Purigen, GAC, GFO and Chemi-pure Blue - just some observations and info

[scottsweet]

This has been talked about a lot here. There have been many suppositions about the make up of Chemi-pure Blue and the difference between the many individual products available...like 0.8 ROX, Purigen, GFO, etc. I don't know which ones work better yet...as I have used 0.8 Rox from BRS and GFO HP from both Kolar and BRS.

My observations are they work well. The only problem with GFO is: 1. it can drop dKH very rapidly in the first 24-36 hours. 2. when it is saturated, it will release the phosphates back in to the water column. GAC (granulated activated carbon) can also release what it has absorbed back in to the water column upon saturation.

I talked to the folks at Boyd. One thing they said is that the captured phosphates are not released back in to the water column with their product. They also warned that it is VERY strong and can strip the phosphates completely. The many recommendations here to not use Purigen or other phosphate remover with Chemi-pure Blue is because of its ability to absorb all of the phosphates...not because it is the same product. We don't want to strip all of the phosphates from the water column.

I sent a note to Boyd asking about the Chemi-pure Blue formula and this is the response I got...

"Hi Scott,

The Blue formula has extruded pelleted carbon, an Organics scavenging resin, not purigen, ours isn’t rechargeable. As well as a strong phosphate removal resin. And that’s it.
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Best regards,
Sean"

 

[Spare time]

Purigen will not remove phosphates. It removes nitrogenous waste, not including ammonia, which I believe in this case is urea and potentially other compounds. I believe the organic scavenging resin in chemi pure blue does the same thing.

 

[Spare time]

I am a fan of products like chemipure blue and purigen for tanks under 40g. However, I find my refugium and red sea carbon to be enough for my tank's needs (I do not do water changes).