Will Kent Nitrate Sponge remove phosphate also?

[leoslizards]

I was wondering if Kent Nitrate Sponge will remove phosphates as well? What about Kent Absorption Resin or Kent Mixed Bed Resin? Does anyone know what these actually remove from the water? Are they safe to use in a Phosban Reactor?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The best choice of a material by far for binding phosphate is GFO (granular ferric oxide). All such media are red to brown/black materials. Other materials potentially leach aluminum or do a poorer job of binding phosphate. I do not believe any commercial organic polymer resins will remove much inorganic phosphate from seawater.

[leoslizards]

I was asking because it was alot cheaper then GFO. I could get 1 gallon (3,764 grams) of Kent Phosphate Sponge for $30 on ebay compared to the GFO (453 grams) at bulkreefsupply.com. That's more then eight times the amount.

Does anyone know where to gets GFO at a good price?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't know offhand of good places to buy it.

[packer]

I use marinedepot.com

[m2434]

Originally posted by leoslizards
I was asking because it was alot cheaper then GFO. I could get 1 gallon (3,764 grams) of Kent Phosphate Sponge for $30 on ebay compared to the GFO (453 grams) at bulkreefsupply.com. That's more then eight times the amount.

Does anyone know where to gets GFO at a good price?

I believe Kent Phosphate Sponge needs to be replaced every few days. One way or another, PO4 will continuously find its way into your system and IMO, a quick "one-shot" removal is useless.

[leoslizards]

Originally posted by m2434
I believe Kent Phosphate Sponge needs to be replaced every few days. One way or another, PO4 will continuously find its way into your system and IMO, a quick "one-shot" removal is useless.

Yeah I decided to go for the GFO from bulkreefsupply.com instead.

[mikesommers]

But will it remove nitrates as well? This is a good question. Does GFO remove nitrates as well as PO4?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No, neither will remove significant nitrate.

[leoslizards]

So the only way to remove nitrates would be to use a product that is made for it, which still sucks at it, or water changes which is probably the best choice.

I was listening to an episode of petfishtalk.com earlier and they said that amquel plus removes nitrate. I forgot which part. It was probably part 4.

[m2434]

I don't like using chemicals for nitrates, better to fix the problem.

no one seems to know what amquel is, but I suspect it's a carbon source, sugar would be cheaper, but not for the faint of heart. I think skimming and reduced feeding are the best ways to eliminate nitrates. DSB's and RDSBs would be my next choice, if none of these work, there are other methods, including de-nitrators, and carbon sources, but if you have to ask about these, I don't recommend them...

[leoslizards]

Originally posted by m2434
I don't like using chemicals for nitrates, better to fix the problem.

no one seems to know what amquel is, but I suspect it's a carbon source, sugar would be cheaper, but not for the faint of heart. I think skimming and reduced feeding are the best ways to eliminate nitrates. DSB's and RDSBs would be my next choice, if none of these work, there are other methods, including de-nitrators, and carbon sources, but if you have to ask about these, I don't recommend them...

What about plenums, are they any good?

I'm getting some LR tomorrow and I would like to make changes to my 3-1/2 month old 29g FO tank before I start to add the rock. Maybe I should start a tank log somewhere so that I can get better responses for these questions. Where's the best place to do this, the "New to Hobby" forum? I have alot of questions regrading flow and filtration. I started a flow suggestion thread in that forum but barely got any good responses.

Btw, I ordered a lb of gfo from bulkreefsupplies.com today. How often should it be changed?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sand beds can help reduce nitrate. Whether a plenum actually improves on ordinary sand beds has not been demonstrated. It may in some circumstances and not in others, depending on the sand beds involved, and the tank water flow.