NoPox over chaeto reactor?

[West1]

I have a 45gl with a 22gl sump that is filled just over half way.

Ive had my 45 running for about a yr and its LPS dominant. 1 pajama cardinal, 1 yellow wrasse, 1 tail spot, 1 harleyquinn shrimp & 1 frostbite clownfish.

Daily 1mm pellets and twice a week I feed heavy reefroids or blended market clam with reef frenzy.

I make my own salt with DI at 0ppm.

Reef Octopus SSS110 skimmer
ATO

Paramas
1.027 salinity (Milwaukee)
CA 410 (red sea pro)
Po4 0.00 (hanna)
DKH 8.8 (hanna)
no3 .25 (salifert and hard to read)
Mg 1450 (red sea pro)

Dosing daily
CA (morning) and Alk (30min after lights out)

CUC
1 small Mexican turbo snail recently added over the weekend.
15 nassarius snails
10 tronchus
one other species of snails but I forget
large emerald crab


biweekly 10gls

with all this said, I am filling up my skimz mbr127 of chaeto every 3 months or so and since upgrading my lighting 2 months ago, I am now growing brown hair algae.

Since I cant grow much chaeto, should I remove the reactor and go NoPox or should I just wait it out and hope the algae goes away?

 

[mcgyvr]

Your issue does not seem to be from an excess of nutrients.. So there is really no need to start carbon dosing..
Its entirely possible its just a temporary stage due to the new lighting that will stop..

I would simply suggest waiting it out..
A tank without algae IMO is an unhappy tank..

 

[West1]

Your issue does not seem to be from an excess of nutrients.. So there is really no need to start carbon dosing..
Its entirely possible its just a temporary stage due to the new lighting that will stop..

I would simply suggest waiting it out..
A tank without algae IMO is an unhappy tank..

I assumed it was due to the new lighting but since it takes about 3 months to fill my reactor, I assume I have low nutrients. My SPS don't seem to do well in the tank either. Soft corals and LPS do well but SPS do not.

Approximately how long should I wait till I consider other options?

 

[mcgyvr]

Low nutrients can certainly be a reason for the slow chaeto growth and SPS issues..
Switching to Nopox though is NOT a way to increase nutrients.. Just the opposite..

 

[West1]

Low nutrients can certainly be a reason for the slow chaeto growth and SPS issues..
Switching to Nopox though is NOT a way to increase nutrients.. Just the opposite..

Correct. I have read when dosing NoPox you must feed more. My only interest in going towards NoPox is if the reactor is not doing its job, why waste the electricity and just feed more. I have 2 more dosing heads that are not in use.

I'll wait 2 more weeks (4 max) and see how the algae is doing. If not doing well, the Mrb127 will be looking for a new home.

Thx for the help

 

[Fourstars]

Your right most likely your nutrients are to low to support. I assume your cheato is just melting away? I would feed more often, If it's a mature tank with no algae issues then consider dosing iron and maybe phosphate and nitrate. Your SPS will also be much happier and should color up.

 

[West1]

Your right most likely your nutrients are to low to support. I assume your cheato is just melting away? I would feed more often, If it's a mature tank with no algae issues then consider dosing iron and maybe phosphate and nitrate. Your SPS will also be much happier and should color up.

Chaeto is green but it takes a while to grow. I do have a good amount of slimey green algae mixed in with the chaeto.

Could it be flow of the reactor? I have it on the lowest settings for flow, should I raise that up?

I do have the reactors light turn on 1hr before display lights out and 1-2 hrs after display lights on. So approximately 9hrs and the reactor pump stays on 24/7

 

[Fourstars]

I would just keep rinsing the cheato out, any algea is taking up nutrients. Took mine a while to mature and I was alway rinsing it.

 

[West1]

I would just keep rinsing the cheato out, any algea is taking up nutrients. Took mine a while to mature and I was alway rinsing it.

How long is "a while to mature"?

 

[Fourstars]

I'm not using a reactor just a refugium. Took a few months of rinsing in salt water and trimming the outer layer back before the green algae disappeared. I would not get to worried about the type of algae growing as long as its working. You could try to seed tank with a bag of pods?

 

[Uncle99]

I agree, the algae is not there due to excessive nutrients, in fact your nitrate is way to low at .25, I thinking this should be 2-5 ppm and the phosphate 0, nah, but maybe the algae is consuming phosphate and it’s real value is the problem.

 

[West1]

I agree, the algae is not there due to excessive nutrients, in fact your nitrate is way to low at .25, I thinking this should be 2-5 ppm and the phosphate 0, nah, but maybe the algae is consuming phosphate and it's real value is the problem.

