Phosphate remover/need help asap

[kimo4848]

I went and got a phosband reactor a few day's ago. I put kent phosphate remover in and it's been running 3 day's now. Right away all the corals sps and lps are looking real bad pulling in very tight. Some of the sps frags bleached out. Did a 10 gallon water change yesterday and doing another one today. Some of the corals are looking a little better.

My question is did I use to much, I did rinse with r/o water through the reactor before hooking it up in my tank. It's been along time since I used this stuff. Everything was so happy before, growing, polp extention and i was very excited to see that. I did add new 14k 250 bulbs which I do every 6 months or so. I should add that I did add carbon at the same time.

120g, 120lbs of live rock with sand. Up and running for a year now.
temp 78
cal 475
ph 8.1 to 8.3
mag 1000 I know it's alittle low
nitrite 0
phos 0
sal 1.024
I run a geo cal reactor, I do drip in kalk very slow, bm skimmer 160.

I'm pretty bummed right now. Any help would be great

 

[DonW]

Yes you went way to fast GFO needs to been used slowly over a period of time. 1/3 the dose for a few weeks, and so on until youve reach the full amount needed.

Don

 

[kimo4848]

Thanks Don,
I unpluged the reactor for now, will the carbon remover any of this.

 

[DonW]

Thanks Don,
I unpluged the reactor for now, will the carbon remover any of this.

No you changed the water chemistry to fast. Just do water changes and keep an eye on it.

Don

 

[kimo4848]

Thanks for the info Don.

 

[warforged]

Don also mentioned to me a few weeks ago that stuff nose dives your PH for a bit. So keep an eye on PH to.

 

[kimo4848]

I'll keep an eye on that also. Thanks

 

[Boomer]

I will have to diasagree that the PO4 was reomoved to quicly and not from this product. The kent phosphate remover is Activated Alumina, Aluminium Oxide, Al2O3, not GFO and the corals maybe responding to the dust from the product. This has been a debated issue for years and we just went through it again just the other day on the SeaChem Labs forum, "New Study"

 

[kimo4848]

I think I used way to much to start with, I did rinse with r/o water but since I haven't used this stuff for a long time the corals didn't like it. I don't know why I thought I needed it since I couldn't detect any on the test kits. I changed about 30g over a 3 day's and turned off the reactor. I lost all my frags that were up for sale but everthing else seems to be comming back. Polyp extention today.

Could this happen with carbon also. I haven't used carbon for a long time also and can I use it now without the phosphate remover or should I wait until things are back to normal. I don't think using to much carbon will hurt anything but please correct me if i'm wrong.

Thanks
Ken

 

[Curtswearing]

Kent is probably the worst of the phosphate medias to use in a fluidized bed filter. They purposely crack the resin beads so when put into a reactor, the cracked rough surface area grinds against other beads.

The second reason this would be the worst of the medias to use in this application is located in the directions on the bottle. They tell you that after a couple of days, the phosphates would be de-adsorbed.

Kent Marine Phosphate Sponge is not an algaecide, but a ceramic medium which will adsorb phosphates quickly (within hours) when placed directly in the water flow. Works in fresh and saltwater aquariums or ponds to bring about 1.0 ppm of phosphate or silicates down to less than .05 ppm in a 120 gallon tank for every dry quart of medium. For silicate to be removed, phosphates must first be removed. Beads are cracked to expose more surface area and increase efficiency! This product will not release soluble aluminum compounds into your aquarium, causing negative reactions from your inverts, as competing products may. Will also absorb moisture for use as an air dryer for ozone, and can be renewed over and over in moisture removal service!

Directions:
Rinse with fresh water (preferably reverse osmosis or deionized water) WARNING: PRODUCT MAY GET VERY HOT THE FIRST TIME IT IS WET! Use rubber gloves and/or place in a plastic container while rinsing! Place in a large mesh bag (800 micron) or a canister filter, directly in the water flow. Make sure water flows through the material and not just around it. Leave for 8 hours to 2 days maximum (as with any phosphate adsorber, phosphates can be re-released into the system if initial charge is left in the system continuously. If you want to leave in the system to keep phosphates low or to remove silicates, replace initial charge with brand new, and change on a regular basis.) For silicate removal, phosphate must first be removed, then a new charge of Phosphate Sponge must be left in the system for several days.

 

[Boomer]

Ken it is more likley to cause a bad effect/ reaction with carbon, especially high grade carbon. This is because some carbons can drop the nutrient load very quickly, where some corals have a hard time adjusting to. The amount needs to be increased over time.

If one uses a Activated Alumina in a reactor please use the SeaChem Phosguard, as there will be better fluid dynamics from the spheical grains and they will be less effected by impact energy, as there are no points or edges to cip off and get ground up.

 

[DonW]

I will have to diasagree that the PO4 was reomoved to quicly and not from this product. The kent phosphate remover is Activated Alumina, Aluminium Oxide, Al2O3, not GFO and the corals maybe responding to the dust from the product. This has been a debated issue for years and we just went through it again just the other day on the SeaChem Labs forum, "New Study"

Sorry I didnt pay attention though he used GFO.

Don

 

[kimo4848]

Thanks for all the help and info. I think I will wait and let the tank settle down. I think I will run carbon in the furture and not the phosphate remover. I'm not sure if I even need the carbon, I have read most of the treads on carbon use. A lot of reefers say use it all the time and others say don't use carbon it's bad. Anyway's my sps's are looking pretty good this morning with polp extention. I think if I didn't do the 30g water change it would of been real bad. I really like this site and have learned a lot from all you reefers out there.
Thanks again
Ken