phosphate remove ?

[charliethetuna88]

hey i was thinking adding something to remove phosphate i dont run anything now do u think its worth it will i see a diffrence and what is everyone using

 

[iconoclast]

are you having *trouble* with phosphates? (such as?)
what are your water parameters?
system info?
filtration already in use?

I use a DSB and plenty of macro algae, I've never noticed any problems.
How are you measuring phosphates?
How would you implement chemical filtration? Got a reactor? Canister filter? HOB? Built in device in your sump? I've got some phosphate removing filter pads I can stick in my HOB but I never use it...

 

[charliethetuna88]

i have 2 big canisters one with just a cotton filter in it and the other with carbon ,i was thinking of adding a phosphate reactor to my sump everyone ive been getting frags from and seen there tanks are running one they all said i should get one there cheap and they work thats whats making me think i need one also the fact that there is some red slime growing in a few spots .i do use an r/o unit for all the water that goes in the tank i dont have a phosphate test kit though

 

[iconoclast]

what are your water parameters? like amonia, nitrates and nitrites?
how often do you change your filter floss? if you want to use mechanical filtration like that then you would have to change it often or only run it for short periods of time and then get rid of the floss; it will turn into a nitrate factory otherwise.

 

[charliethetuna88]

yeh maybe thats whats happening my nitrates are very high i do 20 gallons a week i have a 120 gallon ,i change the floss about evrey 3 months if that ,maybe i should do it more often

 

[charliethetuna88]

ammonia 0 nitrite o nitrate about 80 to 100 ppm

 

[ZANYMASTER]

You may want to add a DI unit to the system to get rid of the po4.

 

[iconoclast]

it sounds like you should run some sort of dinitrate.
why not try to get rid of the floss completely?

do you have sufficient water flow to keep detritus from laying around on the tank bottom?

did you measure your phosphates?

 

[Tonyscoots84]

to make everything easier jus go and buy a phosban reactor and phosar or phosban phosphate stuff and a small maxijet 400 pump ur also gonna need some tubing n ur good to go.

 

[iconoclast]

why can't you just put some phosban in the canister filter? isnt it essentially the same thing?

 

[Tonyscoots84]

no its not. phosban material works the best when it is tumbling in the reactor not jammed in a bag and you just waste a lot of it.....

 

[charliethetuna88]

ok so i will look into getting one it cant hurt

 

[Tonyscoots84]

smart man charlie

not only can u use it for phosban but you can also put activated carbon in there as well and switch on and off like 2 or 3 weeks phosban and 1 week carbon :biggrin: