Drey,
I am fighting the same problem... I have used a series of different things.. I use a lot of Phoso-zorb when I was setup with a canister.. Now I find that the packets that they use for this stuff does not allow much water through. What I did was try a product called Phosphate Sponge by Kent. Contrary to the name in is actually a course sand like material composed of ceramic material. I bought a couple little 800 micron bags and made up my own packets which have done well so far. The life of this product is alot shorter though and they claim that you can rejuvinate it by baking in in the oven.. I don't trust that.. I just let one set of bags run between 12 hours to 2 days then refill them.
Also I learned my lesson the hard way about tap water. I had a battle with hair algae that would make you sick to your stomach. Instead of buying R/O water from my LFS I bought an Aquarium Pharm deoinizer which removes phosphates and a host of other materials which you don't want to see in your tank...
I hope this was helpful for you... Also if you are going to buy that Phosphate Sponge stuff at a LFS you are looking at a price of $20.00 for a quart of dry material. I will buy it mail order next time at somewhere like Mail Order Pet next time for half the price..
That web site incase you are wondering is
http://www.mopetshop.com
Good Luck
