Foz Down vs: GFO

[TimT]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

I have been doing well on under $80 a year for GFO in what is now a 300gal system (formerly 240gal). For those that use Foz down, what is your cost relative to system size?

I recently did a dosage calculation for a person with a 90 gallon tank, a large sump and a moderate fish load. It worked out to 44.95/year. So almost half when you figure no pump to pay for running or work in the sump.

Originally Posted by George

The only thing that prevents me from using it to control Phosphate is some people report of their fish (especially tangs) being irritated by LaCl or the precipitation. Does any one notice this issue?

Since the person having the problem mentioned clouding of the water that leads me to believe they dosed(overdosed) very heavily thus creating cloudiness. The cloudiness could be enough to bother the fishes gills? The tangs could have reacted to the sudden change in Phosphate level(unlikely) or the buffer could have been affected if it was a serious overdose. This could effect pH of the tank.

Just like any chemical there are various grades on the market. If this person used a pool based product it may have been a lower grade and also have had other additives. Or it could have been something completely unrelated. My personal opinion is that there are so many factors affecting fish and aquariums that it is impossible to point a finger unless there is significant testing done.

I recently observed a Bicolour Goatfish that had been in the tank for 4 months, suddenly fade colour and turn greyish. I thought it was going to die on the spot. My maintenance customer noticed it as well. We continued on with the meeting and I was planning to pull the "dead" fish out afterwards. 20 minutes later and the fish was swimming around normally and had normal colour. Fish do weird things. LoL

When dosing Foz Down I always recommend dosing it as diluted and spread out throughout the day as possible. In the ATO reservoir is a great spot or with a dosing pump. It is best to dilute the concentrated Foz Down with some ro/di water. When dosed this way I have not observed any problems or clouding of the water. I have multiple different species of Tangs in my own system and use Foz Down on it.

Foz Down is capable of removing Phosphate down to 0.00015mg/l. This is well below the recommended level for reef tanks. If you have the Foz Down on an ATO or dosing pump with 24 doses+ a day then any Phosphate build up between daily(once or twice) doses would easily be neutralized. That is the only reason I could see for running GFO. It removes phosphate as it is produced.

Originally Posted by Lastlight

if you're considering switching for the savings, you might be interested in this:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...o+on+the+cheap

i've been using recharged gfo for a few months now and it's working great. just need to use and store the lye safely.

Lye is dangerous especially if you add water to it instead of it to water. I had looked into this before I started using Foz Down as I was going through 7 lbs of the BRS HC GFO every 2-3 months. I hated using GFO because when the pump stops for whatever reason you get a hard block of "rock" to chisel out of the reactor. LOL

Another aspect of GFO is that it is Iron based. Iron is something that macro algae need to grow.

I will be away from CanReef till Thursday. I will respond to any further posts or PM's when I return.

Cheers,
Tim

ps I am the maker and a user of Foz Down.