Phosphate reactor and phosban... now what?

[XtremeFromHell]

so i got my phosphate reactor 150 and today i got my phosban 150g, i already plumed it into my tank, i put the pump to push water into the reactor from the side in the sump where the water from the tank comes into, and the other end of the reactor to shoot the water into the return section of the sump, is this fine?

another question i have is how much of the phosban should i put into the reactor? i have a 29gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump, altogether i have about 37 gallons, it says on the back of the phosban to use 50g per 50gallons, but i think it would seem as if it wasnt enough? what do you guys think? im open for suggestions and any help, thanks guys!

[Shane Hoffman]

Yes you set it up right. I always add a little extra above what the label says when using BRS GFO. I would do the same with phosban. I would probably use 75 or 100g if it were me.

I use a cup and a half on my 150 DT. Change it every 3 weeks. Whatever you do test for phosphates before starting reactor. Test for phosphates every 3 days after adding phosban. When your test indicates phosphates rising again it is time to change IMO.

[XtremeFromHell]

thanks! i want to closely monitor my phosphates, as of yesterday i have a readong of 0.25 so hopefully this removes them because my tank was looking pretty bad, as for phosban i will most likely use around 50-75g would that be enough for approximately 37 gallons?

[Shane Hoffman]

Yes if the label says 50g you would be fine using 50 to 75g. Although unless you have a way to measure Grams you may have to find a converter for grams to cups or grams to teaspoons IDK......

[XtremeFromHell]

hmm, i'll have to figure something out.. thanks!

[evoracer]

The real question here is where is your phosphate problem coming from? A phosphate remover is good, but best is find the source and eliminate it.

[XtremeFromHell]

Originally Posted by evoracer

The real question here is where is your phosphate problem coming from? A phosphate remover is good, but best is find the source and eliminate it.

i have an idea, i ordered a tds meter, i have another thread about diatoms, and i came the the conclusion that it might be 1 of several things,
first i think i was over feeding so i cut back on feeding, i dont think i had enough flow so i added another PH, the other thing i narrowed it down to was the saltwater im getting from my LFS and the RO water from them as well

i will be getting my own ro/di system as well as a tds meter and will be mixing my own salt.

[fatdaddy]

Originally Posted by evoracer

The real question here is where is your phosphate problem coming from? A phosphate remover is good, but best is find the source and eliminate it.

Isn't phosphate just a natural part of having an aquarium? Eventually bacteria die and they release a small amount of phosphate when they decompose. You need an export such as algae growth, GFO, skimmer, etc.

[DC_40gallon]

Originally Posted by evoracer

The real question here is where is your phosphate problem coming from? A phosphate remover is good, but best is find the source and eliminate it.

I added a phosban reactor as well about 2 weeks ago. After a few days I noticed a good difference (but nothing startling or super exciting). Then I took a toothbrush and found that all the existing hair algae came off real easy which told me that the phosban was indeed working. Then a week later the hair algae was growing back....talk about frustrating. I was told by someone before that when you first use phosban it can be burned up real quick on the first 50 grams. So I thought that was the case, yesterday I changed the phosban and hoped for the best.

Today I did a 25% water change with my 0 tds ro/di water and Red Sea Coral Pro salt and while I was scrubbing down my tank and decided to take off my tube for my hang on back powerfilter (I'm just running a bag of carbon in it now and using it for additional water movement) and found it caked in sludge on the inside. Disgusted, I decided to take the whole think off and clean it out. Needless to say, I think I found my phosphate problem. That thing was caked on every inch of the inside siphon tube and walls.

Could that sludge caked on the inside be my source and why the phosban didn't have a noticeable reaction to the hair algae?

[XtremeFromHell]

*bump

[DC_40gallon]

Bump again

[fatdaddy]

Originally Posted by DC_40gallon

Then a week later the hair algae was growing back....talk about frustrating.

There are a number of things that all need to come together to avoid hair algae:

• 0 phosphates
• 0 nitrates
• low dissolved organics - aggressive skimming and back off feedings.
• Clean up Crew - Snails and hermits.
• Good Ca, Mg, and Alk to get coraline algae going.

It won't happen over night.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Originally Posted by fatdaddy

It won't happen over night.

