phosphate in ca reactor effluent

jlinzmaier

Premium Member
Recently read a thread in which a person was trying to nail down why his po4 kept rising. He checked all common sources and found nothing. He fed so sparingly he was starving his fish. It sounds like he did all his homework and ruled out all common sources of po4. As the po4 continued to rise he eventually tested is calcium reactor effluent. He was using carb sea ARM coarse media and the effluent reading using a phototmeter was 0.22. In most cases that isn't a huge contribution due to the overall low flow rates of ca rx effluent, however in his case his flow rate was pretty high and it seemed to contribute more po4 than what he was feeding to his fish. He changed his media to Gen-X media and the effluent po4 lvl was 0.02 - much better.

I, of course, ran down stairs and tested my ca rx effluent with my photometer and got a reading of 0.29!! My effluent rate is quite low and ultimately it doesn't add a significant amount of po4 in total. (I also run ARM coarse media). I'll be switching to Gen-X media to limit po4 even though the total contribution is pretty low (can't hurt to limit po4 from any source if you have the ability IMO). I'll post what results I get from the Gen-x effluent.

It sounds like Gen-x is larger peices of only coral skeletons. It's quite visible in the ARM media that there are several sorts of snail shells in there. I belive those types of shells are partially composed of po4 deposits and that may be the link to the media contributing the po4 as it's dissolved.

Jeremy
 
Wow, I knew that it released some, but not that much. I have a hard time keeping po4 down and I'm sure that doesn't help. I use the ARM too. Thanks for the info...
 
I had no idea it had such a high level either.

Sorry Msch, I just got a brand now gallon container of ARM too.

Everyone please keep in mind that the amounts of po4 that the ca rx effluent will add as a "total" is still pretty minimal in comparison to what we feed our tanks (subject to the effluent rate). However, IMO this is a way to limit an unecessary source of po4.

Jeremy
 
I have seen a few posts with guys running Phosban in a 2ed chamber that the effluent has to pass though before going to the tank. When I build mine I was planing on a three stage. The first and the main reactor the 2ed stage with media to raise the PH and number three with Phosban to help keep it low.

Hella
 
Sounds like the Gen-x puts out practically no po4 so you may not have to run the third chamber with the GFO. Gen-x sounds like it's larger media and I've found it at a few places cheaper than ARM.

Jeremy
 
i ran arm in my denitrafire and now that i shut it off cuz my alk was so low, im seeing hair alge again:( i almost had a steady stream of water out of it too...now i got to do this battle all over again :(
 
WHEW! I've got Gen-X in my reactor. It's been a while since I've specifically looked at the media, but if I remember right it does look skeletonish. Kind of like odd sized Mike-n-Ike candies. (but without the fun colors)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14774382#post14774382 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MrSquid
Kind of like odd sized Mike-n-Ike candies. (but without the fun colors)

Oh Man!!! I was really hoping for cool colors!!

Jeremy
 
Finally got the Gen-X media for my reactor.

ARM effluent po4 readings were 0.29 mg/L and at that time the po4 reading of my tank water was 0.01 mg/L thus leaving a net gain of 0.28 mg/L from the effluent.

Gen-X media initial reading was 0.51 mg/L but I made the mistake of not soaking it in RO/DI water before putting it in my reactor - stupid mistake.

To remedy that, several times I've cranked up the co2 and opened the effluent line wide open and let it run out about 2-3 gallons down the drain. The last po4 reading was 0.07 mg/L and my tanks level has been 0.04 mg/L for the last week and a half (DI resin was exhausted and I didn't catch it right away) thus leaving a net gain of 0.03 mg/L of po4 from the Gen-X media. Much better than the 0.28 mg/L from the ARM.

In comparison to how much po4 gets added from fish food and coral food, the effluent doesn't add very much total po4, but IMO if I can limit po4 addition by simply switching media then it's well worth it.

Jeremy
 
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