Contraphos

[Tanzy]

The black stuff isn't carbon in Contraphos. It is iron based.

The brown stuff is hydroxides and oxides of Iron which is the active ingredient of both Rowaphos and Contraphos, so you are washing the good stuff away.

[ckevin]

The brown muck looks like oxidised iron in clay? Thank goodness I washed it before putting it into my canister...Imagine what could have happened if I did'nt wash it...

Ooops...

[idefix]

Interesting! How come RowaPhos has a uniform color and no brown mud is washed out?

It looks to me as if RowaPhos is of higher purity then ContraPhos.

[Achilles Tang]

The black stuff isn't carbon in Contraphos. It is iron based.

The brown stuff is hydroxides and oxides of Iron which is the active ingredient of both Rowaphos and Contraphos, so you are washing the good stuff away.

Tanzy, are you talking about the particles that are large enough to drop to the bottom of the sump or are you talking bout the tiny particles that cause the water to turn completely rust coloured?

[dr evil]

so does it need rinsing or not? my pack has not been open yet......

[Achilles Tang]

You are not supposed to rinse... but there's no way I am not going to rinse!

[pospeh]

So what does the German instructions say about this, if any?

[bawater]

hi all i'm back roasted and peeling.

hi habib, i am not high enough in the chemistry levels to do the calculations(i was just searching for a cheaper working alternative). i did do a wide search on the product though and did come across this issue on ReefCentral.

here is the thread:highlight contraphos

its a few months old and the absorbtion rates are on the last post of page 1 (right at the bottom). i'm not saying its better than rowa- as long as it works better and safer than aluminium based removers its good for me.(as i go through a big amount and the leeching has me worried)

In my case, both products last abt the same time- 2 months for 500g of media

and as every reef tank is different i guess everyone has a different timeline.

I understand salifert has an iron based media too, and when that comes to town i would be sure to try it out.

As for the brown muck, i see both products producing it. and since i used rowa first (and its instructions were in english)it said not to worry abt it...although i did the first time. Maybe a rinse or 2 won't be that bad an idea for contraphos(as PR recommends).

[Tanzy]

I don't know what Contraphos uses for the media but obviously it doesn't bind the iron hydroxides very tightly. I did pour half the water I used to rinse contraphos into the tank before and nothing happened except perhaps the skimmate went quite brown in a few minutes.

[Achilles Tang]

Tanzy.... how in the world do you know that the water with the rinsed out particles are binding iron hydroxide??

Can you actually see a physical change in colour or something?

[Tanzy]

The water is not binding the iron hydroxide it's the granules that the iron hydroxides are supposed to be adsorbed to! The fact that so much iron hydroxide is lost in rinsing suggests that the media is hanging on to the iron hydroxide very well.

[clowntrigger]

so the conclusion is not to rinse, am I right? I rinse the media 3 times before I put into the tank, seem like all the good stuff is lost, that is why I feel that there isn't any effect in my tank.

[FuEl]

HuH? If never rinse and just put it in I think your tank water will be brown in no time...

I don't like the thought of brown looking water..whether harmful or not..to me clean water is clear water..

[Tanzy]

The water does turn yellow but doesn't last for more than a few hours if you have adequate skimming.

[idefix]

If I understand right, the good stuff in ContraPhos is lost while rinsing it with water.

If I now place the ContraPhos without rinsing it into my tank, the water turns yellow for a few hours (due to the brown mud that is washed out).

After some time the skimmer has removed the brown mud and the water clears again.

Question: What is the difference between rinsing the ContraPhos first and removing the brown stuff to letting the skimmer remove it later on?

[Tanzy]

The brown stuff binds the phosphate in the water and gets removed together by the skimmer.

[idefix]

If this is true then the phosphate removing process can only take place in the first 2 hours or so which reduces the efficiency significantly. After that the stuff is in the skimmer.

The remaining ContraPhos is not that efficient anymore (as the experience shows - previous posts).

To be honest, it looks to me as if ContraPhos is not the best solution....

[Tanzy]

Phosphate absorbing materials are never the solution. They are only stop gap measures which will temporary suppress the problem. Improved nutrient export, lower bioload and increased water motion is the real solution to high phosphates.

[idefix]

[Dong gu]

to rinse or not to rinse? hmm... that always confuses me.

[yazid]

Guys, here is what I did.

Pour the Contraphos contents into my wife old stockings and put it in my sump partition where the water flow through.

My tank doesn't turn brown. What a relief?

[planetg]

time to add my report on this issue!

i did not rinse it with water after reading tanzy's comments on the iron hydroxide and dumped it into my sump at a reasonable high flow area. i used a good looking filter bag i got from sealife

as expected, the sump turned brown and in 2 mins, the whole tank turned brown. i then observed all the life stock and said my prayers! to my relieve, no signs of stress. in fact the brown colour is subsiding quickly and the effect of dawn/dusk is actually cool!

it has been an hour and everything seems fine.

cheers

[junyong84]

so, do we have to rinse or not??? i m considering to use this product

[planetg]

haha. your judgement call after reading the entire thread.

it sounds like you'll rinse away the good stuff. I've done it without rinsing but be prepared to get a shock from the rusty looking water for a while. after that sit back relax and measure your phospates 3-4 days later. mine dropped by at least half i think.

all my livestock are smiling at me!

cheers

[yazid]

I read the ROWAPHOS box and it said not to rinse. It mentioned that your tank will turn brown for a short while. So don't rinse.

I did the same for CONTRAPHOS.