And it can be DANGEROUS to try to make it happen overnight. I would strongly suggest NOT using more than the container suggests when first adding GFO to a system. Doing this may be fine in some tanks, but in others, it can quickly strip 100% of the phosphate from the system. This might sound like a GOOD thing, but corals need some phosphate - it's just an undetectably small amount. Strip it ALL and your corals can RTN in days our even hours. Search the archives a few years back when GFO was first really catching on and there are plenty of examples of threads titled "I just added GFO and all my corals are dead." Like with anything else in this hobby, it's best to take it slow - start with the suggested dose, and up it slowly if you feel it's not effective after a few weeks.

That said, if you have HA in your system, you likely have a fair amount of phosphate bound up in the HA or the rock itself, so it'll probably take some time for it to drop anyways.

[mojo10]

getting your own ro di system is going to make you a lot happier its a worth while investment. Also it would be wise to look into the salt you choose, Do some research on salt, Its not all equal

[SecGenGSX]

Originally Posted by Shane Hoffman

Yes if the label says 50g you would be fine using 50 to 75g. Although unless you have a way to measure Grams you may have to find a converter for grams to cups or grams to teaspoons IDK......

We have a pretty nifty converter here at work so I figured I would try it out for this:

So 50g = 1.76368oz
1.76368oz = .22046cup
and
75g = 2.64552oz
2.64552oz = .33069cup

I would like to think that these numbers are accurate, but I would feel more comfortable if someone else can come up with the same numbers. With that being said and with the other comment about starting slow when running this, I would like to think somewhere around an 1/8 cup would be a good starting point. Like I said, if someone can do some number crunching and see if they can come up with the same info, I would feel better about suggesting that to you.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Originally Posted by SecGenGSX

1.76368oz = .22046cup

Clearly this conversion only works if you are talking fluid ounces, i.e. the unit of volume, not plain old ounces, i.e. the unit of weight.

If you are converting from X grams to X ounces, then that's WEIGHT ounces, not VOLUME ounces, so this conversion would be wrong.

If you knew the density (i.e. weight per unit volume) of the GFO you could convert between the two, if you're dead set on using measuring cups.

[SecGenGSX]

I stand corrected. Let me play around with this and see what I can come up with...

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You'll need to know the density to convert from grams to cups. This would be easy to determine if you had an accurate way to measure weight and volume of a sample, but you cannot determine it purely from standard unit conversions.

[XtremeFromHell]

thanks for the info guys, but i should have looked here before i installed it lol, a friend of mine has a scale to measure grams so i weighed out 60g of it, my tank volume in total with sump is 37 gallons, and the reactor is already running, how should i go about and removing some of it out?

[fatdaddy]

Originally Posted by XtremeFromHell

, how should i go about and removing some of it out?

What are your current phosphate level? If it's more then zero, then I'd leave it alone.

Do you have a **** valve on the reactor? If so, just turn down the flow.

[XtremeFromHell]

according to my measurement it said i have 0.25

[fatdaddy]

Originally Posted by XtremeFromHell

according to my measurement it said i have 0.25

I'd leave it alone. Your rocks and sand are probably still leaching phosphate. I'd test it in another week.

[XtremeFromHell]

thanks for the info! i will continue to monitor the level of phosphate in the tank, i am already noticing major difference, i dont know if its the phosphate reactor already or just the tank looking better but it is really clear!

[dots]

If you just started using it, your going to go through the GFO pretty quick. Make sure you have a good test, I found Elos to be a good one for P04....then went to a Hanna Photometer.

Adjust it until is it fluid like and only a couple of bits break loose from the mass....you don't want it tumbleing in there.

I found that even with the settings correct and the right amount, I still managed to grind it down over time and it discharged. I found that fixing the mesh bag around the discharge collects anything that makes it out.

There is some truth in finding the source, or changing your husbandry practices. I found the hassle of replacing carbon and GFO was too much and the cost of GFO was getting to me. I upped my water change schedule and volume, while stopping both of those......back to basics approach I was doing......I had better results in the end that way than when using the other two.

[singold]

+1 dots "Adjust it until is it fluid like and only a couple of bits break loose from the mass....you don't want it tumbleing in there"

You only want a slow boil at the surface of the phosban w/in phos chamber.
Otherwise, you will grind down the media. I actually called Two Little Fishies about this when setting mine up & their directions included in the box were incorrect, they concurred. Slow boil only at top of phosban media within the chamber when setting up water flow through it.