Installed Phosban reactor, white cloudy water?

[jcdeng]

Hi, as title saids I just installed the TLF 150 last night to control my algae problem. I put TLF's Phosban media in it, ran the reactor in rodi water until the water coming out is clear, then I hook it up to my tank.

Problem: 2 hours later I noticed the water got a bit cloudy, I figured maybe the flow was too strong and its making the media tumble too much --> breaking off and dusting up the tank. So I reduced the flow more and went to bed. This morning when I woke I see the water turn milky white, everything in there was still ok though, I didn't have the time to test the water b/c I need to head out to work. so I just turned off the reactor before I left.

Any ideas? I am gonna do a wc as soon as I get home. Just want to know is this common?

Thanks in advance guys/girls

 

[jgraz]

Phosban will do that. Just rinse better. It should not tumble at all. You should just barely see the surface move. I mean barely. That stuff is made of aluminum something or another. I used it and had the same problem. Unfortunately I had RTN on some SPS the next day. I've met people who swear by it though. I have used it since with better results. Just a bad first experience. I highly suggest a double and triple rinse. The very low flow.

 

[jcdeng]

I lower the flow rate by adjusting the ball valve till theres just a little tiny movement on the top of the media, and for some reason the pump is making loud noises, if I open up the ball valve a little bit more the noise goes away but the media will tumble.

I am just curious to what is making the water milky white, if its from the gfo media shouldn't it be brownish in color?

 

[jgraz]

Are you using GFO or Phosban. They are two different things that accomplish the same job. Phosban are tiny whitish balls. GFO is a brownish stony or pellet type. Phosban if tumbling to much will turn water milky. GFO will DI the same only brownish/rusty colored water.
When it happened to me with phosban my water was cloudy for a couple of days even after taking it offline. WC helped lighten it quicker.

 

[ecvernon]

Are you using GFO or Phosban. They are two different things that accomplish the same job. Phosban are tiny whitish balls. GFO is a brownish stony or pellet type. Phosban if tumbling to much will turn water milky. GFO will DI the same only brownish/rusty colored water.
When it happened to me with phosban my water was cloudy for a couple of days even after taking it offline. WC helped lighten it quicker.

Gfo stands for granular ferric oxide
phosban is Brand name of GFO. Its is the same thing.
my next question for you would be did you use the proper amount for your tank water volume? if using too much or stripping the water of PO4 to quickly it may have an adverse affect on corals. it is sometimes recommended to use half of suggested amount especially if its the first time using it.
How are the corals looking what is in the tank?

 

[jcdeng]

oh, then the stuff is GFO, just that the TLF bottle saids phosban on the outside, but the stuff instill is definitely brown stony.

 

[jgraz]

Gfo stands for granular ferric oxide
phosban is Brand name of GFO. Its is the same thing.

Yes, my mistake I was thinking phosguard.

 

[jcdeng]

Gfo stands for granular ferric oxide
phosban is Brand name of GFO. Its is the same thing.
my next question for you would be did you use the proper amount for your tank water volume? if using too much or stripping the water of PO4 to quickly it may have an adverse affect on corals. it is sometimes recommended to use half of suggested amount especially if its the first time using it.
How are the corals looking what is in the tank?

I see, I probably used too much cuz I was looking at youtube videos and one mentioned fill it up to 5 inches from bottom and he said maybe can use a little bit more. I didn't think it mattered so I fill it up at 4 inches but the guy's tank is 90g vs my 20g.

The corals are looking the same as before though, expanding when the lights are on. so should I take out half of the GFO and continue using it?

 

[Elflaco112]

GFO should be tumbling but not to the point where its releasing dust particals into your tank. It should look as if you are boiling the GFO. The cloudiness i would say if you dose 2 Part from ESV or something similar thru a dosing pump check and make sure it didn't over dose (thats if u have a dosing pump). I woke up one morning to find my tank all cloudy because i set up my dosing pump all wrong and it dosed the whole bottle into the tank almost 900ml of each part including magnesium. I didnt do a water change at all and everything survived. If thats not the problem im not sure what else it might be. Sorry...

 

[jcdeng]

I don't dose, I just do a 10% weekly WC. Everything was thriving before but so are the algae, I guess I should've just left it alone and live with scraping the glass daily.

 

[ecvernon]

I see, I probably used too much cuz I was looking at youtube videos and one mentioned fill it up to 5 inches from bottom and he said maybe can use a little bit more. I didn't think it mattered so I fill it up at 4 inches but the guy's tank is 90g vs my 20g.

The corals are looking the same as before though, expanding when the lights are on. so should I take out half of the GFO and continue using it?

4 inches on a 20 gallon tank!?!?!??
For that water volume you should be using a few table spoons at most. Do Water change. Remove some gfo or reactor offline for now. Do you have a po4 test kit? You should test your levels to determine how bad is your problem ?

 

[jcdeng]

4 inches on a 20 gallon tank!?!?!??
For that water volume you should be using a few table spoons at most. Do Water change. Remove some gfo or reactor offline for now. Do you have a po4 test kit? You should test your levels to determine how bad is your problem ?

yes, I have a po4 test kit, but I just didn't feel the need to use it cuz of the bad algae problem. Thanks for the advice I will do that first thing i get home.