phosBan poo

[Briney Dave]

Ok what is the whole story on these phosphate reactors

I have an R/O filter but know that the farm land water is loaded with phosphates and nitrates

do these things work and do you have to use Phosban granuoles
or can you use the kent phos-sponge pellets too. I have a couple of tubs of the kent donated and un-opened and would rather save the money if possible

The issue is the bryophysis, I have been working with Dan at Salty raising my pH, increasing water changes to weekly, added two sea hares and four lettuce nudis. Dan said it will take a couple of months to start working and I am ok with that but I wonder if the reactor will help or just be a waste of money.

Briney

 

[rob352]

I Use 2 phosphate reactors On My Tank And I Love Them I Have One With Phosban And One With Reef Carbon They Are Working Great Together I Have No Trace Of Phosphate

 

[Briney Dave]

Thanks Rob, do you use the phosban brand pellets or do can you use the kent or other brands

 

[bond007069]

From what i understand any media will work in either the Kent or the Phosban reactor.

Any yes if you have PO4 in your source water and or tank water this is supposed to help.

 

[itZme]

When using a phosban reactor do you just fill it with a bunch of media like a when using a Kalk reactor or do you have to dose the recommended amount and change it often?

I am using a canister filter with 350gph to run phosguard and carbon but would like to make a couple reactors for my new tanks. If you just dump in the can of Phosban and let it go for a month then I'm all for it. If it only does the same thing as the canister filter then I might just stick with this all-in-one solution.

Thanks,
-- Kevin

 

[Jamokie01]

You fill the reactor up I believe most of the way. Its not something that you can oversode. I havent done my homework on kents media, but phosban is good stuff. Basically you want to made sure that its made with iron oxide as opposed to aluminum oxide as that leeches into your tank and down the road can cause some serious problems due to a high heavy metals concentration. Basically if the media is red its ok to use, if its white, your better off finding something else. The great thing about phosban or rowaphos is that it does not leech phosphates back into the water once it reaches saturation. The bad thing is that if your tank has high concentrations of phosphate the media will become saturated quickly and will have to be replaced often. If your looking for a quick fix, this may be the way to go, but replacing the media will become expensive, and if your source water has elevated phospahates, you will go through it pretty quickly. Personally, I think if you have the space for it, your better off building a refugium and putting a nice DSB in and filling the tank with chaetomorpha.

 

[wayout440]

I am in agreement with Jamokie for all those reasons. I have replaced my trickle filter with a fuge with 4" of sand and after only a couple of weeks that has basically stunted the growth of the hair algae and bubble algae. My nitrates have dropped to undetectable range (I am not measuring for phosphates, but I am sure that my source water has them, as I do not have an RO/DI unit yet). I think the whole idea is rather than treating a chemical with a chemical, to use a more natural method to balance out the closed system. I think the phos reactor just overcomplicates things, ends up being another headache to monitor/adjust/feed your hard earned dollar to.

 

[Briney Dave]

my levels are always at or very near the undetectable level, I know that there is still phosphates though just bound in the algea most of the time.

When I added my refu, it nuked the little bit of hair and bubble algae that I had too but this Bryso got introduced on a frag and has been very much a challenge ever since.

I was way too slow in reacting to the algae not being aware how much different it was than hair.

The Kent is a white pellet so I am assuming that it is aluminum based and therefore not the one to use.

I have two more questions then: first how do you know when the media is saturated

second: does it matter which valve I use to control the flow through the reactor. I was figuring that I would tee off my main return line. I will be using a valve on both sides to isolate and clean but which is better input or output to regulate flow through the reactor????

Briney

 

[Briney Dave]

according to the kent label the product does not leach aluminum into the water. what has anyone heard about this??

anyone else have an opinion about the reactor ??

 

[wayout440]

Have you read this? http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/chem.htm

The release of aluminum by these agents can certainly be proved to be significant. The question is how damaging are they biologically in any given system/to any given species. From all the posts and info I have read, leathers are not happy with it, for sure.

 

[Briney Dave]

thanks for the link. I have always trusted kent but that article was an eye opener

 

[itZme]

Wayout440,
I also thank you for the link. I just started using the stuff in that article (Seachem Phosguard) about 2 weeks ago and have had one of my favorite corals (the pink hammer in my avatar) die back about 90%

Coincidence?

I have stopped using it and did a 25% water change... hope it comes back. You may have saved a life.

-- Kevin