Brightwell Xport media

[dulgee]

you Guys have talked quite a bit about marinepure, but not much about brightwell aquatics xport bio, no3, and po4 media. I am currently running 1 brick of the xport no3 and one brick on the bio in my sump, and it has given me a bulletproof bio filter. My water Parma’s are pristine across the board, but I am getting some algea, presumable from some phosphate in the system. It is testing 0 ppm, but that is expected since its likely tied up in the algea. I skim and carbon dose pretty agresively, but it doesn’t seem to be helping with the algea. I shut off the lights in my display for the last few days and reduced feeding to about once every day and a half and I see slight improvement.

Going back to the xport media. I don’t see much out there talking about any practical results from using xport po4, and how well it works... etc...

Another question regarding the no3 media... how feasible would it be to bury a couple of plates under the substrate in the display tank. It seems like it would be the ideal low flow area for anerobic metabolism of nitrate still allowing a relatively shallow sand bed and sand sifting critters stirring it up without interfering with denitrification. Any downside to that?

Thanks for the great videos. Keep them coming!

EY

 

[dulgee]

Dang I messed the title! Lol. . XPORT!

 

[Piranhapat]

I'm using Brightwell xport PO4 and No3 cubes in reactor. It works to good I have no Nitrates and Phoshate. I been over feeding to get my nitrates up. Still read zero and used to use GFO for Phoshate but they are zero. Much cheaper and last two months and still haven't add any new cubes. Amazing stuff. I don't have sand in DT And never got algae and tank glass stays clean for 4 to 5 days

 

[pecan2phat]

I purchased the xport brick in May from MD and by Sept, it was a pile of mud/sand in my sump. It was more aggravating cleaning it out then anything else. Jack Kent from Brightwell has replaced the product for me after I emailed my displeasure of the product but they took a while to send me the brick so I went with the Marine Pure.

 

[dulgee]

interesting, it is the first time i've heard of Xport media disintegrating. marine pure was on my list as well, but the the now debunked word that it leached aluminum into the water kept me away. i also liked the special coatings brightwell uses to help buffer the acid buildup which helps keep the bacteria alive longer. also the NO3 media is coated with sulfur which assists anaerobic bacteria. The PO4 is coated with Ferric Oxide (iron rust) seems like the full package to me... i Imagine the PO4 cubes have a finite lifespan...(once the rust is saturated with phosphate). Does the BIO and NO3 also have a similar span? or will they last (provided they stay in tact) forever?

 

[pecan2phat]

From all that I've read regarding leaching aluminum and Marine Pure, it was basically traced back to the copy or fakes coming out of China.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

interesting, it is the first time i've heard of Xport media disintegrating. marine pure was on my list as well, but the the now debunked word that it leached aluminum into the water kept me away.

Debunked? I think it is actually confirmed.

 

[dulgee]

also, i just ordered some Kent Tech M; magnesium. the algea that has predominently taken to my rock is bryopsis, and apparently dosing magnesium kills it. i dont over feed, and my bioload is termpered pretty well with my biofilter, so if i can kill off the algea and deal with the nutrients in the water i think i can get it under control. i am strongly considering getting the xport PO4 since i just dumped the last of my cheato and have my sump/fuge in total darkness at the moment. that chamber was getting overrun with hair algae intertwined with the cheato and all over my equipment, so i am going to let it die off in there, then give it a good cleaning, and add some clean cheato back in, in a few weeks. in the mean time, the PO4 should mitigate the minimal phosphate in the column.

thoughts?

 

[dulgee]

From all that I've read regarding leaching aluminum and Marine Pure, it was basically traced back to the copy or fakes coming out of China.

this is what i've read as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How much Aluminum will it leach? Let's guess
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-much-aluminum-will-it-leach-lets-guess.247034/

"
There is absolutely no doubt now in my mind that the Marine Pure Blocks leach Al regardless of what their marketing says. What form or what kind of effects it has in a tank I do not know other then initial negative reactions of adding the blocks or disturbing them.


So, 1 month after adding a Marine Pure block the levels went from around 0-2ug/l (typical of IO as seen in my saltmix parameters thread) and climbed to around 19ug/l. About 4 months later having the blocks in the levels rose to ~100ug/l."

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

"On another point... my bucket with the brightwell dimpled brick in it that's been running for a while now has had it's water tested before brick and after."

