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Seachem Phosguard vs BRS GFO


flypenfly

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jedimasterben

Phosguard is an aluminum oxide removal media, which has a higher binding affinity for phosphates. It doesn't leech. GFO will leech phosphates back if left too long. Phosguard is more expensive than GFO, and GFO has a great reputation. I didn't have a reactor for my GFO, though, so it didn't work for me. Phosguard did, so that is what I use (plus I only need small amounts now, so it works best).

 

Either will work fine, GFO is probably cheaper in the long run.

Seachem actually gives data on how much phosphate that Phosguard will adsorb, I haven't seen any numbers for GFO, but it does appear that Phosguard per volume can hold more total.

Some suggest that Phosguard leeches aluminum into the water, but I think it's debatable

Randy Holmes-Farley did a test on it. He put 75mL of Phosguard into 500mL of water (a 1:6.66 ratio). Seachem recommends 250mL of Phosguard per 300L of water (a 1:1200 ratio). After five weeks of exposure with no mechanical filtration, the aluminum concentration was 0.71mg/L. If we figure that he would have followed Seachem's recommended usage (and not 180x it), then by my math the concentration released into the water would be 0.00039mg/L.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/7/chemistry

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Either will work fine, GFO is probably cheaper in the long run. Some suggest that Phosguard leeches aluminum into the water, but I think it's debatable, still. I'd go with GFO for ease of use and cost - even if it leeches phosphates back into the water, a GFO change out will bind it back up.

 

And a water change can help. :)

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jedimasterben

And a water change can help. :)

Not really, without being a significant percentage of the tank volume. If phosphate measured 1.00mg/L and you did a 5% water change, the phosphate level would drop to around 0.95mg/L, which no hobby-level test kit will even have the resolution to see the change.

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Not really, without being a significant percentage of the tank volume. If phosphate measured 1.00mg/L and you did a 5% water change, the phosphate level would drop to around 0.95mg/L, which no hobby-level test kit will even have the resolution to see the change.

 

Sorry... I meant a "total" water change. Made sense in my head. LOL

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  • 1 year later...

My personal thoughts though are all good things take time and I don't want things to happen quickly in my reef systems so I prefer iron based media, usually in the pelletized form so it does not clump up, either in a bag in the midded HOB AC 500 on my nano or in a reactor on my 100G

I know I'm bringing up stuff from a very old thread, but do you have any recommendations on pelletized GFO? I would love to avoid the dust in my tank!

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AZDesertRat

Filter Guys is about the only place I found that still carries it. Bayoxide E33P media is developed by LANXESS Deutschland GmbH (formerly Bayer AG) and exclusive to Severn Trent for use in drinking water treatment to remove arsenic. Filter Guys probably buys it from them. I get it from the drinking water product reps as test samples.

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Thanks! I might try them next time. Would you also run this in a reactor? Or do you think that granular gfo is better in a reactor?

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