do you use Phosban or something like it?

[sillygoose]

Hi all,

I am getting nervous that my phosphates aren't adequately controlled. I also have a heck of a time seeing the shades of yellow-green-aqua in the test kit so I never really know what my PO4 concentration is. Have any of you used phosban in a filter bag in the fuge? Has phosban been effective for you?

 

[Tanque Verde]

YES. I have used rowaphos and GFO from Bulk Reef Supply. Bulk Reef Supply also makes a nice phosphate reactor which I highly recommend (fluidized phosphate media is generally considered more effective than a bag of it tossed in the sump.)

 

[scubabum1983]

yes, but as i get my grassbed going im going to watch the levels and evetually stop and let the grass use it.

 

[BonesCJ]

I use the bulk GFO from bulkreefsupply in a phosban reactor, its a little undersized for my system but deffinitly seems to help

 

[Mr. Right]

Liquid phos test kit is junk IMO...hard to read, not accurate, and so on...Your eyes are the best test kit for phos IMO...unless you have a hanna meter which is like 200 bucks (I think). Just a Q, do you have HA blooms? I want to know what leads you think that you have a phos issue. I use phos gaurd sometimes and I know theres bad things said about it but I've only witnessed my acan (only one of my colonies) close up when in use. I've used it in a bag and in my reactor which I use mostly for carbon. I regulate my phos/waste build up with WC's and good flow, good skimmer, good husbandry, ext; and I think that helps keep my phos in check.

 

[sillygoose]

We do a 25-30% change every 2-3 weeks, don't over feed, and we use a good skimmer. We also have a fuge with chaeto. Other parameters are good although we still deal with nitrates creeping up. I guess the biggest tip-off has been that our coraline has bleached and is longer growing. Our tank was wonderfully purple. The other one was a rather sudden increase in brown algae on the gravel. (We are getting a handle on that one with water changes. We had a problem with cyano but we became more aggressive with water changes, etc (no chemicals) and that is gone.) Finally, zooanthids are not doing well - both established and newer. I read something somewhere that said they are not well tolerant of elevated PO4.

The test results are secondary to the actual changes I see in the tank.

We have added a turf algal scrubber to our system but it is just 3 weeks old. I'm hoping that running it in concert with our skimmer will help clean the water. In the mean time, I'm considering other options.

 

[sillygoose]

What is the effective life of these products?

 

[Tanque Verde]

How often do other folks with large tanks change their H20? I keep nanos, so I change about 10-15% every four days. From my perspective, your water-change regimen would benefit from accelleration, but I can't honestly speak about larger tanks. (All mine are 25gallons or less.)

 

[sillygoose]

We changed 30-40 g (of 90) every weekend until we got rid of the cyano. I guess it's more accurate to say we do a water change every other week - three weeks would be a long time.

When we had a nano, we did 10 g once a week.

 

[BonesCJ]

I try to do 30 gallon changes once a month