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Phosphates in your RO water

S

SI REEF

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Hi. I use a hanna meter to check my phosphate levels in my tank. Today I tested the tank and found my phasphate level at .08 So I knew it was time to change the phosban media. I tested the efluent comming out of the reactor. I got a .06 I changed out the media and for the hell of it I checked the phosphate level in my make up water. That reading is .07!
I have a tds readout of 37 in and 0 out. Since that is to high a phosphate level to go into my top off reservoir. I am thinking of adding a phosphate reactor to my make up reservoir.
Does anyone else filter there top off water for phosphates?
 
P

PMolan

SI REEF said:
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I have a tds readout of 37 in and 0 out.
Click to expand...

Is that 37 tap water? If it is, wow thats low.
 
A

Artisan Corals

Do you have DI resins after your RO system? Good DI resins should remove all Phosphate, but total removal of silicates are an issue for both RO and DI.
 
sgarron

sgarron

NJRC Member
Carlo,

What do you use with the gfo to remove silicates? I tested my topoff water last night and was not happy with the phosphate reading. I didn't test for silicates but I'm sure they are there.
 
B

boontonbob

Really...phosphates in RO/DI water?? This surprises me. Nothing is easy around here, huh?

I recall have a discussion with the researcher/owner of AquaFx systems and I believe she felt you should never (or rarely) see phosphates coming through, unless you are very overdue on the replacements. I thought she said removing these were 'easy'versus nitrates and probably silica (as discussed). I recall testing mine and finding them and calling, but then did not invest more time at that point a few years back.
 
C

Carlo

sgarron said:
Carlo,

What do you use with the gfo to remove silicates? I tested my topoff water last night and was not happy with the phosphate reading. I didn't test for silicates but I'm sure they are there.
Click to expand...

If you use something like Phosguard (white pellets) that might be good enough on it's own to remove both phosphates & silicates. I would imagine this should suffice for most people.

I myself run a media adsorber made specifically just for silicates just to be sure it's removed because of the amount of water I go through.

Carlo
 
ricwilli

ricwilli

Carlo said:
sgarron said:
Carlo,

What do you use with the gfo to remove silicates? I tested my topoff water last night and was not happy with the phosphate reading. I didn't test for silicates but I'm sure they are there.
Click to expand...

If you use something like Phosguard (white pellets) that might be good enough on it's own to remove both phosphates & silicates. I would imagine this should suffice for most people.

I myself run a media adsorber made specifically just for silicates just to be sure it's removed because of the amount of water I go through.

Carlo
Click to expand...

and the name of the media adsorber is?
 
C

Carlo

Sorry about that. It's called silicate clear and is made by Sera Marin.

It comes with it's own nylon bag which is nice if you want to run it in a bag instead of a reactor.

Carlo
 
C

Carlo

There won't be any chemical reaction to worry about but I'm not sure mixing it is a good idea. Maybe doing layers is better.

The silicate material should last much longer then a phosphate adborber so I wouldn't want to change them out at the same time. Just an example timeline for in tank use (you milage may vary) and I'm sure both will last much, much longer in a RO/DI tank. You might need to change the phosphate material every 3 to 4 weeks but not change the silicate material for 3 months (probably much longer).

Carlo
 
sgarron

sgarron

NJRC Member
Layered is what I really meant. You would change the gfo that often? Phosban claims it's good for 3 months as well.
 
C

Carlo

That timeline was for use in a tank based on my own experience. It could be longer or shorter depending on the amount of media used. If used in to water it should last a lot longer.

I myself have zero of both from my unit but if the water sit I can test for PO4s, etc so that is why I run it.

Carlo
 
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