How to use Phosgard?

[binford4000]

Hey Tom. I wondered the exact same thing when I was having some problems: "I wonder if the LR is saturated with phosphates and it takes a long time to pull it out." There is evidence that after time live rock can absorb phosphates and leach them back into the tank. I took out established live rock with no corals, other than mushrooms, growing on them and "cooked" them in batches, like maybe a third of the rock at a time. I should also add that I started this process after I had to tear down the rock structure in one half of my tank to catch a Powder Blue tang who turned into a turd and killed almost everything in my tank. So I disturbed the substrate and the base rocks and figured it was a good time to clean out the rock. Put them in a dark room in salt water with a heater and a good powerhead. Every time you do a water change in the aquarium, use the tank water to change the water in the cooking chamber. You should "cook" it for a good 45 days. You will not believe the amount of crap that comes out of your rock. You can add a bag of phos guard in a media bag to help speed up the process. PS. The tank looks killer!

What temp did you maintain to cook the rock? Learning not questioning. I have read about this process in the past but have not done it myself personally.i have always just replaced the rock in sections tell the aqua scape is fully replaced. Of course this also created mini cycles but when done gave us a fresh new look ! Old rock syndrome (I have no better name for it) is something to be considered for sure. I just think it is hard to determin if and when the rock has been saturated. I did this only when I was at the point of total loss of solutions. Tom you say you know that you have Po4 even tho your tests show zero. I think getting a new test is a good idea then see if the results are the same. Have you considered a bacterial problem maybe also. I know sometimes well water even water that has been ran thru a RO DI sometimes can create issues. Indications of small bubbles stuck to rock would be a sighn. Food for thought is all.

[dputt88]

having the phosphate leach from the rock would tank a very very very long time. in my ecology classes it is very well known that the phosphate cycle naturally is the slowest. and that algae blooms are caused by human interaction within the phosphate cycle and not the leaching of phosphate from phosphate rocks.

my thought on the algae blooms caused by adding rock to the tank would be that its actually dead matter on the rock, rather that phosphate leaching from the rock. frequently i have purchased dead rock that has had lichens and mosses on them. also if the rock was once alive but is dead when added to the tank there would be a LOT of dead matter that will be broken down and lead to eutrophication in a sense. also i suspects that even when adding live rock from a store that there would be a lot of die off due to shipping and constantly being handled, things like worms and pods and what not, that when added to the tank follows the same trend mentioned above. and as we know it only takes a little phosphate to make a lot of algae.

[Flynnstone]

i have a heavy bio-load in my tank, my phosphates are at .08 with two different Hanna meters. i have no algae growin in my tank period, and my cheato algea in my sump slowly dies off or just bearly maintains itself. nitrates are at zero, and i have even tried to dose nitrates.

[slapshot]

i have a heavy bio-load in my tank, my phosphates are at .08 with two different Hanna meters. i have no algae growin in my tank period, and my cheato algea in my sump slowly dies off or just bearly maintains itself. nitrates are at zero, and i have even tried to dose nitrates.

Show off!!! Try putting a little iron in your sump it will allow your Cheato to grow.

[BlackGrandPrix]

i have a heavy bio-load in my tank, my phosphates are at .08 with two different Hanna meters. i have no algae growin in my tank period, and my cheato algea in my sump slowly dies off or just bearly maintains itself. nitrates are at zero, and i have even tried to dose nitrates.

The ozone is probably helping alot with that. I love running ozone on my systems.

[Flynnstone]

i have added iron and potassium nitrate. i have also removed the ozone for awhile too. still no algae. this leads me to believe that you only need to eliminate either phosphates or nitrates to keep algae at bay. i have a good skimmer and alot of live rock. it seams to work.

[binford4000]

Tom,I was wondering what results you got from running this. I have been running it for a weak and was hopping to compare results. Tho my Po4 is not that high .05 my goal was to maintain my present level.I used1/2 cup in each reactor. I run two brs dual reactors. I just tested my Po4 and am glad to report a .04. I have seen no negative sighn of useing this product. It tumbles very well in the reactor and am hopping this level maintains itself. I do not strive for all zero's like many reefers. Small trace elements is what I am looking for ! I did some reading on several others forums in their chemistry forums to see if anyone else was useing it or had negative results or bad experience to report and I really didn't read anything negative about it other then AZ's input. Looking forward to your results.

[Tom Toro]

Hey Chuck,
I'm just using media bags in high flow areas. I doubled the amount in each tank after a week and started to notice a reduction in algae. Bryopsis is gone and the hair algae is almost completely gone. My front glass goes days instead of hours without having to scrape so that's good stuff. This the 240. Corals are still pretty happy but my big pink birdsnest is fading some. Might be from the change of tank, though.

135g seems better too. Some of the corals that were heading south are gaining tissue and the algae is a lot less. Still seems like a dirty tank, though and still losing some plating corals that were dying before the Phosgard, so can't blame that.

I think I'll continue to use it as is in the 240 and up it some in the 135 since I'm switching that from sps anyway. I'd like to start with a cleaner system and all those tangs are still poopin' pretty good.

I'm very glad it's working that well for you. Awesome!!

Tom,I was wondering what results you got from running this. I have been running it for a weak and was hopping to compare results. Tho my Po4 is not that high .05 my goal was to maintain my present level.I used1/2 cup in each reactor. I run two brs dual reactors. I just tested my Po4 and am glad to report a .04. I have seen no negative sighn of useing this product. It tumbles very well in the reactor and am hopping this level maintains itself. I do not strive for all zero's like many reefers. Small trace elements is what I am looking for ! I did some reading on several others forums in their chemistry forums to see if anyone else was useing it or had negative results or bad experience to report and I really didn't read anything negative about it other then AZ's input. Looking forward to your results.

[dputt88]

I'm running it in 3 tanks. Its been 5 days. Im running a 1/4 cup in my 90 gal. I like it, but i gotta move my sponge now.

[binford4000]

Well Tom it's been a few weeks. I am still getting Po4 readings of .04. One thing I have noticed is the polyp extra extension that I would notice when changing GFO has lasted thru the complete trial period. This is a much better result then high cap GFO. I have always noticed extension would return to normal after three or four days with GFO. So far I am happy with the results and plan to make phos guard my Po4 media from now on. Thanks to everyone who spoke up about this stuff !