• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

DIY NOPOX Recipe Revealed

redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've been using the DIY NOPOX recipe that came from @art13. It simply is 500 mls Vinegar, 375 mls Vodka (40%) and 125 mls of RO/DI water. I've also seen other amounts used as well, such as 1 part vodka to 2 parts vinegar. However, I've wondered where the Art recipe came from.....and I believe I've found out. In a discussion over on R2R, there was a link to an RC post where shermanator had his grad students run NOPOX through an NMR, and found the following:

6:1 EtOH:AcOH (ethanol : acetic acid). The AcOH is ~3%.

So you can make your own NOPOX (roughly) by adding 1 part vinegar to 1 part 30% ethanol.

There are a couple impurities around 3 ppm, but otherwise it's quite clean stuff.


With Vodka at 40%, the simple dilution with 125 mls of RO/DI results in the same exact proportions as found by NMR, above. Good to know! Makes me feel a bit more comfortable in using this recipe. Thanks Art. :D
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
My old brain is failing me....as I gave this post some thought, I don't think it was @art13 that published the above recipe, but @saltkreep88 . Help me out, who first published the above NOPOX DIY recipe of 500 mls vinegar, 375 vodka and 125 RO/DI.....and where did you get that recipe from?
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
@art13 I respectfully retract my Thank you and transfer that to @saltkreep88 . :eek::D:D:D:D:D:D:D


It appears to be working well for me too. It's "cleaner" than the biopellets....they were slimming my skimmer allot more than the DIY NOPOX is doing. Now I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. Does all that slim mean the biopellets are causing more reproduction of the bacteria, while the NOPOX, not so much???
 
Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
I need to look into this nopox thing. I know Joe has talked to me in the past (and I still have some acetic acid he was kind enough to give me), I haven't started. Then again, I'm in a smaller tank now at 25g total water volume (though am dealing with early red slime outbreak now). May begin dosing early (tank ins only a few months old) based upon further research. But, atm the zoas and jawbreaker seem to be lovin current conditions (though mildly visually unappealing).
 
O

Ocelaris

Is there any benefit to carbon dosing if you're already low nitrates/phosphates? I have to add nitrates daily even though I feed heavily. My chaeto and giant skimmer take most inorganic nutrients out, but of course there's always organics in the water which help the small population of gha on my rocks.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
First off welcome!

And YES, you are correct in your dilution. The common vinegar found in your local grocery store is 5%. With the stuff you have at 10%, you only need to use half the volume, and make up the difference with RO/DI.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Where are you finding 37% vodka? It wouldn't bother me....I'd still use the original amounts and assume it's 40%. If your anal, with vodka at 37%, and vinegar at 10%, you'd what to use the following formula to exactly match the published percentage:

Vodka (37%) - 405 mls
Vinegar (10%) - 250 mls
RO/DI water - 345 mls

You darn Brits! :D
 
Mariusz

Mariusz

Haha Im not British I only leave in Uk, in Poland we have proper Vodka, I gonna do little be of mix, Polish 10% vinegar with English 37% **** and water. Should I start dosing it same as red sea nopox so 2ml/100L straight away or should I start with very low amount and then increase it.
Thanks
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
It depends on your nitrate levels....and I simply use the NOPOX instructions as far as dosing:

Measured Level (ppm) ....................Daily Dose ml/100 L (25 gal (US))
NO3 above 10 ---------------------------------------3
NO3 above 2.5, but less than 10 ------------------2
NO3 above 1 but less than 2.5 ---------------------1

Note that NOPOX is carbon dosing and you need to have both nitrates and phosphates for it to work.....and a skimmer to remove growing bacteria that multiply from consuming the NOPOX. Hope this helps.
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
You really should measure the nitrate and phosphate levels when carbon dosing. At the beginning you would need to measure every couple of days and record the measurements and dosages. Also know that the it takes some time for it to kick in.
 
Mariusz

Mariusz

Hi Guys, should I switch skimmer off when dosing nopox and where you guys Feed it I mean shoud I Put it into the sump or into main tank.
Thanks
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
Old thread but I started the DIY NOPOX again. Overnight the tank water is already cloudy. Anyone still doing this? Don't hear about this much. Years ago it's all BP and NOPOX.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Joe, I still dose DIY NOPOX and actually have it set up with a dosing pump:

1647695064186.png

I think what you're seeing is a bacterial bloom. Did you start slow? What is suggested for starting dosing is to start slow....reverse of their suggested dose levels. That is, start with 1ml per 25 gallons for a week or so. Then go up to 2mls per 25 gallons for another week or so, and then eventually up to 3 mls per 25 gallons. Hope this helps. If you notice a bloom, back off dose for another week or so before continuing bringing it back up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top