Help! Phosguard is making my water milky white!

[AydenLincoln]

I rinsed my phosguard and let it soak and then added it to my tank and noticed my water turn milky white. I immediately removed it and continued to rinse it and let it soak in freshwater. It’s not getting any better. Is this normal? Is it like carbon where the water will run clear? Do I have to keep rinsing it until the water runs clear? Should I let it soak in freshwater? Either way it seems to be really dusty and I assume that isn’t good.

 

[Miami Reef]

You probably didn’t rinse it well enough. The white cloud is probably aluminum oxide. I don’t like using aluminum-based phosphate removers because it can release some aluminum into the tank.

I don’t think anything catastrophic will happen from the aluminum cloud. Perhaps it will get skimmed out or settle out somewhere.

 

[Reef.]

I rinsed my phosguard and let it soak and then added it to my tank and noticed my water turn milky white. I immediately removed it and continued to rinse it and let it soak in freshwater. It’s not getting any better. Is this normal? Is it like carbon where the water will run clear? Do I have to keep rinsing it until the water runs clear? Should I let it soak in freshwater? Either way it seems to be really dusty and I assume that isn’t good.

Normal, thats why my tub is still nearly full as I stopped using it.

Just is too much hassle to use…rowa is a better alternative, can’t believe I’m saying this as I don’t particularly like rowa either but between the two, rowa is easier to work with, still needs rinsing but not as much as phosguard.

 

[KrisReef]

I think the instructions are to rinse off the dust, and l don’t use phosgard because it’s too chalky

 

[gbroadbridge]

I rinsed my phosguard and let it soak and then added it to my tank and noticed my water turn milky white. I immediately removed it and continued to rinse it and let it soak in freshwater. It’s not getting any better. Is this normal? Is it like carbon where the water will run clear? Do I have to keep rinsing it until the water runs clear? Should I let it soak in freshwater? Either way it seems to be really dusty and I assume that isn’t good.

I've never seen that problem, but I rinse under the tap until the water runs clear.

 

[X-37B]

I have used it for 7+ and its in my new system now. It has never made the water milky
I prefer it to gfo.
I put it in a bag and run rodi through it until the water is clear.
I then put it in a reactor.
I have also used it in a bag sitting in the sump on small nanos, 20g, with no issues.
Also it has never shown up on any ipc test I have done.
I do notice that some of the containers have more powder than others.
Rinse it well. It does not need to soak.

 

[AydenLincoln]

No matter how much rinsing or letting it sit I do it’s still white! And when I put it in my tank I removed it immediately because my tank got so cloudy almost like what happens when a really bad bacterial bloom happens.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Also there’s this really big black particle in the bag and I have no idea what it is but I don’t think it’s normal.

 

[Reef.]

I have used it for 7+ and its in my new system now. It has never made the water milky
I prefer it to gfo.
I put it in a bag and run rodi through it until the water is clear.
I then put it in a reactor.
I have also used it in a bag sitting in the sump on small nanos, 20g, with no issues.
Also it has never shown up on any ipc test I have done.
I do notice that some of the containers have more powder than others.
Rinse it well. It does not need to soak.

Maybe some batches are worse than others, as I have previously used it but can’t remember it making the water as cloudy as it did this time, and I rinsed for ages.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Maybe some batches are worse than others, as I have previously used it but can’t remember it makes the water as cloudy as it did this time, and I rinsed for ages.

This is making me feel better because I can’t get it clear and I’m not risking adding it to my tank.

 

[Reef.]

This is making me feel better because I can’t get it clear and I’m not risking adding it to my tank.

Has to be the reason, as I am ocd about rinsing as I didn’t want to add any aluminium from it, I also soaked it.

I have given up on both rowa and phosguard, moved to Tropic Marin bacto balance, much easier and not adding any unwanted elements to the tank and also not removing elements from the water with rowa or phosguard.

 

[Doompastew]

Don't grind them together when rinsing. Just let the water flow through.

 

[X-37B]

This is making me feel better because I can’t get it clear and I’m not risking adding it to my tank.

Only thing to do is rinse until its clear. It sometimes takes a few gallons for it to come clean.
Gfo is the same if not rinsed properly it will leave ferric oxide dust everywhere.

 

[LPS Bum]

I use it regularly and I’ve never seen that happen. I just rinse it under running tap water for about 30 sec. I do use a lot less than you do though (that’s a huge bag of Phosguard in the pic). I use about 1/4 cup in my 165 gal reef and replace it every 2 weeks.

Sounds to me like you got a very chalky batch. Probably best to discard it.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Only thing to do is rinse until its clear. It sometimes takes a few gallons for it to come clean.
Gfo is the same if not rinsed properly it will leave ferric oxide dust everywhere.

I have this happen with GFO no matter how much I rinse it but also I guess it’s normal and supposed to happen with GFO.

 

[AydenLincoln]

I use it regularly and I’ve never seen that happen. I just rinse it under running tap water for about 30 sec. I do use a lot less than you do though (that’s a huge bag of Phosguard in the pic). I use about 1/4 cup in my 165 gal reef and replace it every 2 weeks.

Sounds to me like you got a very chalky batch. Probably best to discard it.

That’s actually the bag for a 60 gallon tank and yes that’s what I’m going to do.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have this happen with GFO no matter how much I rinse it but also I guess it’s normal and supposed to happen with GFO.

Well, I don't really bother rinsing GFO, you're rinsing away particles of GFO that you paid for.
It just settles in the tank and adsorbs phosphate, or it gets filtered out mechanically.
Any GFO dust is gone within hours.

Aquaforest advise against rising their GFO for that reason

The only reason why I rinse Phosguard is because the instructions tell me to, and I don't want Aluminium in the tank which I then have to remove using GFO

 

[AydenLincoln]

Well, I don't really bother rinsing GFO, you're rinsing away particles of GFO that you paid for.
It just settles in the tank and adsorbs phosphate, or it gets filtered out mechanically.
Any GFO dust is gone within hours.

Aquaforest advise against rising their GFO for that reason

The only reason why I rinse Phosguard is because the instructions tell me to, and I don't want Aluminium in the tank which I then have to remove using GFO

Actually my GFO tells me to rinse it but also because it’s in chemi-pure elite which I use. And I have found most if not all various Seachem products state to rinse them prior to use.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Also what’s the difference between PhosGuard and PhosBond?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I never saw such an issue when experimenting with Phosguard, but I definitely would not use it as I would not want all that aluminum oxide dust to remain in the water, potentially pushing up aluminum with no real way to stop it.