Phosphate removers???

[Reefaddict]

I have been having a massive amount of green hair algae since I put new lights on my 20g long reef tank. I've had the new lights (CSL PC's) for about 3 1/2 months now, so i was hoping to see some of this algae go away, but it hasn't. So a week ago I bought some macro algae to try an outcompete the microalgae. Halimeda and 4 shaving brush plants (Penicilus.sp).
I just got a Salifert Phosphate test kit and it is saying my PO4 are "critical" (.10ppm) to "coral growth retarded" (.25ppm) somewhere inbetween probably.
I've been using distilled water the entire life of the tank which is about 7 months along now. I tested the distilled and there was absolutly no PO4 in it...to my suprise.
I don't know how the PO4 got so high. I feed once or twice a day, flakes and mysis shrimp or brine shrimp all in small amounts.
I have a percula clown and a small domino damsel in the tank with two cleaner shrimp and corals and a clam. I also use DT's phytoplankton (only feeding once a week) and I add one ML of Coral Vital daily.

Im thinking about using some PO4 remover media in the media basket of my skimmer, (I usually have activated carbon running)
I've heard some bad things about PO4 remover especially with soft corals.

Does anyone know about PO4 removers? Will it be harmful to my tank inhabitants. I only have a couple of soft corals...mushrooms,button polyps, and a red chilli coral (Nephthyigorgia). All other corals are LPS and one T. Derasa clam. Plus a clean up crew of crabs, snails.

Thanks for any help, and if there are particular brands of PO4 removers to use, or to stay away from, that anyone knows about, please let me know.
Thanks again
-Mike

 

[ReefRaff]

I have used Phos-zorb with no i'll affects to my softies. Flake Food is usualy a good sorce of PO4.

 

[Dewey]

I used the poly filter it worked great.



Good luck Dewey

 

[Reefaddict]

OH cool!! thanks guys!
So, is it some kind of a myth about these media being harmful?

Did you guys see some serious decreases in microalgae??

Thanks again!!
-Mike

 

[WarOrks15]

phos-zorb works great my po4 are at 0. but ya you might want ot cut down on the feeding too. i feed every other day and in vary little amounts at a time

 

[kidkameleon3]

lol, I use tap water and my one turbo keeps up in the 10 gallon

 

[douggiestyle]

So, is it some kind of a myth about these media being harmful?

Did you guys see some serious decreases in microalgae??

some phosphate removers can leach aluminium into the tank, i am unsure which do. it is my understanding that Al can be very harmfull to fish.

i use phosguard by sea chem full time and noticed immediate results. i use the phosguard full time. i also use it as a replacement for carbon per seachem's product discription. kent has an identical product.

 

[Reefaddict]

Thanks again for all the help!!

 

[Brisc0]

I add one ML of Coral Vital daily.

Is this the "Mark Wiess" coral vital? If so thats a big part of your problem. Stop using anything with his name on it and you will likely see a rapid decrease in your algae blooms. JMHO Couple that with some phoszorb or phosguard and you should be happy within a month or so. Who wants to divide their tests by .0009 anyhow LoL. Good luck

 

[Biggen]

some phosphate removers can leach aluminium into the tank, i am unsure which do. it is my understanding that Al can be very harmfull to fish.

i use phosguard by sea chem full time and noticed immediate results. i use the phosguard full time. i also use it as a replacement for carbon per seachem's product discription. kent has an identical product.

Actually Phosguard is one of these products that does leach Al according to Randy Holmes-Farley in this article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/chem.htm

According to Seachem, I e-mailed them, they say that Phosguard is not soluble in water and it cannot leach any aluminum back into the water. Randy seems to disagree...

I actually use Seachem's SeaGel . It is a mixture of Phosguard and Matrix Carbon. I am thinking about switching to another phosphate remover when I use all of the product up.

 

[Guest]

I use Phos-X by Hagen and it seems to work well..

 

[douggiestyle]

Actually Phosguard is one of these products that does leach Al according to Randy Holmes-Farley in this article

whoa....

ive been looking at tropic marin and two little fishies but they are cost prohibitive.

 

[captivereefs]

Yep Seachem rules!!Best phosphate remover on the market!

 

[Reefaddict]

SO you disagree with the article, Captivereefs??

Anyone else out there have any good or bad experiences with Phosguard by Seachem?

What about PhosBan by Two Little Fishies?? They say; "it's Julian Sprung’s Formula of ferric oxide hydroxide granules." "And it is completely reef safe, unlike alumina-based adsorbants"

What do we know about this stuff...better than Phosguard?? Im definatly worried about this Aluminum **** now though. What the hell is ferric oxide hydroxide granules anyways, and is it safe for my corals? I know they say it is, but has anyone had any experience with this stuff?

Thanks again for all the help! You guys are Good Fellas!
-Mike

 

[douggiestyle]

well from what i gleamed from the advanced aquarist (which by the way julian sprung contributes a few articles) is that if you are using phosguard according to instructions you will be well under the Al ppm that Randy required to get those dramatic results. what i would like to know is if the Al ppm continues to rise after more than one week of usage. i believe that kents product is the same or similar to seachems. so do the same results apply to kents product.

cannot say if phosguard is having adverse effects in my tank. i only know that the product has made dramatic improvements. though i would like to explore the ferric oxide hydroxide path. its just so expensive.

 

[Reefaddict]

Thanks again douggiestyle...and you should check out marinedepot.com they have the PhosBan for $12.29 for 150g.

I ordered some Seachem Phosgaurd, but im also going to pick up some PhosBan too. Try both of them ....see whats what!

Also, does anyone know of an AL test kit?? I know Salifert doesn't make one.

Thanks
-Mike

 

[douggiestyle]

marinedepot.com they have the PhosBan for $12.29 for 150g

thats a lot cheaper than the lfs. they want 20$ for 150g

thanks for the tip

 

[WarOrks15]

what would AL do to corals? kills them or just amke it so they would not open? i have a taodstool that has not opened for about 3 day now and the frog spoon who is slowly not opening as much but the finger leather was wide open for the past few days. would the AL have some thing to do with this?

 

[Biggen]

what would AL do to corals?

Al is toxic in high enough concentrations (i.e. it can kill) As Randy Holmes-Farley says in his article:

It has little in the way of positive biological functions. I am not aware of any marine organisms with a demonstrated requirement for aluminum. It can, however, be toxic to marine organisms at elevated levels.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/chem.htm

i have a taodstool that has not opened for about 3 day now and the frog spoon who is slowly not opening as much but the finger leather was wide open for the past few days. would the AL have some thing to do with this?

I seriously doubt that Al had anything to do with it. I think we may be getting a little "revved up" over nothing here. I am going to continue using my SeaGel . I don't believe there is cause for concern...