Phosphate Reactor

fishes2889 · May 14, 2007

Anybody using one? Any benefits of it? , I know it get rid of phosphate but do they really do the job?

Thanks

surfn · May 14, 2007

IF you have phosphates....that would be the only reason to use it.

i use the Two Little Fishes phosban reactor, but i put carbon in it.

i have no detectable phosphates, and have run phosban and seen no effect. yet i've still had algae pop up in places.

if you have an algae problem, i'd suggest dosing magnesium as it seems to work on hair algae.

fishes2889 · May 14, 2007

I have phosphates .01 for one reason.....stupid sand bed!!! I put way too much sand in the tank in the beginning. It was around 4 inches ! in a 33g tank, not good! So for the last 2-3 months i have been siphoning the sand every time i do a WC and i have seen the algae diminish, but i still have phosphates inside the tank. Now one question, is phosphates the reason some of my sps have been brown for such a long time?

I have had a tri-color (not yours) in there for awhile and i have seen steady coloration, only purple tips, the rest brown. All my digitata frags and monti's dont show signs of discoloration. The sps discoloration and the little amount thats left of the algae is the reason i am researching a phosphate reactor.

I have started dosing mag recently and the level have leveled out at 1500, so we'll see.

surfn · May 14, 2007

what kit are you using to detect phosphates?

and are you sure to rinse out your vials and syringes with RO/DI water? b/c if you rinse them out with tap water that will give you a false positive reading.

but with a sandbed that deep i believe you!

phosphates could attribute to brown sps. very possible.

but it could also be the light is getting old, you aren't keeping your alk high enough and stable enough. lots of factors to consider.

fishes2889 · May 14, 2007

I have used redsea crap test kits from my store and my own seachem test kit.

The redsea reads 0 but the seachem reads .01. I dont rinse with RO, i just clean the whole thing with a towel.

Lighting is definitly not old. I just bought bulbs from geismann 2 months ago.

I will have to check for alk after and before i do my WC tonight. (Monday WC's

)

I know my Ca was a little high earlier this month, around 540ppm.

VanHalen · May 14, 2007

I use a PhosBan reactor 24/7 . I use Seachem's SeaGel in it and my water is crystal clear and algea free.

surfn..I'm sure you've thought of this but was the hair algea in a location with little flow? Maybe the area wasn't getting enough of the water that was treated with the phosban? Just a thought

fishes2889 · May 15, 2007

I might think about a reactor but here are the other parameters as requested.

Alk:9.8
Ca: 440

surfn · May 15, 2007

looks good so far, what are your nitrates?

surfn · May 15, 2007

oh yeah, what kind of lighting? you said you just put in a new bulb? what kind?

Raptor · May 15, 2007

I love rowa and reactor's. Best insurance besides a good ole skimmah.
The skimmers good at removing the wastes before it breaks down, and the reactor is good for after it breaks down. Well that and good brand of carbon.

Azurel · May 15, 2007

Well if your siphoning out sand when you do water changes that could be a reason as well. As the sand get removed the detritus that is deep in the sand could be releasing phosphates back into the water. I dealt with that when I took out half of the fine crushed coral from the bottom of my tank. I replaced it with 2 inches of south down. I don't get algae on the south down but have seen some increase of algae on the rest of the crushed coral substrate. The new lighting and the removal of sand I bet is a partial cause for the phosphates.

fishes2889 · May 16, 2007

surfn said:
looks good so far, what are your nitrates?

There are 0. I feed every 4 days and have little fish.

surfn said:
oh yeah, what kind of lighting? you said you just put in a new bulb? what kind?

Giesmann, 2months ago i replaced 2 of the bulbs, then 2 weeks later i did the other 2.

Actinic plus
Blueplus
daylight
blueplus

Azurel said:
Well if your siphoning out sand when you do water changes that could be a reason as well. As the sand get removed the detritus that is deep in the sand could be releasing phosphates back into the water. I dealt with that when I took out half of the fine crushed coral from the bottom of my tank. I replaced it with 2 inches of south down. I don't get algae on the south down but have seen some increase of algae on the rest of the crushed coral substrate. The new lighting and the removal of sand I bet is a partial cause for the phosphates.

Hmm, interesting. Last time i did a siphoning, which was the last time, was 3 weeks ago so we will see if not messing with the sandbed will help.

Nikon_Guy · May 16, 2007

I had a bit of a phosphate problem several months ago. I believe it was the cause of a cyno outbreak. Although Iâ€™m not certain of the origin of the phosphate level, I have a sneaky suspicion that it was because of the fact that I had my hands and arms in the tank quite a bit back then and my shirtsleeves would dip into the tank water. Laundry detergent is chocked full of phosphate and no matter how well the laundry is rinsed, Iâ€™m sure there is a fair amount of residue in the fabric. I believe that to be the cause.

To solve the problem, I put a layer of Phosban between two layers of filter floss and placed it in an old canister filter. Hooked the canister up to the tank and in four days phosphate levels were at 0. Most likely not the ideal solution, but I didnâ€™t have to buy a reactor.

Just thought I would share what worked for me.

fishes2889 · May 16, 2007

Nikon_Guy said:
To solve the problem, I put a layer of Phosban between two layers of filter floss and placed it in an old canister filter. Hooked the canister up to the tank and in four days phosphate levels were at 0. Most likely not the ideal solution, but I didnâ€™t have to buy a reactor.

Just thought I would share what worked for me.

Well putting phosban in hte canister would kind of act like a reactor right? I mean there is alot of water flow going through the phosban as it would do in the reactor.

Now let me get this straight, isnt a phosphate reactor basically a skimmer size tube that has a pump running the water in and through the media and then back in? I know is sounds stupid but i just wanted to get know how the reactor works.