Did not find any threads regarding this, so starting a new one. Basically the idea came from Randy's article from http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/8/chemistry
Later discovered DSR method, but unfortunatelly Glenn is not sharing any of his recipees (he is also using liquid phosphate binder using iron citrate). Since I hate GFO and the reactor, tried to figure it out what to do. I'm not very good in chemistry (maybe Randy or somebody else will correct me or validate what I'm writing).
My current understanding is that iron-hydroxide is needed to be added/dosed (to bind phosphates). So ended up using this formula FeCl3 + 3 NaOH = Fe(OH)3 + 3 NaCl
Bought a 40% FeCl3 solution (easy to find) and NaOH (again broadly available). Mixed in 1000ml solution 50ml from the 40%FeCl3 and 23g NaOH (21g should have been enough for the balanced mix, I just added a little bit more to be safe). If I did the math correctly this solution has 28g FeCl3, which means a total of 10g Fe (10000 mg). Based on Glenn's directions, one should not dose more than 0.15 ppm at one time (http://dsrreefing.nl/phosphate.html). This tranlates to not dose more than 1.5ml/100l water at one time using the above mentioned solution.
I have a test aquarium which is running without protein skimmer, but I have a DIY filter with filter floss (filter wool) on the return. You will need something to filter out the binded and precipitated FePO4.
In my 100 liter (25gallon) test system I'm dosing 1ml of this solution twice daily (2x1ml). After 6 days of dosing my phosphate level went down from 0.14 to 0.08, basically 0.01 daily (measured with Hanna phosphorus tester). So far so good (will stop at 0.04).
Thought will share my experience with you, let me know what you think. Cheers
Later discovered DSR method, but unfortunatelly Glenn is not sharing any of his recipees (he is also using liquid phosphate binder using iron citrate). Since I hate GFO and the reactor, tried to figure it out what to do. I'm not very good in chemistry (maybe Randy or somebody else will correct me or validate what I'm writing).
My current understanding is that iron-hydroxide is needed to be added/dosed (to bind phosphates). So ended up using this formula FeCl3 + 3 NaOH = Fe(OH)3 + 3 NaCl
Bought a 40% FeCl3 solution (easy to find) and NaOH (again broadly available). Mixed in 1000ml solution 50ml from the 40%FeCl3 and 23g NaOH (21g should have been enough for the balanced mix, I just added a little bit more to be safe). If I did the math correctly this solution has 28g FeCl3, which means a total of 10g Fe (10000 mg). Based on Glenn's directions, one should not dose more than 0.15 ppm at one time (http://dsrreefing.nl/phosphate.html). This tranlates to not dose more than 1.5ml/100l water at one time using the above mentioned solution.
I have a test aquarium which is running without protein skimmer, but I have a DIY filter with filter floss (filter wool) on the return. You will need something to filter out the binded and precipitated FePO4.
In my 100 liter (25gallon) test system I'm dosing 1ml of this solution twice daily (2x1ml). After 6 days of dosing my phosphate level went down from 0.14 to 0.08, basically 0.01 daily (measured with Hanna phosphorus tester). So far so good (will stop at 0.04).
Thought will share my experience with you, let me know what you think. Cheers
