Is there "phosphate" in "egg crate" grates?

[glassbird]

In the not-too-distant-future, I am hoping to upgrade my 75 gallon tank from it's current filter setup of a Whisper3 HOB and two powerheads running a UGF. I know the UGF set up is mostly considered a waste of time these days...call me old-school! But my main reason for going with a UGF system (instead of getting another HOB when I upgraded from a 29 to this 75) was that I wanted to have something under the gravel to which I could "tie" my artificial plants. I hate doing a gravel cleaning, and then having to "re-plant" everything.

But I will be getting an Eheim cannister in the next few months, and the whole UGF setup will be removed. I was planning on putting a strip of the stuff commonly referred to as "egg crate" under the gravel, and tieing my plants and airstones to that. (If you are not familiar with it, egg crate is sold in the lighting section of most big hardware stores as a diffuser for lights in dropped ceilings.)

My big worry (until now) was how to get it to STAY on the bottom of the tank and not slowly rise to the surface. (Maybe silicone it down somehow?) But somewhere on this forum mention was made that these egg crate grids frequently contain phosphate...and can leach it into your water.

Is that as bad as it sounds? Has anyone else heard of this? Would soaking it first be a good idea? How long? Could something be added to the soak water to neutralize the phosphate? Or maybe added to the filter?

Help!

Cathy T.

[mgamer20o0]

never seem to had a problem but didnt use them much. know plenty of others who have used them with no problem. i wouldnt worry.

if they did you could add live plants that will use it up.... lol

[Dr_Doom2]

Leroy and Sally don't have a problem with them at GARF. On the other hand I still opted for no plenum...so, take it as you will!!