Jay Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 Hello reef people: I am having a issue with algae in my tank now. Since I hooked up my reactor. I am useing ARM media. I know the media can release phosphates and some of you run your effluent through phoslock. I have my PH probe in my effluent to moniter the effluent ph. How are you running the effluent through the phoslock? I already have the 2 phosban reactors chained togather 1 with carbon going into the other with phoslock. Do I just fill a vessel with phoslock and stuff the effluent tube down to the bottom of the vessel and let it overflow back into my sump? I have been thinking on this for sometime and cant really come up with a good solution. Now I am getting some algae on my liverock in places and never had it before the reactor was setup. This tank has been setup for 5 years and I havent had algae issues since the first year. Thanks Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evansbr Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 how often do you change the phoslock you already have in the system?? I have seen people who run like you said, the reactor line into a small container with phoslock in a filter bag. I don't like the idea cause I like to look at flow coming from the reactor at a glance, kinda hard when its buried under phoslock in a pool of water.. I just run a phosban reactor and change the media every couple of weeks. maybe we could find a way to suspend over the sump a bag of phoslock and let the effluent drip thru into the sump???(rock2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 I think it was Izzypop (shawn I think) that told me to do it this way. His tank was really nice. Wish I had looked at how he was doing his. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Snorkelwasp Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 why would the media release phosphates? if the coral skeleton you are usin to dissolve didnt take up phosphate why would it release it? ie... media is old dead coral skeletons....if they dont absorb it in life, it shouldnt release it in death. i would assume your media is contaminated with somethin else thats releasin it. I have never had any phosphates released. i dont really trust those crushed marble chips or dolomite etc.....i like a nice variety of coral skeletons....you cant have better than dissolvin the real thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2R2 Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 ARM media more than coral skeleton... ARM is aragonite, which is fossilized ancient coral reef material which has been mined from a terrestrial site. As you can imagine, there are several points in the evolution of this substance which could add excess PO4. Some folks drip the outflow through Phosban to eliminate PO4. Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 I just saw this over on reefcentral: The intended use was a little different, but you could fill that chamber up with phosban and drip your effluent through it. Should take about 2 minutes to build one. And if you don't fill the whole container, you could still see your drip rate. If anyone wants one built, I'd be happy to do it. I'm going to do one for me as well. FWIW, every CaCO3 media I've ever used leached phosphate. Just my experience. -Sol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Snorkelwasp Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 http://www.thereefstop.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=11 use this = no phosphates or any chance to gather any Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I hope your joking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sol Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I hope your joking... While this might not have been the most polite way of saying it, I have to agree. GenX media most definetely will leach phosphates. -Sol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 While this might not have been the most polite way of saying it, I have to agree. GenX media most definetely will leach phosphates. -Sol To be honest I truly was hoping he was joking or being sarcastic. Hard to tell through posts. All media is going to leach phosphates to some degree. Might as well just run a reactor, or media bag. Phosphates will always be their otherwise. A number of things are suspected of leaching phosphates as well.... Got to get rid of them some how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefhut Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I've mounted an acrylic box inside my sump and drilled a hole in the euro brace just above the box. Next threaded a john guest fitting and shoved the efflient tube into it and let it drip in to the box with phos media in a bag. Quick and easy way to fix that problem. BTW this was an idea I got from izzypop, after he did this method to his tank, his phosphates got down to .001 ppm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzypop Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Get a phosphate testing meter and test the phosphates coming out of your reactor. You'll be pretty surprised. I didn't make up the technique but you just run your effluent over some media and it helps. I just glued a cheap plastic box thingy to my sump and ran the effluent through it with some phosphate media in it. Go check out reefhut's sump he preplanned it so his design looks trick. I'm pretty sure corals "uptake" some phosphates to live so it would make sense that there skeletons have phosphate in them. Plus the media is rinsed before you get it.... Rinsed with water that probably has phosphate in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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