"Foz Down" by oceanfreshaquarium.com

[Myka]

I asked Aqua-Digital if the product is Lanthanum chloride in his advertising thread. Not surprisingly, the ingredients are not disclosed.

If it is indeeed Lanthanum, it will not be skimmed out, it has to be mechanically filtered out. It seems as though getting 100% of it out of a display tank setting is not possible and some people (including Randy Holmes-Farley) question what this precipitate will do over time if left in a tank. Personally, I wouldn't want to be dosing a Lanthanum-based product into a tank, but I would definitely use a Lanthanum-based product for curing base rock or high PO4 live rock. Be aware also that if more Lanthanum chloride is dosed than there is PO4 for it to bind to, then it will bind to CO3 and precipitate out which will deplete alkalinity. For the reasons listed here, I wish manufacturers would list ingredients so we can judge how best to use products instead of relying on manufacturers suggestions which are all too often not the best idea. Like say a Remora Pro skimmer on a 125 gallon tank?

[wayner]

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.

Tony, I bought my first Radium bulb from Tim - Nice Guy.

[TimT]

Hi Everyone,

There seems to be two threads on this product so I have posted there as well.

Thanks for the interest in the product.

Cyano Starver is the first version of the product without the buffer. I changed the name to Foz Down because it also works in freshwater and ponds. I have also added a trace amount of buffer to the Foz Down. The web page for the product will be up shortly.

As with all of my products, they are produced because I use them myself, found them to be effective and reef safe, so I produced them to help hobbyists.

About a year ago I switched from High Capacity Granular Ferric Oxide to the chemical behind Foz Down. I was tired of the monthly expense of 3 lbs of High Capacity GFO to remove phosphate from my coral grow out system. Since I feed heavily it generates a lot of PO4. Since switching to this product I have not had to use any HC GFO. I add the Foz Down directly to the 135 gallon sump and let it settle out. I test for Phosphate using a Lamotte Smart Colorimeter. I have been doing that for over a year.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words here is one of a small section of the grow out tank. I took this pic on the 28th Nov 2011. Check for yourselves how colourful the corals are in a tank with Foz Down used for a year+. Granted I use 400 watt 20k Radium bulbs and have low nitrates.




Most companies do not list ingredients for their special formulas. A couple that quickly come to mind are Kentucky Fried Chicken and Coca Cola. Numerous other foods have a listing called "spices".

Cheers,
Tim

[Delphinus]

Thanks Tim for jumping in here and clarifying that. I think that knowing that you use this product yourself on your own systems, and for such long term periods as well speaks volumes on your own confidence in this product. Also thank you for the clarifying the difference between Cyano-Starver and Foz-Down.

As to the difference between whether the inertified (I maded that word up myself just now, woot woot!) phosphate is skimmed or settles out, I think back a few years where it was accepted convention to dose kalkwasser for that it would also bind to phosphate molecules that then settled out on the substrate and sand. I would imagine that this is probably pretty similar. One should probably budget to replace sand every few years as matter of best practises - besides, there are not too many tanks that last longer than 5 years anyhow.

[reefermadness]

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[Metrontech]

So I have ran this for 2 days now and my Phosphates have risen daily...

0.05 t0 0.07 and then this morning to 0.10

Not sure why this would be...maybe my skimmer can't skim enough?

Any tips?

[Ryanerickson]

That makes no sense I use this product 20 drops makes my phosphates in 200 gallons unreadable it usually would drop from .06 to 0 for example I now do 10 drops every 2-3 days to keep it around .03

[TimT]

I spoke with Metrontech this morning. Some thoughts we had was his GFO had become exhausted and possible leaching from the rocks/sand. He added the 28 drops I recommended and the phosphate is now down to .03mg/l. Foz Down does indeed work well!!

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Hands down,Phozdown work really well.I been using it for the past couple years with 0 issues as a daily routine through a doser will not go back to any GFO product.

[Slyguy00]

This stuff works awesome. Brought my phosphates from .4 to .02 in a week. Now just a few drops every second day to keep it steady. Works great, and way better then rowaphos, and reactors in my opinion.