What’s your experience with redsea NO3;PO4-X (NOPOX)?

[Reefaddiction]

So I’m considering trying redsea’s NOPOX to help keep phosphate and nitrates under better control so I can get better coral coloration and growth. I know you must monitor levels carefully and use it with a protein skimmer in order for it to be effective. I just want to know what other people have experienced using this product and if you have any tips for being successful with using this product. My other concern is that I can’t find much information out there for using this with Nano tanks, and I’m concerned that my protein skimmer might not be good enough to actually use this product safely.

   My system:

  14g biocube, running chemipure Blue, a small chaeto refugium, and have a coralife biocube protein skimmer going.

  Any help on the subject would be greatly appreciated! Especially those who have used it in smaller systems like a 14g tank. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

What are your phosphates and nitrates at?  What's your feeding like?  What's your water change routine?  I don't know anything about nopox but can maybe help get to the bottom of your high nutrient issue.

 

Random question too for the forum.  Is there an advantage of dosing nopox over a carbon source like vodka or vinegar?  I am guessing nopox is 10 times as expensive than a cheap bottle of vodka.

[Reefaddiction]

Nitrates range from 5-10 usually but can get to 15-20ppm. Phosphates read as zero using elos test kits but I don’t think this is accurate so I’ve already ordered a redseas test kit, I’ve heard the color wheel helps when reading the level.  

   I know exactly what the issue is... tank is stocked on the heavier side, and I feed fish daily ( small amounts) to keep the fish, especially my mandarin happy and fat! Chaeto refigium helps but not getting my levels to the 0-2ppm for nitrates that I would like them to be at.  I use coral pro salts, do weekly water changes that are about 25-30%, and recently started using biocube protein skimmer. 

     As far as dosing the nopox vs other organic sources, the nopox is supposed to be safer as it contains other additives that help reduce or prevent more toxic compounds that can occur with dosing vodka, vinegar etc. I’m not an expert in this so don’t quote me, but this is what I gathered while watching some of the redsea videos on nopox. 

[CronicReefer]

For carbon dosing to work in any tank in removing nitrates and phosphates you need sufficient anoxic zones to exist in the tank. In a small 14g, water changes are the cheapest and easiest way to solve any nutrient issues so I would not bother too much with carbon dosing in your tank. It will increase the bacteria populations, which is good for any tank, but it may just be more costly than beneficial for you. It is no more dangerous for a small tank to dose NO3-PO4X than a large tank, just follow the directions. The protein skimmer is to remove excess bacteria populations and to keep oxygen levels elevated.

32 minutes ago, TILTON said:

Random question too for the forum.  Is there an advantage of dosing nopox over a carbon source like vodka or vinegar?  I am guessing nopox is 10 times as expensive than a cheap bottle of vodka.

 I use it and I prefer it over vinegar and vodka dosing after having tried both. It produces way less cyano issues and it performs much quicker. NO3-PO4X is methanol with some other additives and it definitely is worth the money in my opinion. 

[burtbollinger]

man....at 14 gallons and a not ideal skimmer, I would not mess with it....I'd also probably ditch the fuge and use the space for something else.
 

My main focus would be to really get your nitrates steady at 10 or under....in a 14 gallon, that would be thru water changes.

 

With effort and time and some common sense practices when it comes to feeding, you shouldnt need it.

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[Reefaddiction]

5 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

man....at 14 gallons and a not ideal skimmer, I would not mess with it....I'd also probably ditch the fuge and use the space for something else.
 

My main focus would be to really get your nitrates steady at 10 or under....in a 14 gallon, that would be thru water changes.

 

With effort and time and some common sense practices when it comes to feeding, you shouldnt need it.

 

I agree that water changes are a must for nanos, and I do mine religiously. But squirting 0.2-0.4ml of nopox a day is 10 times easier... but I think it does come with a greater risk of disaster potential. Which is why I’m researching this and trying to get the opionions and experience of others who have tried it, whether they had great experiences or really horrible ones. 

[Reefaddiction]

21 minutes ago, CronicReefer said:

For carbon dosing to work in any tank in removing nitrates and phosphates you need sufficient anoxic zones to exist in the tank. In a small 14g, water changes are the cheapest and easiest way to solve any nutrient issues so I would not bother too much with carbon dosing in your tank. It will increase the bacteria populations, which is good for any tank, but it may just be more costly than beneficial for you. It is no more dangerous for a small tank to dose NO3-PO4X than a large tank, just follow the directions. The protein skimmer is to remove excess bacteria populations and to keep oxygen levels elevated.

 I use it and I prefer it over vinegar and vodka dosing after having tried both. It produces way less cyano issues and it performs much quicker. NO3-PO4X is methanol with some other additives and it definitely is worth the money in my opinion. 

Thanks for the reply! Costly how? Are you referring to risk benefit or actual financial cost? 

