Question on Mixing carbon and Phosar in same mesh bag?
- Thread starter MaryBebo
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timrandlerv10
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LOL we need a 'Tomoko?' thread...just keep posting there...
timrandlerv10
New member
LOL we need a 'Tomoko?' thread...just keep posting there...
Tomoko Schum
New member
I am using GAC and Phosar together in a phosban reactor. When I started discussing this with Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley last year, he was using both in his canister filter. He thought that a canister filter forced water through them more efficiently without pulverizing them. Then he stopped using GFO because his macroalgae stopped growing. He and I agreed that his macroalgae was getting phosphate limited and no longer growing. I have had the same situation using GFO in the past, with or without the reactor. When macroalgae becomes phosphate limited (I even killed a batch of chaetomorpha), they stop taking up nitrate as well. (I see this phenomenon in various planted aquariums all the time.) As a result, my nitrate and his nitrate levels hovered around 0.5 ppm.
As for the ratio, he did not indicate any particular ratio. He said maybe 5% GFO to 95% GAC. I assume by weight and not by mass, but I am not sure. Phosban at full dose is supposed to last up to 6 months, but if you mix it with GAC, you will be throwing phoban away prematurely like after two weeks to a month. This is the reason that people use a much smaller amount than the recommended dosage by GFO manufacturers. It is a balancing act. If I use too much, my chaetomorpha dies. If I don't use them at all, I get a small patch of cyano when I use too much Golden Pearls.
I suppose that each person needs to try out what works for him or her since our tank conditions are all different. However, I would not worry about the precise dosage. I know that things are all right in general as long as my acros look bright and colorful and they are growing really fast.
Tomoko
As for the ratio, he did not indicate any particular ratio. He said maybe 5% GFO to 95% GAC. I assume by weight and not by mass, but I am not sure. Phosban at full dose is supposed to last up to 6 months, but if you mix it with GAC, you will be throwing phoban away prematurely like after two weeks to a month. This is the reason that people use a much smaller amount than the recommended dosage by GFO manufacturers. It is a balancing act. If I use too much, my chaetomorpha dies. If I don't use them at all, I get a small patch of cyano when I use too much Golden Pearls.
I suppose that each person needs to try out what works for him or her since our tank conditions are all different. However, I would not worry about the precise dosage. I know that things are all right in general as long as my acros look bright and colorful and they are growing really fast.
Tomoko
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