Rowaphos nightmare

[boobookitty]

I have a minor phosphate problem in my 240g, and tried a phosban reactor; it was way too small, and had little to no effect. So I purchased a Lifegard 600FB fluidized bed filter and added 1L of Rowaphos, powered by a Mag3. Not having had a lot of experience with a Lifegard, I pushed too much water at first and dumped some Rowaphos into the tank. I have it tuned quite nicely now, with the Rowaphos bed floating, but I'm still paying for that first mistake.

The tank has been cloudy for 5 days now. I've been using a combination of 100, 50 and 25 micron filter socks, and have improved it, but it's still quite cloudy. In addition, my hands have been rust colored for days, as have quite a few of my clothes, since pulling out the rust-colored socks 8 times a day is taking its toll. :)

Any ideas? Is there any better way to get this stuff out of my water column? It doesn't seem to be affecting my livestock, but it's annying as hell since prior to this my water was crystal clear. Any help would be appreciated...

Arthur

[Sync955]

I have the exact same setup that you do.

I let the first several gallons flow into the sink before putting the whole thing in operation in my system. I also have had red hoses, hands, carpet, clothes, filter floss and so forth. It was from trying to keep the stuff fluidized too high. Someone on this BB suggested I turn down the flow until the rowa is just tumbling an inch above the fill line. By the time I did this, most of the stuff was already into my system. Just a little bit at a time, every day until I had a major mess on my hands. I recently took out the rowa as I figured there wasn't much left there anyways and it was probably due for a change. Replacing 1L of rowa on a regular basis adds up, but what else is new? I have learned this hobby is not for the faint of heart or the financially challenged!

I learned my lesson with the rowa and next time will approach it differently with much better results. One thing to note is that besides having red hoses now, the system itself and all inhabitants look great! Everything is big and full and healthy looking.

Good luck with rowa! By the way, carbon may help your problem. I use ESV carbon with great results! It runs 24/7.

[boobookitty]

So how did you get it out? Or was cloudiness not a problem? I have it fluidized now so that I can open the pump fully and it's only up about half the height of the filter (opened it up a little at a time and let it settle back), but I'm still battling the stuff dumped in the tank at first. I use carbon 24/7, but in this case I've taken it out and have been battling it with socks in order not to waste it.

Arthur

[Travis]

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions for removing it from the water column. However, I do have a question for you. I recently purchased a used FB600 for Rowa. It didn't come with instructions. Does the top come off? Where do you put the Rowa in?

Sync955, you may want to run the output of your reactor into a filter sock to catch any Rowa that gets out of the reactor. This stuff is WAY too expensive to be wasting.

[boobookitty]

That's the one drawback to using the FB600...getting media into the unit involves unscrewing and removing the flow control valve, which leaves a hole approximately 1" across, into which you pour the media. I had to make a funnel to get it into the thing. It's a pain.

Arthur

[Travis]

That's what I figured. Oh well, with this large of a reactor, the media should only need to be changed every few months.

Thanks

[Jon_Hewett_85]

Just as an FYI rowaphos should be lasting anywhere from 4 to 6 months unless you just have out of control phosphates. THats what we've been getting out of it on our maint. accounts and so forth.

[jimmyrickson]

No-Phos or Phosbuster (from CaribSea). The same product, works in a couple of days. These are new products and are not cheap, but they work (unlike, others). Nevertheless, phosphate will always be a problem if raw tapwater is used as well as bad rock.

[SPC]

Originally posted by jimmyrickson
No-Phos or Phosbuster (from CaribSea). The same product, works in a couple of days.

This is an iron based product?

Question for everyone, if this filter is run on the system 3 or 4 months, how do you keep the detritus from building up in it?
Steve

[jimmyrickson]

Not sure about the iron content, though I think it works by preciptating out the phos., can lower pH about a point though ...

[heuerfan]

I had the same problem, spoke to rowa usa and they told me the red stuff all over the tank is due to the fact that the rowaphos was being over fluidized. It needs to be barely tumbling, like a wavy motion.

I stopped using the rowa for a couple of days and my skimmer and 25% water change helped remove the cloud. Then i started using the rowaphos again in my lifegard FB300 but very, very low flow. So far so good now.

mw 2 cents....