Phosban Reactor Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KathyC]

Anyway the water changes have never worked to reduce my po4 so now I have about 100mL rowa. Lets hope it works.

Anytime you do a water change you are diluting (to a degree equal to the size of your water change) whatever nasties are in your water. You may not have been doing large or frequent enough water changes to much notice the difference.
More frequent water changes..small ones twice a week..will also help, so don't back off on those while you are trying to reduce your phosphates (and nitrate levels) with the reactor, or it will have to do even more work. Carbon also helps reduce these..if you change it frequently enough

Who told you reefing was a cakewalk? :spin:

 

[boardryder]

I use seachem which has one of the lowest po4 measurements. I also use san fransisco bay brand frozen, but do not rinse. How do you go about doing this?

I do see a slight improvement after doing water changes, but it just doesn't help like it should. I see slight improvement for some time and then it gets bad again That is why I got the reactor, and after a few days I think I can already see some slight difference.

I believe my problem is that in the past I started my tank with tap water, I used multiple lfs for ro/di water until I got my ro/di, and I used to use Rena po4 and carbon media(probably not very good based on their products). I also had low flow and never rinse my food. I just need to get all the po4 from leaching out of my lr and ls, and then I think I should have less problems.

How much for a photometer? I am really tired of buying thing after thing to fix problem after problem.

 

[KathyC]

San Fransisco Bay brand frozen what? Mysis?
If so, that's not good that you aren't rinsing.
I thaw my mysis out in a cup of tank water and then put it into a net, squeeze out the moisture, and rinse with rodi water until it runs clear.

Seachem may have some of the lowest, but you're still adding phosphates.
The issue with your rock/sand may go on for quite some time which is why we always suggest not to use tap water.
You're going to need to be patient!

If you Google Hanna Instruments, I'm sure you'll find a price out on the net. I bought mine here used. It is an expensive toy...so be prepared. You don't need to have one.

 

[boardryder]

Thank you all. Thanks to everyone I have come to understand my problem(s) and what has caused them. I think it will just take some time to correct the problems I caused in the past with my now proper ways of maintaining my tank.

How important is it really to rinse my food and is it possible with what I use? I have marine cuisine, multi pack, and brine. I also made up my own frozen mix w/ ro/di of mysis, brine, and cyclop-eze.

 

[NYPDFrogman]

You're rodi may be fine, but each time you feed you are adding phosphates to the tank. Some salt mixes contain phosphates, some more than others.
There are a few folks here that run a phosban reactor on their make up water so it's phosphate free (or reduced anyway) before they even add it to the tank.

What kind of salt are you using? Are you feeding any of those 'cube' packs of food..especially the ones with the 'gel' that bind the food?
Do you rinse your food before feeding?

are you sure his RO/DI is fine? that youre going to rule it out entirely??

 

[KathyC]

are you sure his RO/DI is fine? that youre going to rule it out entirely??

I didn't say his rodi was fine ..I said it 'may be fine'.
He did tell us that it is brand new.
I read your post where you found you had .05ppm coming out of your rodi but also said your membrane was 1 1/2 years old..but that won't be the case with everyone else necessarily

I am ruling nothing out..that's why I asked about what salt he is using and if he is rinsing his food.
Keep in mind that he originally used tap water in his tank..so his rocks and sand may be (oops..there's those words again!! lol) loaded with phosphates.

I just don't think he needs to go spend 150+ on a Hanna to test his brand new rodi unit at this point. He has other options to help reduce the phosphates ...with the new reactor, water changes, adding a decent brand carbon and rinsing his food

 

[boardryder]

Thanks again as usual everyone.

So I am now using ro/di water, rowa carbon, and rowaphos in a reactor, and doing bi weekly 10% water changes. Other than using a photometer from what I understand I should be pretty much okay. I think the only thing I need to change is rinsing my food. I do see minimal improvements from water changes, and have already seen slight improvement from rowaphos in reactor.

Can I thaw a bunch out rinse it and then refreeze it b/c this seems is kind of pain to do everyday? Also is making my own frozen from freeze dried with r/o okay?

The way I see it my tank will be in its prime when I'm ready to move in a few months :-/

 

[KathyC]

Thanks again as usual everyone.

