Sand Bed Po4 removal

edosan · Feb 6, 2017

Hello Randy, I know that there is Po4 absortion on aragonite sand, so I was wonder, If I have a shallow sand bed, and I clean it every other month. Is there a way to clean the sand (out of the tank of course) better in order to remove Po4, for example rinse it with RODI water and Sodium Hydroxide (like GFO regeneration)?

reeferbuddy215 · Feb 6, 2017

I'm not sure about that I just cleaned mine it was loaded with ditetris I just gravity vacuumed it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 6, 2017

The sand will bind some phosphate to the particle surfaces and then stop. I wouldn't look at it as a good export method since the binding is reversible and it can come back off as the phosphate level in the tank drops.

edosan · Feb 6, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The sand will bind some phosphate to the particle surfaces and then stop. I wouldn't look at it as a good export method since the binding is reversible and it can come back off as the phosphate level in the tank drops.

Thanks Randy, but I am not looking to replace GFO or other binding media, just looking a way to remove bind Po4 from sand, since I clean it out of the tank any way...I want my sand real clean.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 6, 2017

edosan said:
Thanks Randy, but I am not looking to replace GFO or other binding media, just looking a way to remove bind Po4 from sand, since I clean it out of the tank any way...I want my sand real clean.

You cannot remove the phosphate bound to the sand except by exposing it to low phosphate seawater for an extended period. It cannot vacuum out.

reeferbuddy215 · Feb 6, 2017

Right well their must have been a ton of po4 bound in all the ditetris I sucked up, but I just did about a 10% water change and I'm gonna put a fresh batch of gfo in my reactor

reeferbuddy215 · Feb 6, 2017

I'm just nervous for the sps frags I have coming tomorrow the acans I'm not so worried about as ive had a lot of success with them and I've made room on the bottom half of my tank for all my lps cuz I had the led's turned down to 35% power but once the acro's and stylo's come I'm thinking they'll need at least 75% power for the whites I always keep my blues up 100%

edosan · Feb 6, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
You cannot remove the phosphate bound to the sand except by exposing it to low phosphate seawater for an extended period. It cannot vacuum out.

Ok, so basically if I take the sand out of the tank, there is no way to remove Po4 from it the way you can regenerate GFO (and basically that is Po4 removal from GFO) with sodium Hydroxide? I do not care about keep the sand live, I do care about keep the sand clean of Po4.

reeferbuddy215 · Feb 6, 2017

Same I have plenty of good bacteria in my LR in both my main tank and my two refugiums, BTW is it easier to buy new gfo over regenerating it which I forgot could be done till just now?

edosan · Feb 6, 2017

reeferbuddy215 said:
Same I have plenty of good bacteria in my LR in both my main tank and my two refugiums, BTW is it easier to buy new gfo over regenerating it which I forgot could be done till just now?

Jaja I have never regenerate GFO or DI resin, prefer to get new, but to get new sand for a 300g tank, is not an option. (to heavy)

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 6, 2017

edosan said:
Ok, so basically if I take the sand out of the tank, there is no way to remove Po4 from it the way you can regenerate GFO (and basically that is Po4 removal from GFO) with sodium Hydroxide? I do not care about keep the sand live, I do care about keep the sand clean of Po4.

You can by keeping it in low phosphate water, or perhaps by pH changes, but I'm not sure what conditions will remove it and not dissolve the aragonite. The data I have does not extend to very high pH:

http://yyy.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/jmc/fla-bay/fbay.html