Tyvm.
I will pickup my meaty feedings to every other day, see how this goes.
My mistake on the .25 no3, I am having difficulty reading my no3 with the salifert and I believe its 25ppm not .25
I know I am between 10 and 25 as its clearly not the darkest or the lightest Lol

 

[Uncle99]

Those numbers more likely represent, so if your 10-25, 10 for me in a mixed is max, I strive to maintain 2.5-7.5 ppm and I do use NoPox to do this.

I am a bit concerned of the phosphate at 0, if that means undetectable, great, again, corals need both tiny amounts of nitrate and phosphate, phosphate I run in the 0.04-1.2 range again using the Seachem Kit.

Too me, algae is either phosphate, light intensity, colour spectrum, or any combination of those.

Make sure no,outside light can hit your display, big time algae maker....

 

[West1]

Once I started reading 0.00 po4 about 2 months ago, I started using both vials on the hanna. I get repeated numbers. The more I think about it, maybe my po4 reads 0.00 for about 4-5 weeks due to small nls pellet feedings.

I guess I'll have a better understanding after the next month or 2 with po4.

The algae issue did arise within a week of raising my whites on the maxspect razor 180w.
I have dialed the whites down and increased the blues.

 

[Wagonpitt]

I highly recomend nopox with hc gfo.

Fought algae for about a year couldnt figure it out. Many pounds of hc gfo and buckets of salt wasted. Had no luck for about a year. Medium nitrates no phosphates.

Started nopox less then month ago along side hc gfo. Nopox get nitrate and some phosphate and competes with the hair algae. (what cheato should have done but to much hair algae) hc gfo gets the rest of phosphate. Hair algae was getting clear and melting away after the first week.

Cant be any happier with nopox. Recomend 1000x along side hc gfo and a skimmer.

Pics dont lie.

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[Uncle99]

I highly recomend nopox with hc gfo.

Fought algae for about a year couldnt figure it out. Many pounds of hc gfo and buckets of salt wasted. Had no luck for about a year. Medium nitrates no phosphates.

Started nopox less then month ago along side hc gfo. Nopox get nitrate and some phosphate and competes with the hair algae. (what cheato should have done but to much hair algae) hc gfo gets the rest of phosphate. Hair algae was getting clear and melting away after the first week.

Cant be any happier with nopox. Recomend 1000x along side hc gfo and a skimmer.

Pics dont lie.

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That's a good plan!
I also used NoPox.
ROWAPHOS for GFO

I agree, no change in light, get the nutrients at lower but stable numbers and it will go. If it does not, then, light might be suspect! Their nutritional needs come mostly from light, so maybe feed?

BTW, nem looks good to me, I don't see no bleaching, they are sometimes, hard to figure.

Ok if you feed weekly, small piece of shrimp, or target of frozen Mysis...

 

[Daddyrawg]

Your issue does not seem to be from an excess of nutrients.. So there is really no need to start carbon dosing..
Its entirely possible its just a temporary stage due to the new lighting that will stop..

I would simply suggest waiting it out..
A tank without algae IMO is an unhappy tank..

My tank must be the most thrilled and content tank ever :celeb3:

 

[West1]

I highly recomend nopox with hc gfo.

Fought algae for about a year couldnt figure it out. Many pounds of hc gfo and buckets of salt wasted. Had no luck for about a year. Medium nitrates no phosphates.

Started nopox less then month ago along side hc gfo. Nopox get nitrate and some phosphate and competes with the hair algae. (what cheato should have done but to much hair algae) hc gfo gets the rest of phosphate. Hair algae was getting clear and melting away after the first week.

Cant be any happier with nopox. Recomend 1000x along side hc gfo and a skimmer.

Pics dont lie.

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WOW.

I am going to see what happens during this month. If all else fails, NoPox it is.

Since using gfo and NoPox, do you decrease the amount of gfo used?
Do you use the current gfo for longer periods of time?

 

[Wagonpitt]

I used regular amount of gfo and started with half dose of nopox.
1.5 cups of gfo and 5ml nopox.
After the first 3 days i went to full dose 10ml nopox. For the first couple of weeks I was changing gfo every week.
I havnt ran any gfo for the last week now. Since algae is mostly gone. I dont want to strip water of all nutrients. Still dosing nopox.


I highly recomend you do your own research on using nopox because it can go bad like anything else. Cyano outbreak, bacteria blooms and getting nutrients too low too quick for corals

i got tired of the basic "hc gfo and waterchange" and iv been extremly happy with it so far.

Theres alot of threads on RC and R2R i recomend you check them out.

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[Wagonpitt]

Also im using maxspect razor aswell. Not 100% sure but i think i max blue around 70% and white around 55%

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