Nutrient Control

[fishyfishy]

I'm trying to figure out which method to use for nutrient control on my tank. I'm really looking for less algae growth on the glass and sand bed. It's not horrible right now, but I envy the tanks that have clean white sand and I just haven't been able to get my tank that clean without a lot of work.

I don't read any PO4 using my Hannah checker, it's all being consumed by algae, I haven't checked nitrates in a while but it's probably similar to the PO4.

I run a fuge with good macro algae growth powered by a kessil, so I know that's helping a lot. My skimmer is oversized and pulls good thick skimmate. I tried running gfo and it leaked out the reactor and now my tubes are stained and gfo powder is everywhere.

I noticed less algae with the gfo so maybe I can try that again with a better setup or I have some Nopox and I have been a little nervous to start. Any suggestions on what's worked on your system?

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

I started dosing vinegar to lower my ph spikes. It wprks well to lower the ph spikes, but the real benefit has been an ultra clean tank. It definitely requires some reading, but I can say I went from green film algae glass to no algae. I have been lowering the dosing levels as much as I can while keeping my ph below 8.5. My glass develops a film of white bacteria every few days, but it is very easy to remove and looks nothing like green algae. I am really liking the results of vinegar dosing, but it does come with some risk that must be read up on.

I have not been dosing vinegar long enough to see any real problems, but it sounds like Nopox would be a good option too. Vinegar is around $2 a gallon, a lot cheaper than nopox, but does not include everything nopox has. From what I have read it sounds like the primary ingredients of nopox are vinegar and cheap vodka , which is also cheap.

 

[ZapataInc]

@civics14 doses a mixture of vinegar and vodka for his tank.

 

[fidofence1]

Gfo works great. I just use a Brs reactor with a ball valve to control the flow and it has never let me down


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[jcook54]

I'll 3rd what a few folks have said and suggest carbon dosing of some sort. I use the Red Sea NOPOX and it's worked. It's apparently a mix of alcohol(vodka) and vinegar. You can get the same effect using vodka and vinegar but I went with the NOPOX because I felt more comfortable using a ready made product. Plus, I dose 2mL a day and the "savings" of mixing it myself just isn't that big a deal.

 

[fishyfishy]

I was just at @civics14 house and it was clean as could be with great growth. I guess I'm just scared that it my dosing pump (dos) somehow doesn't keep a perfect dose things can go south real quick. I think I'll try it out though. I saw you can buy the gallon jugs of nopox at brs. So I imagine the cost wouldn't be too bad.

 

[fishyfishy]

Oh yea, question. Can I still run the fuge with nopox or will my macro algae die on me?

 

[ichthyoid]

You can still run a refugium in a ULN system. What will cause problems is 0 phoshate.

FWIW, from Randy H-Farley for diy recipe of NO3POx, on R2R-
“Mix one part vinegar to one half part vodka and one half part water. If you want to get even closer, add a little more vodka and a little less water."

There is some methanol as well, likely to denature the ethanol & avoid alcohol taxes. Methanol won’t hurt anything. I I have a LifeReef denitrification filter that ran on it.


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