PO4x4

Luukosian

Luukosian

Well-Known Member
So I bought some of this phosphate removal media from tbaquatics(order from them all the time, good company). I don't really have phosphate issues and I ussually use GFO, but figured I'd give this a try. It's been in a 2 chamber media reactor(one side carbon) for a couple months and it's getting time to try and recharge it....

Being as I don't measure phosphate I'll just assume it did it's job by the lack of nuisance algae, probably should have measured this to give this new product some kind of actual review but seems to be working.

Now for my question.....they sell the "regeneration buffer" to regenerate this media....but it's 29.99 for a small bottle and I have a feeling this is probably just caustic soda or something I can source cheaply elsewhere....any ideas on regenerating this without a 30 dollar bottle of magic powder?

p.s. for people wanting to try this I can't really give any measurable phosphate reduction results cause I don't measure but I do like the way it is dust free and tumbles a heck of a lot better than GFO.
 
Luukosian

Luukosian

Well-Known Member
The only thing I found was on a website selling the product that said:

"The PO4X4 consist of a polymer that is bound to very pure FeOH2. Both the polymer,as well as the Iron molecules, are able to bind PO4 and by combining these we increased the binding efficiency.

In addition,PO4X4 which contains only Iron hydroxide, normal GFOs consist of a mixture
of iron hydroxide as well as ironoxide and only the first form can bind phosphates. This means that PO4X4 with its higher content of Iron hydroxide can bind much more PO4 then your average GFOs can.

The PO4X4 can be regenerated up to 98% with our regeneration buffer. You can use NaOH
as well, but this will do the trick up to 60%. This means that after 5 cycles of regeneration the product has worn out, whereas our special regeneration
buffer (which does contain NaOH among others so be careful while handling it) can be use up to 20 times and probably more. "



Considering the small amount of media I have I'll probably just go the caustic soda route....maybe regen some of the old GFO I have laying around in a bucket somewhere while I'm at it. You'd think if it contains NaOH you'd have a MSDS somewhere for this "special buffer"....
 
Luukosian

Luukosian

Well-Known Member
Anyone else try this media and have any measured results? Kind of curious....might buy a good phosphate test/meter and do some longer term testing. Even if it works exactly the same as GFO I like the fact I don't have to rinse it 5 times before I can throw it in the reactor.

Feel like I'm writing a book here so any feedback would be great :)
 
Luukosian

Luukosian

Well-Known Member
Yeah the manufacturer is always going to tell you their stuff is the best, was just wondering if anyone else is using it. (I don't buy the 4x phosphate removal but I'm relatively sure it's doing a good job so far)
 
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