White egg crate and phosphate...

[Mark...]

I'm reading that white egg crate can increase phosphate. A friend on RC did an experiment and it seems to validate the problem.

Any thoughts on this? My skimmer stand is made of white egg crate and my phosphate is higher than I'd like. Rising on each test to .24...I know it could be the rock and shrimp too.

People are recommending black egg crate or painting with Krylon. You would think plastic is plastic, unless the white color draws in more light causing algae issues.

Anyone up on this issue?

Mark...

 

[Sobo's Reef]

I too have a white egg crate skimmer stand. I have heard that white leeches phosphates causing algae and what not. Now that I think about it, my po4 is pretty high as well. Guess I'll be getting black and testing that theory.

 

[Rwc]

This was brought up a few months ago , believe it to be bogus. 9 out of 10 people here probably have or had white egg crate in their system me being one of them and I have a flourishing sps system next it'll be white PVC I'm not feeding into it

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Yeah I mean, I don't see any.algae or anything like that hanging on it so Im not a believer. But my po4 has been going up lately. Probably do to taking GFO offline and going with biopellets

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have one thing to say.......Bull feathers!


Don't believe everything you see on the internet.


Show me the science and I'll believe. But the day you can get phosphate out of acrylic or styrene plastics is the day you've received a Nobel prize. Phosphates are not used in the making of either plastic.

 

[Mark...]

Here is a post by my friend and the thread on RC:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2278512&page=20


egg crate and phosphates
Conducted my own little experiment after reading posts of egg crate leaching phosphates into a tank.
I added a rectangle of egg crate to the right corner of my 180 and wedged it between the overflow and glass. It is 18 inches long by about 9 inches wide for each panel. Then there are small pieces on each side about 3rd and a rectangle foot so it retains its shape.

Within a few days algae started appearing on the rock just below it, then it spread to the power heads and sand bed but only closest to the eggcrate. Power head on right side is green and Jebao on left is clean.
Right side

 

[Mark...]

I wonder if possibly the way light reflexes off white could be the issue vs actual phosphates.

 

[Rwc]

Does glass leach phosphates too? I think the sky is falling chicken little. If phosphates leaching from my egg crating is all I have to worry about than ill be in good shape

 

[Mark...]

Does glass leach phosphates too? I think the sky is falling chicken little. If phosphates leaching from my egg crating is all I have to worry about than ill be in good shape

If it turned out true, you wouldn't try to fix the issue? Why can't you keep an open mind? I'm sure people thought using Bayer Advanced was nuts too at first.

Someone needs to run two tanks next to each other with the same parameters and fill one with white egg crate and the other without. Then test phosphates over a time period and see what the results are...

 

[Sobo's Reef]

If it turned out true, you wouldn't try to fix the issue? Why can't you keep an open mind? I'm sure people thought using Bayer Advanced was nuts too at first.

Someone needs to run two tanks next to each other with the same parameters and fill one with white egg crate and the other without. Then test phosphates over a time period and see what the results are...

I agree with you. Not a lot of people are open minded but it is what it is. If people have had egg crate in their tanks for a long time with no I'll effects than awesome for them. Maybe its a combination of things? Who knows. I'd be interested in seeing a side by side tank test as well.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Here is a post by my friend and the thread on RC:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2278512&page=20


egg crate and phosphates
Conducted my own little experiment after reading posts of egg crate leaching phosphates into a tank.
I added a rectangle of egg crate to the right corner of my 180 and wedged it between the overflow and glass. It is 18 inches long by about 9 inches wide for each panel. Then there are small pieces on each side about 3rd and a rectangle foot so it retains its shape.

Within a few days algae started appearing on the rock just below it, then it spread to the power heads and sand bed but only closest to the eggcrate. Power head on right side is green and Jebao on left is clean.
Right side

Thats some real good anecdotal science right there!


Having a pHD in anecdotal nonsense, I believe what is happening is that the perfect 1/2 inch little squares in the egg create are in ideal harmonic balance with the wavelenght of the light causing for ideal light conditions for algea growth. The magnetic flux of the earth, and solar flare activity of the sun exacerbate the wavelength dipole within the egg crate matrix causing for further problems. And if that wasn't enough, the feng shui positioning of the egg create within the tank could have devastating effects on your tank, the algae growth the least of the potential problems. I think I'll publish this on the internet so everyone will believe it!




You can't get phosphate from something that does NOT contain phosphate.....unless it's a miracle

 

[Mark...]

Thats some real good anecdotal science right there!


Having a pHD in anecdotal nonsense, I believe what is happening is that the perfect 1/2 inch little squares in the egg create are in ideal harmonic balance with the wavelenght of the light causing for ideal light conditions for algea growth. The magnetic flux of the earth, and solar flare activity of the sun exacerbate the wavelength dipole within the egg crate matrix causing for further problems. And if that was enough, the feng shui positioning of the egg create within the tank could have devastating effects on your tank, the algae growth the least of the potential problems. I think I'll publish this on the internet so everyone will believe it!




You can't get phosphate from something that does NOT contain phosphate.....unless it's a miracle

So instead of having an intelligent conversation you need to post this? Thanks...I need to take a break from this place...damn, I thought people here were open to ideas.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Mark, I appologize if my remarks came across a bit crass. I actaully am a chemist and spent some time playing with medical grade plastics in my career. To the best of my knowledge, egg crate is made of acrylic or polystyrene plastic, neither of which use phosphates in their manufacturing processes. It's just not there. That is what I stated this in post #5, and repeated in post #11 in a smart aleck way. Again, I apologize if my remarks were out of line.


The only way I could see phosphates in some plastics is if they used one of the plasticizers that contain phosphate....such as tributylphosphate. These kinds of phosphate containing plasticizers are using is certain plastics, PVC being one, to make them softer and more plyable. Even if PVC were to be used to make egg crate, you would want it to be rigid and contain no plasticizers.

 

[Rwc]

Don't get me wrong I'm ignorant and thick headed but please don't think I'm trying to start an argument , i just find it amusing more than anything! I've found everything that gets put in the tank goes through a cycle of algea covering it from white or black egg crate , clear plastic on protein skimmer, white PVC , and clear glass that seems to constantly grow algae! So much algae in fact that I had to purchase a mag float to clean it... That's why I previously posted does my glass leach phosphates? Someone should conduct a test ,but if this was such an epidemic in the reefing hobby I'm sure it would have been confirmed

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Good points guys. I don't believe anyone was trying to start an argument with the OP. If the science is there to believe then I believe it. But I do have 1 question... Is ALL white egg crate made the same way? Is it possible some companies make it differently maybe?? I'm just curious at this point.

 

[Rwc]

I am being sarcastic about the glass... Don't want to be taken as a fool hah

 

[Sobo's Reef]

I am being sarcastic about the glass... Don't want to be taken as a fool hah

I think you're good Lol I understood it

 

[AqOb]

Here you guys go.
http://www.njreefers.org/archive/index.php/t-58778.html?

 

[dnov99]

Ethan beat me to it, but I was going to say it's not the plastic but since egg crate is used to diffuse light in fixtures it's usually treated with chemicals which contain phosphates.

 

[downbeach]

I think it was '05 or '06 that I first heard of this as a potential problem. Since I was using a lot of it in my system at the time I decided to test it out on my own. I took two 2 gallon containers I had and filled them each with water from my tank, I then place a fairly large piece of equal size in each container, and left it there for a week. I gave each container a full battery of tests, and found no difference. So, if there was any PO4, it was undetectable.