Erasmus Crowley
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2017
- Messages
- 177
- Reaction score
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I just wanted to bring some awareness to a product that I recently used with great success. I couldn't find anyone else that has tried this, so I can't be 100% sure that my results are safe. So keep that in mind.
Background:
A few years ago, I got addicted to growing macroalgae in my refugium. The fuge was ridiculously oversized compared to the bioload. Eventually, I managed to drain my PO4 all the way to zero. You may be aware that most tanks have some PO4 reserves that are loosely bound to the calcium surfaces of the rock and sand. I managed to drain that to zero too, because my phosphates never bounced back on their own.
After that I would start dosing sodium phosphate, but I inevitably would get forgetful about dosing and the fuge would die off. Then the dinoflagellates would pop up. I'd take the fuge offline, dose tons of phosphate, and eventually get rid of the dinos.
I get a lot of fun out of growing macroalgae though, so I would eventually succumb to the temptation to turn my fuge lights back on and order some more macroalgae. Then the cycle of depleting my phosphate would repeat.
A few months ago, I stumbled across the existence of "polyphospate beads".
In places where there are a excessive minerals in the tap water, a reactor with these beads is placed where the water comes into the house. They slowly dissolve and release phosphate into the water. The phosphate prevents the minerals from building up on the inside of pipes. The information that I was able to find said that they didn't produce anything that made the tapwater dangerous. And they do dissolve in saltwater.
So I bought a container from Amazon. I put a single bead in a mesh bag and hung it in my sump. Phosphates started to creep up. Dinoflagelletes disappeared. My coral looked MUCH better. And now hair algae is exploding everywhere. My snails have never been so happy.
Anyone who has fought dinos for an extended period of time can probably understand why I'm so happy to be facing plain old green hair algae again.
TLDR,
Polyphosphate beads worked great for me and the bag came with enough of them that I'll never need to buy another phosphate additive for the rest of my life. They can be found on Amazon.
Background:
A few years ago, I got addicted to growing macroalgae in my refugium. The fuge was ridiculously oversized compared to the bioload. Eventually, I managed to drain my PO4 all the way to zero. You may be aware that most tanks have some PO4 reserves that are loosely bound to the calcium surfaces of the rock and sand. I managed to drain that to zero too, because my phosphates never bounced back on their own.
After that I would start dosing sodium phosphate, but I inevitably would get forgetful about dosing and the fuge would die off. Then the dinoflagellates would pop up. I'd take the fuge offline, dose tons of phosphate, and eventually get rid of the dinos.
I get a lot of fun out of growing macroalgae though, so I would eventually succumb to the temptation to turn my fuge lights back on and order some more macroalgae. Then the cycle of depleting my phosphate would repeat.
A few months ago, I stumbled across the existence of "polyphospate beads".
In places where there are a excessive minerals in the tap water, a reactor with these beads is placed where the water comes into the house. They slowly dissolve and release phosphate into the water. The phosphate prevents the minerals from building up on the inside of pipes. The information that I was able to find said that they didn't produce anything that made the tapwater dangerous. And they do dissolve in saltwater.
So I bought a container from Amazon. I put a single bead in a mesh bag and hung it in my sump. Phosphates started to creep up. Dinoflagelletes disappeared. My coral looked MUCH better. And now hair algae is exploding everywhere. My snails have never been so happy.
Anyone who has fought dinos for an extended period of time can probably understand why I'm so happy to be facing plain old green hair algae again.
TLDR,
Polyphosphate beads worked great for me and the bag came with enough of them that I'll never need to buy another phosphate additive for the rest of my life. They can be found on Amazon.
