Rowaphos

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MarkW19

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Joined
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I've just got some Rowaphos (500ml, which it says will treat 200-400litres of water, so I'm going to put just over half in my 35gallon initially, then use the rest over the next couple of months), and I'm just wondering where to put it?

I have an Eheim external wet/dry canister filter, with 2 baskets of filter balls (eheifsubstrat) inside and the wet-dry cone on the outside.

Will the Rowaphos work if I fill a small filter-bag with it and take a few of the balls out of one of the baskets (so it will fit in) and put the bag in the basket? Where would you place the bag - in the middle, top or bottom of the filter balls?

Or, would you get 2 filter bags and fill them equally with the Rowaphos, half the required amount in each, and take a few balls out of each of the 2 Eheim baskets and put a filter bag in each basket?

Should the filter bags be packed tightly with Rowaphos, or should there be a bit of space in there?

And, if possible should I get a fairly large filter bag and spread the Rowaphos out in it, then stretch the bag over the whole of the top of the basket (so the water HAS to go through it), or will just having a small bag somewhere in the basket do the trick ok?

Thanks!

:)
 
I just throw it right in my sump. Just put it in a hight flow area.
 
I don't have a sump :/

High flow would be in one of my filter baskets (probably the first one) I guess?

Do you fill a filter bag with yours and place it somewhere in your sump then?
 
Yep you can just throw it in the first basket. That would work fine.
 
Anywhere in the first basket?

Should I tightly pack the filter bag or leave a bit of "air" in there?

Will taking some of the filter balls out of the filter (so that the bag will fit in) affect my bacteria at all??

Thanks!

:)
 
I've got a big piece of rock (which I'm told will be "live" by now) that's been in there for a few months, and also 2 smaller pieces, and 2" of live sand.
 
Should I tightly pack the filter bag with Rowaphos, or leave a bit of space in it?

And, can I dump it anywhere in the first basket??

When I'm opening the filter up, I'll obviously be draining the water out of it. Will the filter balls and the bacteria on them be ok for the few minutes the filter is dry while I take a few balls out by hand and put the Rowaphos bag in there?
 
A bit of time out of water is ok for the bio balls, you just don't want to wash them out with fw, rinse them in sw.
The idea for the rowaphos is for the swater to flow thru it, not around it. so Id pack it like carbon
 
The balls won't be washed at all :)

So, I should pack a filter bag tightly with Rowaphos and dump it in the middle of the basket with some balls all around it? I'll need to seal the bag - any suggestions??
 
I've had some Rowaphos (the suggested amount for the size of my tank) in a filter bag in my Eheim for about 2 weeks now. It seems to have killed off most of the hair algae on my rock (it died within about 5 days, could be a co-incidence though!), but the algae on the glass is growing back as quick as it used to.

But, I tested the phosphates the day after I put my Rowaphos in (I didn't have the testkit before) and phosphates were un-noticeable.

How long does the stuff usually take to work?

Also, I've got a lot of algae in my live sand (green/brown). What's the best way to get it out without disturbing the sand too much?
 
No, I had 2 cleaner and 1 fire shrimp but they're no longer with us :)
 
I mean algae eaters.. like snails or crabs? It's hard to keep the glass or sand totally clean otherwise.
 
I haven't got round to getting any snails yet, although they're next on the list! It's just hard to tell whether the Rowaphos has worked or not.

Since I have a lot of algae in the sand, I need to get some out by hand. What do you suggest? :)
 
I have a dozen Astrea snails (they label them as Turbo in my LFS) and a dozen dwarf blue legged hermits. After my cycle had completed one particular rock was totally covered in brown hair algae so I put the hermits on it right after acclimation. Within 2 days it was totally clean. The snails took a bit longer to get going but now they do a good job on the glass.

A lot of people have problems keeping snails and hermits together but I never see any conflicts with this combination. The hermits are really tiny compared to the snails, and I make sure there's always stuff to eat so that probably has something to do with it.
 
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