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Q: How do I use PhosGuard™? How long does it work and when is it exhausted?
A: PhosGuard™is best used in smaller quantities and changed frequently. In an environment with an excessively high phosphate reading, PhosGuard™will exhaust rapidly (4 – 5 days). Place the product in a high flow rate area and test your phosphate levels, changing as needed. When you see that your level is below 0.2 ppm (mg/L) leave that portion of PhosGuard™in the filter. PhosGuard™may yellow somewhat as it picks up organics, but that is not an indicator of exhaustion for phosphate removal. Continue to test weekly for phosphate until you see it begin to rise again. You will then know that it is time to change the PhosGuard™. If you have low levels of phosphate the PhosGuard™will absorb the silicate in your system. It’s inert and safe to leave in your filter.
Q: What makes PhosGuard™different from other phosphate absorbers and why is it not regenerable?
A: There are two forms of phosphate absorbers: iron oxide (rust color) and aluminum oxide (white). Aluminum oxide simply works better, and that is what we use in PhosGuard™. The use of the bead shape results in better water flow, no packing, more surface exposure, faster reaction. On a per weight basis, you would have to use more of a non-bead shaped phosphate remover than you would PhosGuard™to get the equivalent phosphate removing capacity. None of the other phosphate absorbers on the market are regenerable. Although some manufacturer’s claim that their aluminum oxide based phosphate removing products can be regenerated by intense heat, this is, unfortunately, not the case. That claim is based on a naive interpretation of the information provided by manufacturers of bulk aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide is more commonly used in gas purification to remove volatile organics and moisture; heating the material after such use will release the non-covalently adsorbed compounds. However, heat cannot result in phosphate release from aluminum oxide due to a difference in the nature by which phosphates are bound to aluminum oxide versus adsorbed gases.
Q: I've contacted Reef forums and I was told that your product releases aluminum, which will close corals for weeks and might even damage them! How can something like that not be stated on the package? Furthermore, the product description states: "PhosGuard is not an exchange resin, it will not release anything to the water". This to me is a bit of false advertising and puts reef tanks worth thousands of $ at a huge risk
A: In recent years, there has been speculation that aluminum oxide based phosphate removers like PhosGuard™ release aluminum into the water and subsequently damage corals. The evidence to support this claim was largely anecdotal.
So, through a series of controlled experiments in both freshwater and saltwater, we intended to address both the question of aluminum solubility and aluminum toxicity. The results of these experiments show that under reef conditions (pH near 8) there is no detectable soluble aluminum released from alumina. Under conditions of low pH and high dosage levels, soluble aluminum can be released from alumina; at three times the label dosage rate, we detected 0.2 mg/L aluminum at a pH of 5.3.
Additionally, aluminum oxide is not easily absorbed into the cell to cause negative reactions. Even at three times the dose of PhosGuard™, soft-bodied corals such as Sarcophyton remain unaffected.
For the full report on this study, click here.