    One thing that attracted me to the solution is that it’s very simple and Wood financially because effective if it works and it’s safe to do so. In such a small tank you’re literally dozing somewhere near 0.2–0.5ml a day. You can get a 500ml bottle online for $12 bucks. Which would last wel beyond the expiration date for the product. I also don’t know if the protein skimmer is sufficient for this, which I am concerned about.  I’ve Actually written the Red Sea company to get their opinion about using this product with my current set up. I’m curious to see what the “experts “have to say about using this on a Nano tank. 

 

[CronicReefer]

2 hours ago, Reefaddiction said:

Thanks for the reply! Costly how? Are you referring to risk benefit or actual financial cost? 

    One thing that attracted me to the solution is that it’s very simple and Wood financially because effective if it works and it’s safe to do so. In such a small tank you’re literally dozing somewhere near 0.2–0.5ml a day. You can get a 500ml bottle online for $12 bucks. Which would last wel beyond the expiration date for the product. I also don’t know if the protein skimmer is sufficient for this, which I am concerned about.  I’ve Actually written the Red Sea company to get their opinion about using this product with my current set up. I’m curious to see what the “experts “have to say about using this on a Nano tank. 

 

I use it without running my skimmer all the time. Like I said, the skimmer is for removing excess bacteria that grows because of the carbon source. The increased bacteria can also reduce oxygen levels so the skimmer is also acting like an air stone. I don't see any harm if you want to try it on your tank to achieve dentrification but I would just think a 10g water change would do you just as good. When I say it may cost you more than benefit all I meant was you may not see a big reduction in nitrates because a small tank like yours would have very little anoxic zones for nitrate reducers. 

[Reefaddiction]

Still waiting to hear a response from Red Sea about nopox in nanos. Just wondering who has used nopox in Nano tanks and what kind of skimmer were you running when you were running this. Please let me know!

[zohar78]

Currently trying it on my 40b with 20g sump and protein skimmer.     The tank is only 3 months old and very lightly stocked .     2 snails, 27lbs of rock, a bengal cardinal and yellowtail damsel.     Until I got the bengal i was feeding very light, and so once I started water change my nitrates stayed 0 for the past month and a 1/2.   I as far as I can seems to work, though a 40b is on the large side for a nano

[Reefaddiction]

11 hours ago, zohar78 said:

Currently trying it on my 40b with 20g sump and protein skimmer.     The tank is only 3 months old and very lightly stocked .     2 snails, 27lbs of rock, a bengal cardinal and yellowtail damsel.     Until I got the bengal i was feeding very light, and so once I started water change my nitrates stayed 0 for the past month and a 1/2.   I as far as I can seems to work, though a 40b is on the large side for a nano

You will have to kee me updated on how it works for your tank. 

   I’ve decided to hold off for now. Between my refugium and recently setting up a protein skimmer and unfortunately losing one of my fish... nitrates are down nicely actually and PO4 is at an acceptable range. I don’t want to use this unless I really need it d/t blooms and low O2 levels. But if my parameters aren’t controlled then I’m gonna give it a shot. 

[SelectedByNature]

On 10/22/2017 at 10:32 PM, CronicReefer said:

I use it without running my skimmer all the time. Like I said, the skimmer is for removing excess bacteria that grows because of the carbon source. The increased bacteria can also reduce oxygen levels so the skimmer is also acting like an air stone. I don't see any harm if you want to try it on your tank to achieve dentrification but I would just think a 10g water change would do you just as good. When I say it may cost you more than benefit all I meant was you may not see a big reduction in nitrates because a small tank like yours would have very little anoxic zones for nitrate reducers. 

Is rock enough to provide the anoxic zones for NoPox to work (which a very small sand bed)? 

On 10/23/2017 at 5:33 PM, Reefaddiction said:

Still waiting to hear a response from Red Sea about nopox in nanos. Just wondering who has used nopox in Nano tanks and what kind of skimmer were you running when you were running this. Please let me know!

32g cube so arguably not a true nano, but I use NoPox and have the tunze 9001.

 

The product definitely works. I feed heavily so I still struggle with Nitrate issues. I had 5 ppm nitrates for months with heavy feedings and NoPox but then I purged a lot of algae and naturally my nitrates have rocketed to 25 ppm. Working to correct this with 40% and less feedings, but it's hard! I love when my Acans are fat AF!

[Kiss]

Hi I have a 45ltr nano that is heavily stocked with fish and coral and have suffered with high nitrates for a long time so I tried nopox, dosed at 0.2ml per day and it’s been lowering my nitrate to an acceptable level over the last 3 weeks, I have plenty of live rock and a hang on TMC compact 300 skimmer running 24/7 in the small rear sump. I’d definitely recommend using nopox at this dose or maybe 0.3ml per day but only in conjunction with a skimmer that’s over spec for the tank

[Reefaddiction]

I appreciate the response! I actually never started dosing NOPOX, and good thing because my nitrates and phosphates came down almost to zero just with my filtration, small protein skimmer and small refugium. I think it’s still a great option and if I run into issues I’ll likely consider it. Now I’m actually trying to increase levels of both haha