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...-leach-lets-guess.247034/page-20#post-3929299

Aluminum rose a lot, 0 to 502 ug/L

 

[dulgee]

seems i awoke a sleeping dragon. didnt mean to start a MP vs XPORT debate. its really distracting from the main point of the thread which is limited to the brightwell products.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

seems i awoke a sleeping dragon. didnt mean to start a MP vs XPORT debate. its really distracting from the main point of the thread which is limited to the brightwell products.

Brightwell has a poor track record of claims, and that second post clearly shows it can release aluminum. Whether it is too much or not is open to the user to decide.

 

[pirate2876]

The brightwell dimpled brick I have has basically disintegrated. I have a few pieces of it but I can't touch it or else it falls apart. The cermedia block is still intact however.

 

[Piranhapat]

Randy, could the Al effect a sensitive fish from eating. Or cause damage to coral...just bad period

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The most often reported result, historically, and in my tests with aluminum dosing, is closing up of soft corals, especially leather corals.

 

[Piranhapat]

Are they any effect to Sps that you know of? I just put one of those block in from marine pure.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Are they any effect to Sps that you know of? I just put one of those block in from marine pure.

I do not know of any, but there might be.

 

[Zack@BRS]

you Guys have talked quite a bit about marinepure, but not much about brightwell aquatics xport bio, no3, and po4 media. I am currently running 1 brick of the xport no3 and one brick on the bio in my sump, and it has given me a bulletproof bio filter. My water Parma’s are pristine across the board, but I am getting some algea, presumable from some phosphate in the system. It is testing 0 ppm, but that is expected since its likely tied up in the algea. I skim and carbon dose pretty agresively, but it doesn’t seem to be helping with the algea. I shut off the lights in my display for the last few days and reduced feeding to about once every day and a half and I see slight improvement.

Going back to the xport media. I don’t see much out there talking about any practical results from using xport po4, and how well it works... etc...

Another question regarding the no3 media... how feasible would it be to bury a couple of plates under the substrate in the display tank. It seems like it would be the ideal low flow area for anerobic metabolism of nitrate still allowing a relatively shallow sand bed and sand sifting critters stirring it up without interfering with denitrification. Any downside to that?

Thanks for the great videos. Keep them coming!

EY

I think one reason that you'll see more from us about the Marinepure products is that they have been a much more popular topic of discussion amongst the community (such as being the subject of the aluminum leaching controversy), and we receive a lot more questions about them. The xport blocks and plates and other products will be very similar in function to the Marinepure products, so it would also be somewhat redundant. While the NO3/PO4 products do have some unique attributes, and do seem to work, I would expect them to have a limited useful lifespan for those purposes, and wouldn't locate them somewhere where it would be very difficult to remove or replace. There's been a lot of debate on how effective these blocks of either type are for nitrate reduction, so I'd be hesitant to throw in my lot with that strategy.

Our ICP tests would seem to confirm that the blocks are leaching some amount of aluminum into the water, but like Randy alluded to, it's still a bit unclear what impact this may have. I have a very much thriving mixed reef 60 cube here in the office that has been running for nearly 3 years with two 8"x8"x1" blocks in the sump baffles. I will say that, during the first few months, I had issues with softies not being very happy. My sps never seemed to have any issues. After several months things improved, and now zoas and palys are happily growing. I would imagine that leaching slowed down and what was in the water has been diluted. I also run an ATS, so this may have helped to remove some toxins as well.

As evidenced by the many threads here and elsewhere, Bryopsis can be challenging to keep under control, and even moreso to eradicate. Good husbandry and keeping dissolved wastes low is important, but Bryopsis in particular seems to be very good at utilizing limited resources. I think that's one reason why fluconazole has been heralded as such a God-send.

 

[dulgee]

Thanks to Zack and everyone else for sharing your experiences. i'll keep close watch on the params. my top priority is to get rid of the algae. i started dosing Tech M today, so we'll see after a few weeks. If phosphate become a problem, i'll try the PO4 cubes in my return chamber next to my carbon. The tank is still relatively young, and have not added any coral yet, so i am eager to get rid of the bryopsis so i can start some colonies.

Zack, have you considered my idea of burying a couple of those 8x8x1 plates under the substrate to maintain a low oxygen high surface area to proliferate anaerobic bacteria? would it be worth trying on my next build (which i am planning to be a 180g mixed reef).

Thanks again!