Been dosing nopox for a month, no decrease in nitrates

[IansAquatics]

Alright guys so I have a 125 with a 20 g sump. Been dosing nopox now for a month 10 ml for the first 2 weeks daily, and the last 2 weeks at 15 ml. I've tested my nitrates regularly with my Red Sea nitrate kit and api just for comparison. Still reading off the charts.

I don't know what to do. I was very cautious to not over dose my tank but I figured by now I'd at least see some drop.

What I have noticed is the glass is very clean now and hardly any algae on the rocks or sand anymore. But another weird thing in my refugium and sump is covered is like a tan slimy looking stuff everywhere but only in my sump.

Should I up
The dose to 20 ml? I'm running out of ideas here

 

[whosurcaddie]

How is your skimmer doing with the carbon dosing. Is it pulling a lot more than it was before

What is your nitrate reading? Carbon dosing does take time because everything is exported through your skimmer.

 

[Quiet_Ivy]

Alright guys so I have a 125 with a 20 g sump. Been dosing nopox now for a month 10 ml for the first 2 weeks daily, and the last 2 weeks at 15 ml. I've tested my nitrates regularly with my Red Sea nitrate kit and api just for comparison. Still reading off the charts.

I don't know what to do. I was very cautious to not over dose my tank but I figured by now I'd at least see some drop.

What I have noticed is the glass is very clean now and hardly any algae on the rocks or sand anymore. But another weird thing in my refugium and sump is covered is like a tan slimy looking stuff everywhere but only in my sump.

Should I up The dose to 20 ml? I'm running out of ideas here

You probably are reducing your nitrates, it's just the test can't read that high.
Did you do the dilution for high range nitrate with your red sea kit? That goes to 64 if I remember correctly. You can do further dilutions if you don't mind a bit of fussing around.

API kit is a lot less accurate but reads higher, you can try a 50-50 mix of your tank water and rodi water, see if that gets you a reading. If that doesn't get you on the chart, something's odd. Do you have really low phosphate?

Sludge is probably bacterial mass. Try to remove it. Usually with carbon dosing they tell you to drop the dose if you start seeing slime. Less algae is a good sign!

hope that helps a bit,
ivy

 

[IansAquatics]

Thanks for the replies guys. And yeah my skimmer has been going nuts. And I did the high range test on my Red Sea kit and still reading off he charts. I just used the api because I know it reads to like 150 ppm. I don't know I just kinda figured I would've seen at least a little drop in them
By now.

 

[NJAB]

I carbon dose as well but use vitamin c, but have you established why you nitates are high to begin with maybe the carbon is lowering them but not as fast as they are being replenished. Also that slime in the sump can be an indicator that your overdosing i know when i was overdosing vitamin c i was getting long strings of what looked like whitish mucus near my skimmer and HOB filter, i then skipped a day of dosing and cut back on the amount, If you really overdose (again this is with vitamin c carbon) you get a large bacterial bloom that makes the tank appear cloudy. However just like you my algae did decline with dosing and is only found on the glass when i don't clean it

 

[homer1475]

Following along as I just started dosing NoPox myself. 20% water changes wasn't bringing down my nitrates like I would like to see. By the end of the next week, they were right back u to where they were the week before.

Only difference, I know why my nitrates are high, I overfeed way to much, and have cut way back on that as well.

 

[IansAquatics]

I really think is a slight decline in nitrates just not enough to let's say sway it 20 ppm or so. But there has been a huge reduction in algae growth for sure. Normally
My glass would need to be cleaned every 3 or 4 days and the sand always looked dirty.

Also I might add that I am very against dosing anything to my tank, because overdosing chemical is what crashed my tank in the first place. But even after doing massive water changes. I'm talking close to 100% over 2 month period. The nitrates refused to
Budge so I opted for nopox. I guess only time will tell. So far no negative side effecst

 

[whosurcaddie]

I carbon dose as well but use vitamin c, but have you established why you nitates are high to begin with maybe the carbon is lowering them but not as fast as they are being replenished. Also that slime in the sump can be an indicator that your overdosing i know when i was overdosing vitamin c i was getting long strings of what looked like whitish mucus near my skimmer and HOB filter, i then skipped a day of dosing and cut back on the amount, If you really overdose (again this is with vitamin c carbon) you get a large bacterial bloom that makes the tank appear cloudy. However just like you my algae did decline with dosing and is only found on the glass when i don't clean it

What kind of vitamin c do you dose? I know it needs to be buffered but what brand?

 

[goldslinger]

If Your skimmer is going nuts, then it is working; Your nitrates are off the charts

 

[NJAB]

What kind of vitamin c do you dose? I know it needs to be buffered but what brand?

I tend to buy whatever is on sale on ebay but i like the calcium ascorbate buffered vitamin c there is magnesium ascorbate and sodium but i feel the calcium one adds a little extra calcium to the water and the brand right now i have is superior nutraceuticals what i also like about vitamin c as the carbon source is my zoas seem to react very positive to it i havent had any of them randomly melt away since i started dosing

 

[whosurcaddie]

I tend to buy whatever is on sale on ebay but i like the calcium ascorbate buffered vitamin c there is magnesium ascorbate and sodium but i feel the calcium one adds a little extra calcium to the water and the brand right now i have is superior nutraceuticals what i also like about vitamin c as the carbon source is my zoas seem to react very positive to it i havent had any of them randomly melt away since i started dosing

I didn't get back to this until now. I appreciate the advice I've also heard about positive effects between Vit C and Zoas. I think I'm going to try it out.

 

[jml1149]

I tried NoPox and wasn't really thrilled. My nitrates were also "off the charts" and I dosed for about 4 weeks, without much change in nitrates. My Ph was in the crapper though, because I have poor CO2 exchange. And, my tank generally didn't look as healthy, I'm assuming because of all the bacteria in the water.

So I dropped the NoPox cold turkey and started changing ~10% every other day for a week. My nitrates dropped significantly, and with a change in my 'fuge bulb, they are still coming down.

 

[jml1149]

Following along as I just started dosing NoPox myself. 20% water changes wasn't bringing down my nitrates like I would like to see. By the end of the next week, they were right back u to where they were the week before.

Only difference, I know why my nitrates are high, I overfeed way to much, and have cut way back on that as well.

If you feed it, they will come.

I have a 29g tank too, and I was chaning out just under 5g every other day for a week or so and the nitrates dropped like a rock. I would try that to get nitrates down to 10ppm then hit the nopox if you really want, to get you the rest of the way home.

 

[CStrickland]

even after doing massive water changes. I'm talking close to 100% over 2 month period. The nitrates refused to
Budge

Do you mean you did 10 10% changes in two months, or for 2 months you were doing regular changes of close to 100%. The first isn't massive, if you still had high nitrates after the second, something is wrong.

If it were my tank I'd be trying to figure out the cause first, sort that, and then maybe dose to mop up the last bits. Otherwise it's just a bandaid