NOPOX

Hey guys

I am in writing mode today so here goes another quick review.

This is going to be very short but hopefully it will come handy

As some of you might already know I have been using NOPOX for a while. NOPOX is a chemical agent made by Red Sea that helps lower phosphates and nitrates in your marine aquarium.



If you google it you will see that people who have used this product are delighted with it. So I decided to give it a try. Initially I bought it to help me lower my phosphates while I was curing my base rock. But after a while I decided to start using this on my DP mostly to control my nitrates. My aim was to keep my nitrates between 3-6 ppm and back then they were between 5-10 ppm.

Now, the recommended dose for NOPOX is 2-3 ml per 100 liters if your Nitrates are below 10 ppm. So decided to start slow, and dose 1 ml every other day. During that period my nitrates never went over 5 ish ppm.

As I was adding more live stock I decided to increase the dose as well and went up to 2 ml every other day (the instructions included in the product recommend you dose on daily basis but I really wanted to take it slow with it just to see how my aquarium would react).

So after a few weeks and seeing that my nitrates never went over 0-5 (probably around 2 ppm) I decided to stop using it and only twice a week, for 2 weeks and once every week after that (it is not recommended to stop using NOPOX all of the sudden).

For a week, I let my nitrates increase (and overfed a bit) until they reached somewhere between 10-15 ppm (probably 12 ppm). Then I added 1 ml of NOPOX. I know some of you might be asking yourselves, why am I dosing 6 times less than the recommended those. The reason is that I read, that, when dosing NOPOX at the recommended range, your nitrates will go down somewhere between 0 and 0.5 and because of some of the corals I have I didnt want my nitrates to get so low, remember I was aiming for somewhere in between 3-6 ppm.

Ok so to sum up:

- before using NOPOX my nitrates where around 12 ppm.
- After adding 1 ml of NOPOX and letting it rest all day my nitrates were 7 ppm
- Two days later I added another 1 ml of NOPOX, waited a day and my nitrates were down to 3-4 ppm.

I know some of you are probably still not 100% convinced, but what I will do try this again and take pictures of the process just in case some of you are a bit cautious or suspicious

I am not saying we should use this to avoid doing water changes nor anything similar, I just think it is a good and easy way to control your nitrates specially if you are like me and tend of overfeed a bit!

I will keep you posted!



PS: I forgot, my phosphates are always between 0.002 and 0 (currently 0) but I am using PO4X4 and rowaphos so I am not sure of how much NOPOX is helping here.

Hey..I just found this, what a coincidence, at least it explain why this worked for me despite only dosing 6 times less the recommended dose

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link in case someone want to check it out



Instructions for converting to NO3:PO4-X from PO4 and NO3 absorbers and sulphur based de-nitrators.


The following instructions are in addition to the general instructions for NO3:PO4-X contained in the Algae Control user manual.

Micro-biological reduction of algae nutrients (nitrates & phosphates) occur naturally in all anoxic areas of the aquarium (inside live rocks, porous filter media and substrates). This bacterial activity is limited by the availability of nitrates & phosphates, suitable carbon sources and mineral co-factors.

In a system where nitrates & phosphates have been regularly absorbed by resins, there will be a lower than normal background level of the natural nitrate & phosphate reducing bacteria and therefore it will take longer for these bacteria colonies to develop than in a system that was not previously treated.

The cultivation process of the bacteria is much slower than the absorption rate and therefore like many other changes made to the delicate system, moving from absorbers to bacterial reduction of the algae nutrients, requires a gradual and controlled procedure that will increase the success and reduce the stress for the corals. Sudden removal of all of absorption media can lead to an undesired rise in algae nutrient concentrations for several days.

The recommended procedure for conversion is based on a gradual weekly reduction in the quantity of the absorption media in the system together with a daily dosage of NO3:PO4-X and constant monitoring of the algae nutrient levels. If you are removing both nitrate and phosphate absorption media simultaneously dose the NO3:PO4-X according to the removal of phosphate media.

The procedure will take several weeks as defined below and depends on the initial level of nutrients. Once all the phosphate and/or nitrate absorbing media have been removed from the system refer to the Algae Control instruction manual for continued dosing. If at any time during the conversion period the corals show signs of stress, reduce the rate of removal of the absorption media.


Removal of Phosphate absorption media

Initial PO4 level Weekly removal of media Daily dosage of NO3:PO4-X Frequency of testing PO4 Instructions

Below 0.04 ppm 10% 1 ml per 100 litres of aquarium water Twice a week If the PO4 level rises above 0.04ppm delay the next removal of media by one week. If a week after 50% of the media has been removed the PO4 level is stable below 0.04ppm, remove the rest of the media in 3 equal weekly portions.
Above 0.04 but less than 0.2 ppm 15% 2 ml per 100 litres of aquarium water Twice a week If the PO4 level rises above 0.2ppm delay the next removal of media by one week. If a week after 45% of the media has been removed the PO4 level is stable below 0.2ppm, remove the rest of the media in 2 equal weekly portions.
Above 0.2 ppm 25% 3 ml per 100 litres of aquarium water Once a week If the PO4 level rises above 1.0ppm delay the next removal of media by one week.



Removal of Nitrate absorption media

Instructions

Below 1ppm 25% 1 ml per 100 litres of aquarium water Twice a week If the NO3 level rises above 1ppm delay the next removal of media by one week. If after 50% of the media has been removed the NO3 level is stable below 1ppm, remove the rest of the media immediately. If the NO3 level drops below 0.25ppm reduce daily dosage of NO3:PO4-X by 50%.

Above 1ppm 33% 2 ml per 100 litres of aquarium water Once a week If the NO3 level rises above 5ppm delay the next removal of media by one week.

great review and dosing like that would help save money as well in the long run whilst still maintaining enough nutrients to keep corals going but at a low level to keep everything healthy.

nopox is a great product,i used to use it in my old tank and never a problem with nitrates or phosphates,even though the tank was seriously over fed

but

i did have a liitle accident with nopox

during last summers savage heat i was dosing my tank and i don't know if it was the heat or i accidentally over dosed but it turned into a clear gel or slime type substance and it coated the whole tank,

this substance took hours to syphon out of the tank and even though the heat wave continued and all the stuff was gone i still wonder if it was the heat that killed some of my fishies or the nopox,,

i similarity took a more cautious approach to using nopox afterwards only used it once a week or if i started to see levels rising.it was for this reason i decided not to use it on the new tank but had you posted this a year ago i may not of had a negative experience with it

i hope everyone planning on using nopox takes your advise


is anyone else out there using nopox in a similar way??????