How much Aluminum will it leach? Let's guess

[CenlaReefer]

I currently run Marine Pure spheres in my sump for about 1 year with little adverse effect to my mixed reef.... even to my softies. Still, why not make a media out of something like pure ceramics. This may be a crazy question; however, I was thinking about making a lightweight homemade reef rock with this stuff mixed within to give the appearance of Fiji rock and for extra bacteria:

http://www.petmountain.com/product/...oXTfe0A3m-LysP3XdiD06G3IEvSKDrYSGMaAmWz8P8HAQ

Is fired clay bad for a reef tank? I have seen breeders of berghai use fired clay pottery in tanks with no adverse effects.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Anyone see that Brightwell is coming out next month with a competitor product. It also comes impregnated with sulphur or GFO.

 

[jason2459]

Anyone see that Brightwell is coming out next month with a competitor product. It also comes impregnated with sulphur or GFO.

I don't like that idea at all. Sounds like a way to get people to spend more money. The MarinePure can stay in your tank indefinitely as long as it holds together. Those would exhaust themselves and need replaced to achieve their stated goal.

Edit: and to add the GFO in some tanks can be exhausted very quickly.

 

[pirate2876]

I don't like that idea at all. Sounds like a way to get people to spend more money. The MarinePure can stay in your tank indefinitely as long as it holds together. Those would exhaust themselves and need replaced to achieve their stated goal.

I have a large block in my tank now for over a year. I use it under my skimmer and its still holding up.

 

[jason2459]

I have a large block in my tank now for over a year. I use it under my skimmer and its still holding up.

That's good to know. But there have been others that have also posted that the media has deteriorated in their setup. I can see why as well if the media is broken, cut, chipped, or cracked at any point it erodes very easily. Mine came with a corner chipped off. It brushes off very easily.

 

[Joel B in FL]

I don't like that idea at all. Sounds like a way to get people to spend more money. The MarinePure can stay in your tank indefinitely as long as it holds together. Those would exhaust themselves and need replaced to achieve their stated goal.

Edit: and to add the GFO in some tanks can be exhausted very quickly.

Yea I was thinking about that as well when I was watching a video on the new product. I would think the GFO products would need to be replaced frequently for some tanks. I would also be worried that it might leach phosphates back into the tank if it was not replaced. A novel concept but I am not sure about the execution of it. However the media itself, without the additives, might be a worthy competitor to MarinePure.

 

[FranklinDattein]

I could be thinking about this wrong but it sounds to me like there is something wrong with that poly filter pad. If it has been in a tank over a month it would have absorbed something, actually anything and would have changed color to something other than white. If it hasn't changed color something is wrong with that specific piece of pad or you have the absolute cleanest tank water possible.

I mean, it hasn't changed color to red or any of the color they claim in instructions. It goes without saying, it is brownish due to detritus and organics.

 

[Joel B in FL]

Ok gotcha. It could be that the levels of non organics that are being pulled out are so minute that the color change is not big enough to over come the organics that are trapped in it. I am not a poly pad expert by any means but if you take a very little but if red paint and dump a whole bunch of brown paint on top it's still gonna look brown. Which could be what is going on in your tank. Again I am not familiar with poly pads at all but it is probably something to keep in mind when looking for a specific color change.

 

[jason2459]

Well, I guess I can say I'm testing the polyfilter's ability right now. I filled a 5g bucket with rodi, placed in a maxijet 1200, a marine pure lage block, and a polyfilter in front of the pump then placed a lid over top. I started this June 18th. I'm letting it run like this for a full month.

So far, zero color change from white.

This will also answer someone's question on if we let the block soak longer if it would have the same effect on the leather. 13 more days.

 

[Joel B in FL]

That is one way to test it out.

 

[jason2459]

Well, after 30 days there has been 0 change in color with the polyfilter. Either the polyfilter doesn't pick up the form of Al leached or the polyfilter isn't sensitive enough to pick up the amount leached.

It actually looks cleaner...lol

Block is in the sump now after a month long soaking and several rinsings.

And as you can see its directly under some flow. Now to test for erosion. [emoji4]

 

[jason2459]

And my fiji yellow leather hates me

My anecdotal reasoning says my yellow fiji leather is not happy with these blocks. Ha!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the ongoing updates!

I'm still not convinced the polyfilter will be red with aluminum in seawater. Most aluminum salts are not colored, and even if they are correct about aluminum in freshwater on the polyfilter (which I am also skeptical of), it may not be the same in seawater where the ion binding to aluminum is different.

 

[jason2459]

Thank you. I don't believe I've seen anyone report a successful color change for Al with the polyfilter.

 

[jason2459]

And last night the same pH drop more then normal after adding a block which is still my belief its bacterial growth driven.

 

[Jimbo]

Been running one of the 8"x8"x4" blocks in the sump of my 93 cube since day one and going on a year now.
Considering removing for various reasons. Any problem if I just pull it out? Reason I used it is I only have about 60 lbs of rock in the tank.

 

[jason2459]

Been running one of the 8"x8"x4" blocks in the sump of my 93 cube since day one and going on a year now.
Considering removing for various reasons. Any problem if I just pull it out? Reason I used it is I only have about 60 lbs of rock in the tank.

Any issues you feel are coming from having the block in your sump?

Any time you remove a medium that's housing a large population of your biological filter it's suggested to go slow or have something in place before hand that can take over.

 

[Jimbo]

The blocks work a little too well. I have been having to dose sodium nitrate in order to keep them at about 2 ppm.

I have also had a persistent bacterial bloom in my tank ( white slime that grows in the sump, especially in the section with the block) Wondering if it could be related to that issue?

 

[jason2459]

The blocks work a little too well. I have been having to dose sodium nitrate in order to keep them at about 2 ppm.

I have also had a persistent bacterial bloom in my tank ( white slime that grows in the sump, especially in the section with the block) Wondering if it could be related to that issue?

Are you dosing any kind of carbon source? Nopox? Vinegar? Vodka? Aminos? etc.

Personally I just feed more.

 

[Jimbo]

I am not dosing any carbon source but the bacteria is the type you would get from overdosing vodka, vinegar etc. I had been dosing Amino acids but stopped a couple of weeks ago. The bacterial growth lessened but did not go away.

This bacteria has been very persistent and I have been unable to identify the cause. I sent @twilliard a sample of it and he is not familiar with this strain.

I am not saying the block is causing it , I'm basically grasping at straws trying to find a cause.