PO4 Sponges (1 Viewer)

[Wildfire]

I give up..... I've tried the "natural" solutions, and I'm fighting a losing battle. I dropped out to an LFS this weekend and picked up two 1-pint Phos-Guard sponge kits and dropped them into my sump. In 48 hours my PO4 level has gone to around 1.0 ppm down to 0.2 ppm. My GSP are now open, my xenia is looking marginally better, my brown algae bloom has almost completely abated....

I am testing (again) my source water, and will also test some food (mixed in water sample) and some of my sand (mixed in water sample and setting) before throwing one of the above out the window, but in the meantime, I've got a PO4 problem that I need to soak up.

I've got a 135G main, with a 25G sump (minus rock + 5" DSB, let's call it about 110 G water volume). I need 2 - 4 more of these "kits" (or a larger kit) to finish off the PO4 in the water column, and a small sack to keep in my top-off resevoir until proven that I don't need it.

The LFS I went to only had the two that I bought this weekend. Anyone know of a LFS in town that has a stock of Phos-Guard (or similar product) that I could buy out?

Thanks!!

Matt

 

[fins]

Do you have any Chaetomorpha or Calupera in you sump? These would be very beneficial fighting PO4 problems. I used the Marc Weiss phosphate and silicate magnet to help. A little more $ but seems to do the job. Global carries that brand! HTH!

 

[Wildfire]

I do stock some caulpera in my fuge, and it is lit about 18 hours / day. THe stuff is growing (like a weed) and there is good algae all over the place (I had to buy a pack of snails to try to keep the algae down so I could see into my fuge).....

Unfortunately, that just ins't doing it. I re-tested my source water last night, and it registered 0.0 ppm PO4. Now to check the sand / food (need to let the samples sit for a day or two to really leech the stuff out....)

 

[Guest]

It might be that sand from Home Depot?