phosphate remover

[Dead31]

Hi. I recently discovered that my 55g marine setup has too much phosphate, so I bought Pura Phoslock and mesh begs to take care of it. I put the mesh bags in my Emperor 400. Can anybody tell me how long it will take for the phoslock to take care of the phosphate to stop the green and red algae from growing? The habitants in my 2 year old marine setup include: several clams, a coral banded shrimp, a brittle star fish, a lawnmower blenny, a percula clown, 40 lbs. of live rock, 50 lbs. crushed coral. The running equipment includes: 2 201 powerheads, Emperor 400, sea clone protein skimmer 100 with coral life compacts, and 4 65 watt lights. Your help would be appreciated. Thank you ,
David :hi:

[Crown Royal]

I am not familiar with this product although I can tell you that such phosphate removers are only alleviate the symptoms rather than the cause of your phosphate issues.

Things such as too much decaying material as a result of overfeeding, dead things, detritus clogging your sandbed/live rock, or old filter sponges/floss material are often the root causes.

Figure the cause out first and then use phosphate removers as a backup to keep levels down.

Also, phosphate removal products are not a substitute for good husbandry such as regular water changes and deal with the things I've mentioned above.

Lastly, bear in mind that certain Fe-based removers can work too quickly and alter water chemistry very drastically. As well some Al-based removers are rumoured to release phosphates back into the water after a period of time. Start slow and follow the instructions to a tee.

[rohnds]

I had this problem in my first tank. I used almost all phosphate removers and spongers available. May of them have saturation point. In another word, once the saturation point is reached, the PO4 will be released back into the water. Never keep them in the water for more than what is recomended.

These removers and spongers rearely work. The best thing is use RO water or cold treated water like I did. And the algae just went away.

Rohn