kent phosphate absorber-anyone use this?

[LilBugger225]

In my never ending battle with turf algae, from reading some success stories with phosphate absorbers I decided to try it. So tonite I ordered some of the kent phosphate absorber. Has anyone used this product? Did it help with algae? Nothing I do seems to help with the turf algae, my nitrates and phosphates are always low, emerald crabs, turbos, removal, nothing works. Hopefully this will cause some die off or at least keep it from spreading more. How often should I use it? It says 8 hrs to 2 days max at a time. Thanks for any info!

LB 8)

 

[Anonymous]

yeah i used to use it all the time. it always got results leading to the end of my phosphate problems but it tended to shock the tar out of my soft corals. i suppose it strips your water of trace elements as well. you didn't sound as if it was a phosphate problem you suffer from. if you do have elevated phosphate i recommend the weiss product "silicon and phosphate magnet". not a real popular name brand here but it has solved my phosphate problems for 6 months now w/no detrimental effects on my reef.
do you drip kalk?
i ussually do a fast kalk drip effectively spiking the ph thus killing the algae. and again i've read topics in this forum discribing this as an ill advised plan for algae removal, but it works for me and i'd rather stress my corals a bit in this manner than torture them w/a two week algae battle.

 

[danmhippo]

Don't know this product, but make sure it's not aluminum based product. Many soft corals can be irritated by aluminum leached in water. Make sure you rinse out all the small particles from the media before you use them in your system.

Better to be safe.

 

[Casey1]

I used it with great results.. make sure you place it in a place where you get good circulation. I didn't have many corals so I don't know how reef safe it is. Are you RO/DI water? I used the Kent then stoped using tap water and haven't had the problem since.

Good Luck

 

[LilBugger225]

Thanks for the responses!
I tried dripping kalk one time and I got a huge ph spike and my corals did not appreciate it one bit. (this was a while ago now with a smaller tank and I wasn't very experienced with kalk) Maybe I will try that again. I am using bionic now so if I drip kalk would I have to stop using that as well? I do not use RO water because I don't have a unit and I live in a small apartment and I was told that I was not allowed to hook up an RO (don't ask me why) so I put my water in garbage cans and treat it and let it sit for some time before mixing it with IO salt. Using the phosphate absorber should I supplement with trace elements after the treatments? Can I use kalk at the same time? Like I said I am not experienced with kalk and since that one time I have not used it and have kept my calcuim at 450 with the bionic. Any advice is appreciated.

LB 8)

 

[Anonymous]

i'd use the phosphate absorber to treat my fresh water before mixing in IO thus preventing the elemental stripping.
if i were to be dosing kalk i would stop my b-ionic additions for fear of additional ph elevation.
as far as your previous kalk experience, i think you may have dripped too fast. stay at or below your evap rate. also make sure to only drip clear liquid. i don't usually use kalk, i only pull it out to treat algae problems.
i'm curious do you pay for your water service. if not i'd say thats why your landlord won't allow you use RO and if that were the case i'd be shopping.

 

[Casey1]

I'd look around for a water source. I had the same problem when I lived in an apartment. I found a health food place that sold RO water. trust me it's worth it... drip it pretty slow.. I dripped about 1 drop ever few seconds.