5ml of each).

Like I said I'm looking for accelerated growth and have mostly soft corals, a couple of LPS and a few SPS frags. Only other thing possibly worth a mention is that I'm not running a skimmer and am instead carrying out a 15% water change weekly.

Thanks

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Adam, OK, VERY IMPORTANT. PLEASE STOP DOSING No3Po4-X, it is imperative that a skimmer is used we clearly state this in our instructions, you will need to decide now if you control your No3 & Po4 levels by other means or install a skimmer and continue with No3Po4-X.

Foundation B once you have a stable dKH sample and record the result, without adding any buffer re sample after 4 days subtract the result of day 4 from day 1 and divide by 4 this will give you your daily up take, you can then add Foundation B at the rate of 1ml per hundred litres, for liquid Foundation B this will increase the dKH by 0.1, if you are using Foundation B made from stock solution this will raise the dKH by 0.034 (our liquid Foundation B is 3 times stronger than stock solution)

The same test procedure can be used to calculate your Calcium and Magnesium daily uptake, the strengths of these Foundation products are the same if bought as liquids or made from powder, 1ml of Foundation A per 100 litres increases Calcium by 2ppm and 1ml of Foundation C increases Magnesium by 1ppm per 100 litres.

This then leaves the possibility of dosing Corals colors our trace element supplements, the simple way to dose these if you decide to use them is to add 1ml of each color per 10ml of Foundation A dosed this will give you the correct dosage in relation to calcium uptake.

 

[mynamesadam]

Uh-oh! I did read that a protein skimmer was expected, but I guess I didn't think too much about the importance of using once whilst dosing NOPOX - my bad!

I've dug out my old bubble machine aka the Kent Nano skimmer and am running it now. Just ordered a Tunze 9002 for long term skimming though because the Kent is just useless!

So anyway could you let me know what the reasons for running a skimmer with NOPOX are? I'm concerned now that I may have caused some long term effects?!

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Adam, ok, look at No3Po4-X as a food source for bacteria, these would be well fed and cultures become larger, if they over populate you can get bacterial blooms which could suppress the oxygen saturation.

The Phosphate reduction using No3Po4-X is under taken by a strain of Bacteria called PHB's (Phosphate Harbouring Bacteria) these do not grow with any significance without being fed, when being fed No3Po4-X they develop to larger colonies which then feed on residual Po4 produced by cell division and from other sources like foods and activated carbons, they the die off laden with Po4, these would normally be skimmed off, if these are not skimmed off these bacteria simply become part of the wastes of the aquarium and the Po4 level will increase if not removed by over means.

You won't of caused any long-term effects other than an increase in Po4, if you had suffered from low oxygen saturation you may of seen some cloudiness and in severe cases stress in some fish, the skimmer will remove Po4 and keep oxygen saturation at maximum.

 

[mynamesadam]

Hi Kev,

First off, my Tunze 9002 is bubbling away nicely so you'll be glad to hear I'm skimming again! Big Thumbs Up

I've checked my NO3 today and it's reading between 1 and 2ppm, so I'm going to continue dosing 1ml per 100L and will test again in a week.

My KH was 3.4, down 1.1 from 4 days ago. So based on a daily uptake of 0.3 I'm planning to dose 2.25ml of foundation B daily and will retest in 4 days.

I've got a base point for my Ca, so will test again in four days to figure out my daily uptake and begin dosing foundation A. Like you said in a previous post, I can then dose colours A-D based on the foundation A dosage.

As for Mg, it's a little weird! For the last few weeks I've been measuring 1300 - 1380ppm, but today it's showing 1460. I tested this morning and have tested again this evening, but both showed 1460ppm. I haven't dosed any foundation C whatsoever, so do you have any thoughts why the Mg is rising? Is there anything I can do to bring it down to the recommended 1390ppm?

Other than that does everything else sound A-Ok?

Thanks

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Adam, can I ask how your are testing for Magnesium? if you are using our Magnesium Pro test I am confident that one of the following is a likely cause of a high Magnesium reading.

Firstly salinity is critical, 1ppt difference can cause a big difference on your Magnesium reading of 40ppm, ensure you calibrate you refractometer.

Secondly vial contamination, it is very important that vials are cleaned well before tests, what we recommend is soaking in citric acid and the rinsing with R/O water this will ensure no residue is taken from one test to the next,, this is a common cause of high Magnesium readings.

 

[mynamesadam]

Morning Kev,

I am using the Magnesium Pro test - I soaked everything in a weak citric acid solution and rinsed thoroughly with RO before testing again yesterday and got 1300ppm which is better! I'll ensure I do this each time from now on!

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Adam, thanks for the feedback, I'm glad we got this issue sorted.

 

[mynamesadam]

Hi Kev,

The tank is going great, however I'm still battling Nitrate - it's not your typical Nitrate battle though, mine's too low!

My Nitrate has progressively fallen up until the point where it was reading 0.75ppm 2 weeks ago. I reduced the NOPOX dosage to 0.25ml daily, but a week later still 0.75ppm. I continued to dose 0.25ml daily for another week because I assumed I couldn't just stop dosing, but todays test shows a reading of 0ppm.

What do you recommend I do next? I'm looking for 2-3ppm based on the recommended levels Red Sea give for accelerated coral growth. As well as NOPOX, I'm dosing Foundation A and B, and Reef Energy A and B daily.

Like I said everything is doing great - good SPS growth and my LPS and softies are growing like weeds!

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Adam,
OK, it is important to reduce the No3Po4-X even further, what I suggest is diluting your No3Po4-X with R/O water to a ratio of 9 to 1, the active No3Po4-X per ml added is then 0.1ml
This way you will be able to dose very small amounts, you can also increase your feeding regime this will also help in getting your No3 back to 1 to 2 ppm.

Whilst your No3 is very low ( or nil) increase your Reef Energy dosage to that for low nutrient 4ml of A & B per 100 litres.

 

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