How-to remove phosphate and silicate?

[808smokey]

Aside from doing a 100% water change or adding more plants how would I remove the phosphates and silicates from my water? I've been loojing at the Kent Marine Phosphate sponge and the Phosphate + Silicate Magnet Products. My only question is how do you use them in the tank? Thanks

 

[squidd]

I don't know about the "sponge" But, I do use the "magnet"...
It's an iron based resin that you put in a mesh bag and then in a high flow area of your tank/sump...
I use it on my FOWLR Aggressive tank and run it 24/7 in a canister filter (used only for chemical filtration and a "pump" to my UV)
I have also used it in a sump where the overflow dumps into it...
I suppose you could just let it "soak" in the sump, but I believe it would be more effective to have wter flow "through" it rather than "over" it...
I used it more for the "Silicate" removal to defeat a diatom problem (pre-RO/DI days) I was having, and levels dropped dramaticly in the first week or two and then stayed at 0 for the duration of the 6 months its good for.

 

[808smokey]

Where do you put the "magnet". Could I just put it (the granuals) in the bag and use a HOB filter? Let it run for a few weeks. I have a couple cheapy ones from walmart for an old FW tank that has turltes in it... Anyhow, Do you think that will work? I'm getting an RO unit this week and will start water changes but it will be months until all the phosphates and silicates are removed from the tank.
Here's what the site says that sells it
Remove phosphate and silicate from fresh and saltwater aquariums with this unique granular suspension. It has a much higher capacity than white or red phosphate pads, with none of the toxicity! Does not leach any absorbed product or animal by-products back into the water. Non-toxic. Works extremely well with The Bag. In a typically managed 125 gallon marine/reef tank, one unit should reduce phosphate and silicates to or near zero levels for at least 6 months. 8 oz
Thanks

 

[murph145]

i used the phosguard pellets in a mesh bag in one of my fluval 404's its been like 2 weeks no.... the orignal reading was 2ppm now its about .25ppm
i tried the sponge first but it didnt work so i think the pellets do a good job ive really noticed a huge difference in the appearance of my reef tank.... i have a large bio-load with fish so im figuring either overfeeding or too much waste is what caused the higher than desired level.... the high phosphates caused nuisance algae such as red slime and hair algae..... never really over took the tank but the brown diatoms on the sand made it look ugly..... now i dont have one spot of and bad algae on rocks or sand....
work good give it a try....
i think the HOB filter will work fine as long as u have water going by it

 

[rainbow aq]

LIttle trick to remove phosphates put some are bubbles in the tank for a week and you will be phosphate free try it out

 

[the reef]

i used phosgard in my canister filter for my trigger tank i found if you want dramatic results use one 8 by 8 bag full for every 25 gallons whithin one week my trigger tank went from 6.o phosphate and lots of unwanted mosey rocks to barly 1.o phosphate and started seeing the moss get smaller and now i use phosgard 24 hours a day seven days a week and now 6 months latter i have 0.0 phosphate and almost all the moss is gone off the rocks
now i change half of my phosgard every time any phosphate is readable

 

[dueces]

I have a bad hair algea problem. Would any of these work for me?

 

[mytank]

question Rainbow AQ.......what exactly do you mean by adding "bubbles" to the tanks. do you mean air stones?????????? I currently have a big time brown hair alge and phospates problem that can not be controlled by anything. I am about ready to just start all over.

 

[the reef]

Originally Posted by mytank
question Rainbow AQ.......what exactly do you mean by adding "bubbles" to the tanks. do you mean air stones?????????? I currently have a big time brown hair alge and phospates problem that can not be controlled by anything. I am about ready to just start all over.
starting all over will only corect it for a while could be a unbalanced nutrient or your overstoked try to balance out your calcium nitrite nitrat phosphate magnisum and your alkalinity. Its all a balancing act keeping things in balance will control lots of the algea

 

[edwar050]

another idea is cooking. Even if you removed 100% of the water your rock would still have phosphates if you have it in your tank....

 

[mytank]

I don't believe my tank is overstocked, the main thing in my tank is the cleaning crew. I have about 15 turbo snails, 3 conchs, 2 urchins, 1 sand sifter, 6 blue leg crabs, 1 sally lightfoot, 1 emerald crab, 1 yellow tang, 1 neon blue damsel, 1 firefish, 1 coral beauty and 1 blue hippo. It's a 75 gallon tank with lots of live rock. And also right now lots of alge, I am pretty sure that the water is the problem. The phosphates are wacky up and down, zero one day then the next day there is a reading. Currently, I am topping the water evaporation with distilled water and going to the local fish store for some water for a water change. Hopefully this will get the water phosphates in controll. I was just wondering if I would have to actually scrub all the rock or buy new rock (which I don't want to do) to get all the alge off. Any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[edwar050]

Dude in no way should you ditch your rock. If you get desperate in a months time your rock could be totally 95+% clear of phosphates, coraline, and algae. This is also keeping most of the pod/microfauna populations alive. Cooking your rock entails taking it out and putting it in a large container with a powerhead, much like curing. The only differences are that you are not putting light over the rock, you want it to be pitch black dark. Once a week you take the rock out and swish it in a couple of buckets. This removes the crap. I did it to my rocks because of the mad ammounts of accumulated waste and die off from feather dusters and the like. It is working extremely well. I used mad scrapings of coraline from the rocks to seed my tank before I took the rock out. Benefits of doing this also allow you to clean and reach the deadspots that you were previously unable to reach. It was alot better than blasting my rocks with a turkey baster and leaching all the crap all over my tank for 6 months twice a week-

 

[edwar050]

I do not believe your tank to be overstocked, though there is alot of waste produced by your fish. Especially the tangs and the coral beauty unless they are extremely small. Your phosphate test kit may be off. Also, The algae "hair algae?" may be sucking up excess phosphates which would cause the readings to fluctuate occasionlly.