Organic carbon dosing.

[mpyers]

I get the jist of it. Bacteria need organic carbon to grow and for anaerobic respiration. I have red Sea NO3PO4X. Basically vodka with a flashy label. About 50 lbs LR in a 65g dt and a 30g sump. I've been dosing 10ml/day for a week. Im having other problems (algae problems combined with a failed solution that almost crashed my tank) and this was a possible solution. But I'm not sure if it's just not helping or maybe making things worse. It's 10ml/day in a 100g system too much? If so, what should I be dosing? Corals are looking worse now. Even though my other problems are resolved. Tested everything and it's all spot on. Wondering if it's too much alcohol?

 

[Timfish]

Don't forget your algae is dumping organic carbon int your system. I would focus on manual removal of the hair algae.

 

[mpyers]

Yeah I've gone through a whole thread of that. Done manual removal many times. switching from fuge to media reactor started the algae problems. Then a failed switch back almost resulted in a crash. Algae problems are gone now for over a week. But previously with the fuge I'd still get some algae after a while, so I decided to do organic carbon. But now my corals aren't looking so good. Looking for advice on organic carbon (specifically alcohol) and coral happiness. Not really algae problems.

Core question: Will 10ml/day of NOPOX in a 100g system hurt my corals?

 

[meverha1]

Core question: Will 10ml/day of NOPOX in a 100g system hurt my corals?

It shouldn't.

I used Red Sea's Reef Mature program to cycle my 110 gallon so I've been dosing NOPOX almost since day one. Maximum dose for my tank via a dosing pump, split between two doses daily.

How old is your tank?

 

[mcgyvr]

Core question: Will 10ml/day of NOPOX in a 100g system hurt my corals?

Should not cause any problems at all..
Really the only problems with carbon "overdosing" (and a good sign of when to stop increasing/lower a bit) are bacterial slime/strings and cloudy water from bacterial blooms..

 

[nereefpat]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is to make sure you have a good, tuned in, skimmer.