phosphates removal

[Roland Jacques]

my tap water has high phosphates other than that it is really good water about 50 TDS. my DI is out and i needed 100 gallons of sw fast. so i ran my tap thourgh carbon block filters and made SW. i put phoslock (like phosban) in a canister filter and ran it. i tested the phosphates in my water again 48 hours later and saw no defferance. it was still about 1 ppm.

is thier anything for tap water that work good for phoshates??

why didn't the phoslock work i used 3/4 lbs of it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know, but in general I think GFO should bind phosphate in fresh water. What is the pH? How high was the phosphate? Maybe you have a faulty kit? Maybe it will just take longer than you think?

Does your water supply use chloramine? If so, you may have substantial ammonia in the water.

I'd also worry about copper:

Tap Water in Reef Aquaria
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm

 

[Roland Jacques]

i guess i take longer than i thought it should. the water was mixed 1.024 gravity 8.3 ph. no , chloramine or ammonia in the water. i thought the carbon would take care of any copper.

the phophate test kit goes from 1 to 3 ppm it fell in between the color is very subjective.

i hate using a r/o because of all the waste water i use 100 - 200 galls a week. i was trhinking of just going from a mechcanical to 3 carbon blocks to a pretty big DI unit. and just regenerate the DI when needed. my tds out of my carbon blocks is 15ppm at full flow with old cartrages.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A straight DI sounds like a good plan.