Algae and Phosphate. When Water Changes Are Not Enough!

Algae & Phosphate. When Water Changes Are Not Enough!

by Jack Trebnio

Many aquarium owners find themselves in a situation where the more water changes that they do, the quicker the algae grows. While there is no substitute for good husbandry practices that include small regular water changes and careful feeding, there are alternative to spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on salt, as well as countless hours on preparation and siphoning. Do you do regular water changes and still find nitrate and phosphate readings that are off the chart? Do you do regular water changes and come home to a dirty, scummy, high maintenance aquarium? There are very powerful “tools” that are faster, more effective, and much cheaper than massive water changes!

Hardly the same old stuff! White colored phosphate removers are aluminum oxide based and these leach back the phosphate when not removed quickly upon reaching their sorption capacity. A new generation of filtration materials that are particularly suited for aquarium applications offer fast, reliable, and consistent results.

New media like Granulated Ferric Oxide Hydroxide (GFH) provide performance and economy far beyond materials that were cutting edge a few years ago. While some companies are just discovering GFH, PURA has an all-new second-generation product with more capacity and none of the undesirable characteristics of previous generation products. Not all products perform well; some are even hazardous to fish!

Large quantities of free iron in aquariums are known to cause permanent damage to fish gills. Products based on the first generation of GFH contaminate water with 3.7 to 98.8 mg of iron per gram of media. Recently appearing palletized media break all the records with 270 mg of released iron per gram of media!

PhosLock is much harder and far less prone to disintegration in high flows compared to the other brands and does not release free iron. It even comes with a high quality 300-micron 6”x12” media bag for convenience and ease of use. It works superbly in phosphate reactors at much greater flow rates without washing out.

PURA PhosLock offers unrivaled performance and safety! Magnavore Co., the manufacturer of PURA filtration products, analyzes and compares the performance of all the products that it manufactures or markets as well as competing products. All analyses are performed by an independent chemist at a state lab in accord with the EPA standard protocols and procedures using ICP-OES Spectrometry and Ion Chromatography. Detailed analyses and results are posted in the long description on our web site and at www.magnavore.com. These products are available on our web site for purchase.