Best Phosphate Remover

[Jamie]

Hi All,

So I got a phosphate test kit and tested my water. Well, the scale is supposed to read clear, through darker shades of blue. ...Mine went yellow, whatever that means.

I'm going to order a diferent phosphate test kit and figured I'd get some phosphate remover to go with it. I used tap water for my initial fill up and suspect that I've got some in there.

What is the best phosphate remover? Also, do most folks just put it in a bag and drop it in their sump? I've got a canister filter that I could use if that would be better.

Thanks,
Jamie

[erikharrison]

I use phosban. reactors are best for them since you get water actually being forced to interact with the remover. Make sure to rinse it before it goes in the tank, any of the dust inside could be of a higher concentration and that would kill some corals. You can sump it with a filter sock, but you really should try and have some water moving through it.

[jehudson]

IME tap water in SA is bad. I could not bring my nitrates and phosphates down no matter how much water I changed (tap) ... I highly recommend using RO water. I tried a filter sock and phosphate sponge in my sump but nothing worked until I switched to RO water.

[envy]

you can get distilled/RO water from your local windmill water supply at $.25 cents/gallon if you don't want to go with tap anymore and i use some phosphates pads in my canister and i think its been working havent had a cyno out break in some time and everything in the tank is reading where it is suppose to but just get more info before you chose the one thats best for you(that what i like)

[Jamie]

I lilve in Corpus and I don't think the tap is all that good either. I really wasn't sure what to do though. How do folks with larger tanks make their initial fill up with RO? I have an RO tank under my sink that I use for top off...but it would have taken weeks to fill up my entire tank. I have access to free RO through work...we use it to wash aircraft...but still, how are you supposed to lug 150+ gallons back and forth? I looked into water carriers...but when you consider being able to have to transport it from source, to vehicle, to tank, you probably wouldn't want much more than 5 gallon jugs...which are pretty expensive empty...and considering I'd need 30+ jugs to do it in one trip....

Those of you with bigger tanks, please share the secret. I'm sure there's some really easy way to do it...I'm just not aware of it yet.

[caferacermike]

As far as the original question of what removers work best, RowaPhos is supposed to be the best. I use Seachem's remover as it's by far the most affordable.

[TexasTodd]

Dr.s Foster and Smith also has a knock off brand that's super affordable and seems to work fine.

Todd

[sharkboy]

I run both rhowaphos and rhowacarbon through reactors and it seems to help. I also read that average phosphate test kits are not very accurate. The good ones are pretty expensive. As far as ro water in large tanks, your just gonna have to get an ro/di unit. It is really worth the expense and saves the trouble.

[erikharrison]

FYI I tested several 5 gallon containers of freshly mixed tap with salt at 1.024 I got 0 on all the normal tests including phosphate. PH was 8.2... TDS is super high though....

[verynewatthis]

As far as best one to get.....hmm....they all use the same thing...Ferric Oxide...as far as i know it dont mater what brand you get, FO is the same no mater who put their lable on it. it does come in different sizes depending on how fine you want it..one place i found it cheap was twopartsolution dot com...

http://www.twopartsolution.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=41

I use a reactor and it got rid of my phos over night, but i was only at .25.....
here is a nice thread to read if ya have some free time....tells alot.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1182318

well best of luck,
rich

[Ping]

I agree with FO, Also dosing kalk has Produces fantastic results, one is the Calcium / phosphate affinity. this causes phosphates to precipitate.

[caferacermike]

My understanding is that not all the phosphate removers are "rust", as many are a white product that I came to understand was an oxide from aluminum.

[verynewatthis]

hmmm....no idea about that.....
goes to show i learn things everyday...

rich