Red Sea NO3:POX4X Real Time Review.

Discussion in 'Filters, Pumps, etc..' started by JaysLittleOcean, Nov 13, 2015.

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  1. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    My Red Sea Algae Management program arrived today and I was eager to get things setup. I read through the manual and got my game plan together. According to the directions. I would need to add 3 ml of the NO3:pO4X supplement for every 25 gallons. Since my aquarium is 45 gallons I figured a safe bet to start with would be 5 ml per day. I'm using my Jabeo 4 channel doser with 4 additional channels on the slave unit in order to dose 5 separate 1 ml doses every 4.5 hours per day. I also read on the instructions that it is recommended no to use in conjunction with phosphate removing media. So luckily enough my Innovate Marine Mini-Max reactor containing the AquaMaxx Granular Ferric Oxide was easy to remove by just pulling the reaction chamber out of the water. So now we wait until Saturday after my water change to see what my nitrate and phosphate levels looks like for the first week. I have also purchased the Red Sea Algae Management Pro Test Kit to use in conjunction for monitoring. Crossing my fingers for good results.

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  3. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    The aquarium hold approximately 45 gallons of water. With displacement for the live sand and live rock I have dropped that number down a bit further. According to the Red Sea NO3:pO4X supplement instructions for SPS aquariums within the first week I should be adding approximately 3 ml of solutions for every 25 gallons of saltwater. So I have calculated that 5 ml per day should be about accurate for my aquarium. I have spread the dosage out as stated every 4.5 hours.

    It has been approximately 24 hours since I first started administering the dosage and my first observations are as follows. I have noticed that I am experiencing Slow Tissue Necrosis on one of my corals. While most of my corals have degraded in the vibrance of their pigmentation I am not total convinced that this is due entirely to the dosing. But I did also notice that my pH levels has been suppressed since I started dosing according to the graph below from my Neptune Systems Apex Controller's pH monitoring Probe.

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  4. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    The aquarium hold approximately 45 gallons of water. With displacement for the live sand and live rock I have dropped that number down a bit further. According to the Red Sea NO3:pO4X supplement instructions for SPS aquariums within the first week I should be adding approximately 3 ml of solutions for every 25 gallons of saltwater. So I have calculated that 5 ml per day should be about accurate for my aquarium. I have spread the dosage out as stated every 4.5 hours.

    It has been approximately 24 hours since I first started administering the dosage and my first observations are as follows. I have noticed that I am experiencing Slow Tissue Necrosis on one of my corals. While most of my corals have degraded in the vibrance of their pigmentation I am not total convinced that this is due entirely to the dosing. But I did also notice that my pH levels has been suppressed since I started dosing according to the graph below from my Neptune Systems Apex Controller's pH monitoring Probe.

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  5. Va Reef

    Va Reef Giant Squid

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    What are your starting values for nitrates and phosphates?

    I spoke with a Red Sea rep who swore by this stuff (of course he is a rep) using it to maintain low but present levels of nitrates and phosphates, however if your levels start out a bit high, you don't want to do full doses at first, similar to doing a half dose of GFO the first time.

    As for your pH drop, if you look at the ingredients, it's acetic acid and methanol, though one whiff of it tells you acetic acid (vinegar). I found that I had to dose a bit more of my alkalinity, and it made my skimmer go wacky at times. Make sure you pour it in an area of high flow, and that it doesn't come into contact with corals right away.
     
  6. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    Well Nitrates were at 10 ppm as of last Friday. My Phosphates were undetectable, but that could be very well that the algae outbreak in the photographs below were utilizing all the excess that was not absorbed by the GFO Reactor. I will be doing a water change later this evening and testing all my parameters and will adjust my doser accordingly. Also I have it dripping into the rear chamber which has a circulation pump as well as the return pumps Carbon Reactor Skimmer so there is no immediate contact with the corals. Do you think the 5 ml dosage per day is really too much?

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  7. Va Reef

    Va Reef Giant Squid

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    I personally would do a half dosage for the first week or two. You really have to think of it as a liquid GFO that also pulls nitrates, with them at 10ppm, you do not want to dramatically reduce them, but rather a slower drop. I think the corals speak for themselves. If you're suddenly getting STN, then it's probably from dosing too much of the NOPOX.
     
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  9. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    I will decrease it once I get home. Boy sure wish I have the Neptune DŌS system installed now instead of my Jebao.
     
  10. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    this is a great idea for a thread - would love to see more people do something like this if they are using a new product.
     
  11. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    Thank you. I hope this gives more people insight on the product and can see detailed results. Sharing knowledge is caring.
     
  12. JaysLittleOcean

    JaysLittleOcean Spaghetti Worm

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    So I went through my normal weekly maintenance routing of doing a 4 gallon water change and then testing all levels the after 24 hours. Well I stopped dosing with NO3:pO4X after the second day. Apparently that was too strong of a dose and test results with both Salifert and Red Sea Fish test kits showed that I completely stripped the water all detectable Nitrates. Further test shows that my phosphate levels are currently at 0.8 ppm. So I put my GFO reactor back online and gave the tank the weekend to recover as the bacterial bloom created such a cloudy mess in the aquarium. But as of yesterday evening the cloudiness has disappeared, my pH levels are returning to normal and I am slowly configuring my doser to accommodate an acclimated growth. The Hair Algae looks bad still but not as vibrant as it was a few days ago. So the product work and is actually extremely powerful. So I will give it until Wednesday before I test again to view results and make small adjustments as normal.