So I am now using ro/di water, rowa carbon, and rowaphos in a reactor, and doing bi weekly 10% water changes. Other than using a photometer from what I understand I should be pretty much okay. I think the only thing I need to change is rinsing my food. I do see minimal improvements from water changes, and have already seen slight improvement from rowaphos in reactor.

Can I thaw a bunch out rinse it and then refreeze it b/c this seems is kind of pain to do everyday? Also is making my own frozen from freeze dried with r/o okay?

The way I see it my tank will be in its prime when I'm ready to move in a few months :-/

Sounds like you have a plan!

I woulnd't suggest thawing, rinsing & refreezing..I know that for 'people food' it is never suggested that you refreeze anything unless it still has ice crystals in it. That certainly wouldn't be the case if you thaw, & rinse.:bablefish
I'd err on the side of it being a pain until you use it all up.
It only takes a couple of minutes. I put it in a cup of tank water and let it sit for 5 minutes..by then it's mostly thawed out, then rinse well in a net & feed.

Freeze dried mixed with rodi water is probably fine..but it would be best to have someone with a Hanna test it. When ready to use it, there's no reason why you couldn't rinse that too!

 

[boardryder]

Use it all up? What do you suggest I feed when it's all gone?

 

[NYPDFrogman]

I didn't say his rodi was fine ..I said it 'may be fine'.
He did tell us that it is brand new.
I read your post where you found you had .05ppm coming out of your rodi but also said your membrane was 1 1/2 years old..but that won't be the case with everyone else necessarily

I am ruling nothing out..that's why I asked about what salt he is using and if he is rinsing his food.
Keep in mind that he originally used tap water in his tank..so his rocks and sand may be (oops..there's those words again!! lol) loaded with phosphates.

I just don't think he needs to go spend 150+ on a Hanna to test his brand new rodi unit at this point. He has other options to help reduce the phosphates ...with the new reactor, water changes, adding a decent brand carbon and rinsing his food

in the future I'll refrain from answering or droping my 2 cents into these types of threads. after all you seem to have all the answers

 

[Wes]

Just caught Wes's comment. Is this true? and how long before I could tell. My water was clear coming out w/ the rowa bubbling before I hooked it up to my tank, and I only used about 100mL.

It can be true, but the chances are if the 100ml was going to be a problem, you would have seen it by now. I had corals bleach overnight when I started out w/ too much.

You probably have alot of phosphates built up in your rocks and sand. I suggest changing out the media every two weeks until the visable nuissance algae is gone. GFO gets used up quickly when you have phosphate probs. when all of the nuissance algae is gone, go back to the regularly scheuduled once a month.

FWIW, in my opinion 0.05 phosphates coming from the RO/DI is negligible considering the amount of phosphates added from food. Plus I like to keep my phosphates around the 0.03-0.04 range. If your tank is reading 0.05, chances are you are not going to have many issues with algae.

 

[Domboski]

I wouldn't thaw, rinse and then re-freeze your foods. It ruins the food similar to letting cold beer warm up and then putting it back in the fridge (Bitter beer face!). I use SF Brand Mysis and had it thaw during a car ride home. I re-froze them. When I thawed and rinsed them and fed the tank, nearly half the mysis floated at the top and went out the over flow before anything could eat it and some of the pickier eaters refused to eat the shrimp. Fish ignoring the food was enough for me to know not to let that happen again.

 

[boardryder]

I've had my ROWA running for close to a month now. About 100mL for my 46gallon. This has really put things in check, but I'm still cleaning the glass and seems like more and more now. My ROWA is probably at capacity right? Looking for some advice to see if I should change it out as I'd hate to just throw away money even though I seem to be good in that department.

I was hoping it would last longer, but I think I had a pretty bad po4 problem.

 

[KathyC]

The higher your PO4 was to start with the faster you will deplete the usefulness of the product.
After using it for a month, I'd say it's probably time to change it especially if you have algae forming on the glass.

Down the road when you are sure you have it in check, most folks change it out as soon as they see their PO4 beginning to rise again Best to stay ahead of it

 

[boardryder]

I can't count. 3 weeks, but like you say if I see signs of it change it out. Thanks.