"Foz Down" by oceanfreshaquarium.com
 

I recently wanted to try a new product I had heard about, called "Foz Down" by OceanFreshAquarium.com, a Canadian company.

I wanted to learn a little more about this company so I went to the website and was pleasantly surprised to learn that it is a subsidiary of Seacare, an enterprise run by Tim Tessier. While I doubt Tim remembers me, Tim and I have conversed a few times over the years especially in the 90's when seacare.org was THE go-to vendor for Tridacnid clams in Canada. That was a long time ago though, over time the business switched to a wholesale operation only, and us mere mortals could no longer buy from him except vicariously through other retailers. :lol:

Anyhow the idea behind Foz Down is that it is meant to bind with phosphate molecules, and somehow render them inert and able to be skimmed or filtered out thereafter. I'm not sure how this works, the ingredients are listed as "a blend of rare earth minerals", but, after trying it tonight on two tanks, I can verify it does seem to work as advertised.

Using a Hanna handheld phosphate meter which reads in ppb (parts per billion), I measured my FOWLR tank tonight at 25ppb (or approximately 0.03ppm). I added 8 drops (to lower the phosphate reading by 0.02, the instructions call for one drop per 10g of tank volume; I accounted for total tank and sump volume in this case, approximately 75g-80g). After one hour I retested the phosphate and got a zero reading. Being the skeptic I retested the sample 3 times and each time got a solid zero reading.

On my larger tank (approximately 300g of water volume), I had a before reading of 45ppb which was followed by a 20ppb reading after one hour. So this too seems consistent with a 0.02 drop.

I am pleasantly surprised to see such measurable results right away.

Tony have you found me a use for my third dosing pump? Have a link?

wow thats amazing, is it something that is dosed daily??? ill have to check this site out as im in the research mood tonight and cant sleep:):)


expensive??

Unfortunately they don't seem to list info on their website yet but fwiw their website page is at http://www.oceanfreshaquarium.com/

The bottle label looks *remarkably* like another of their products, Cyano-Starver which you can currently pick up at Red Coral in Calgary. I don't know if it's the same product but been renamed or if it's something totally different. I'll see what I can find out about that.

product called cyano starver does the same thing and worked for me as well

Great to see the product has found its way onto Canreef, we start exclusive distributing it nationwide as of next week.

To answer some questions that may come up

Foz down is a floculant binding agent, its binds the PO4 in the water so it can be skimmed out or caught in filter socks.

If you have high PO$ it will turn your water a wee bit cloudy for about an hour, this is the physical action of the PO4 being bound.

The results are instant, test your water 1 hour later and your PO4 will be remarkably down.

It will take probably no more than two dose split by 48 hours to rid a tank of a low range PO4 reading. Do not over dose and crash the system fast this is not good for your tanks inhabitants.

You can do a maintenance dose every 48 hours, I do, my corals have got colour I have never seen before!

If you have high nitrates it is advised to keep a low level of PO4 until the nitrates are down as carbon source dosing needs a level of PO4 to work.

I have calculated that 1ml a week dosed through a dosing pump will keep your PO4 at zero, this dosing is based on a 100 gallon system, any lower volume than this auto dosing is not possible.

If you have any questions please let me know.

the product was originally labeled cyano starver, but since the effect of the product is not limited to cyano, the name was change:biggrin:

Is it lanthanum chloride?

Edit: Didn't see that this was asked in the other thread nevermind.

I've been using it for a few weeks now and it works well. I'm impressed. I used it to get down low and then use rowaphos to maintain a low level.

what "other thread"? And is it lanthanum chloride? Sure sounds like it could be.