SS's nopox thread

S

Shuttershane

Member
Really? From what I am reading out there this stuff seems more like Dinoflagellates. At night it seems to be about half of what it is during the day, once the lights turn on this stuff doubles in size. Also water changes appear to make it worse. About half of it has bubbles at the tips and it is very brown in color.
 
S

Shuttershane

Member
Ok, I had a few local guys from reef club stop by. They all said this is Dino. This explains a lot.

Anyway I did another three day black out. That cut it down a lot. I am now siphoning it out everyday and crossing my fingers. Everyone has suggested to skip the next two water changes because dinoflagellates feed off of trace elements. Wish me luck.

Btw I have a quick question for you Redseakev. I just got a new container for storing my two part and nopox for dosing. It's got a lid but is not air tight. Is this ok for nopox? I ask because when I open the door to the sump in my rsm 500 I can smell the nopox
 
RedSeaKev

RedSeaKev

RS Sponsor
Ok, It is very important that when dosing No3Po4-X and Coral Colors (trace elements) with auto dosing systems you do not allow the contents to evaporate, so not open topped bottles or non air tight containers.

The conversion of the original bottles to make them suitable for auto dosing is an easy operation, simply drill 2 x 1/4 inch holes (6mm) in the cap, one hole takes the suction tube, I use solid acrylic connected to HDPE (good quality silicon is fine) hose, the second hole invert a standard air non return valve, this will act as an auto vet then when the dosing pump starts.

Evaporation can cause a problem especially with No3Po4-X.
 
S

Shuttershane

Member
Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Since I am battling Dino (confirmed with a microscope and a friend who is a biologist) I have actually stopped dosing NoPox until the dino is gone. From what I have been told by others adding carbon sources to the tank while trying to get rid of Dino will slow the process down. So once I get my dino issue resolved I will start dosing and update this thread.

My big fear right now is that I kill off my dino issue and start dosing carbon only to have them come back. I have read stories of this happening to people, I just hope it is not me! Heck I hope I can eradicate them. They are dying off slowly but are very frustrating.
 
S

Shuttershane

Member
I think I give up trying to rid my tank completely of dinoflagellates. Here is a quick rundown of what I did to try and rid the tank of it:

Lights out for three days - I tried this 3 times. It weakened the dinoflagellates but they were always back 1-2 days later.
Peroxide - I started with 1ml per 10G and tried as high as 2ml per 10G. This helped a little but never got rid of it
Stopped dosing NoPox - Made no difference
Stopped dosing Reef Energy A and B - This has helped. I stopped dosing it for a week. Then two days ago I dosed it and the dinoflagellates were stronger within 3 hours of dosing. So one thing I can say for sure is Amino acids and or Carbs fuel dinoflagellates (or at least the strain I hate)
Raised PH and ALK - Didn't make a difference. I do have a fear of STN/RTN. Currently my ALK is at 10-11dkh.

This whole time I have been siphoning it out of my sandbed 1-2 times per day.

So with that said it has been 2 weeks since I last dosed NoPox. Here are my current readings:

Nitrates: 10
Phostphates: 0

What I find odd is my phosphates have been steady at 0 for a week. Last week they were 0.02.


Right now I am debating if I should start nopox again, or try an alternative carbon source. Hoping RedSeaKev will see this and chime in. And just for everyones info, the dinoflagellates are now at a point where they are limited. I basically only have them on the sandbed where the light hits them.
 
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