Does Carbon remove Phosphate?

attaboy · 01/06/2014, 11:42 AM

I have been running Black Diamond activated carbon and it of course has my water extremely clear! I also have noticed that my phosphates are measuring 0 now and I'm not using GFO.

Does anyone know if GAC removes the phosphate?

GroktheCube · 01/06/2014, 02:51 PM

I believe it can adsorb some organophosphates, but AFAIK it cannot remove PO4.

Reef Frog · 01/06/2014, 02:54 PM

It is not effective at removing PO4 per se. But it removes some dissolved organic compounds, as do skimmers, which given time, would break down further into other elements, including phosphates.

Epicreefer · 01/09/2014, 07:54 PM

Some activated carbon can actualy reportedly leach phosphates into your water. One of several reasons to use a quality carbon. I did a test a few months back, took rodi and tested for phosphates and phosphor with Hana 713 and 726? Checkers. Added about 10g I think of my carbon to 500ml water in a water bottle and rechecked two weeks later. Phosporus went up about 20ppb and phosphates like .07ppm. Seems like a lot but you scale to an aquarium dose and it was like .2 ppb and .0007ppm, or something like that don't have the data in front of me, so basicaly insignificant. But like reef frog said more than likely it's because the source of the phosphate was removed before it became phosphate. Also it could be your test kit as more than likely you don't have 0.00 phosphate, or you may have adjusted you skimmer, or there is more algae growth and therefore phosphate removal. Whatever it is carbon doesn't remove phosphates long term.

01/06/2014, 11:42 AM	#1
attaboy Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Oregon Posts: 272	Does Carbon remove Phosphate? I have been running Black Diamond activated carbon and it of course has my water extremely clear! I also have noticed that my phosphates are measuring 0 now and I'm not using GFO. Does anyone know if GAC removes the phosphate?

01/09/2014, 07:54 PM	#4
Epicreefer Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 238	Some activated carbon can actualy reportedly leach phosphates into your water. One of several reasons to use a quality carbon. I did a test a few months back, took rodi and tested for phosphates and phosphor with Hana 713 and 726? Checkers. Added about 10g I think of my carbon to 500ml water in a water bottle and rechecked two weeks later. Phosporus went up about 20ppb and phosphates like .07ppm. Seems like a lot but you scale to an aquarium dose and it was like .2 ppb and .0007ppm, or something like that don't have the data in front of me, so basicaly insignificant. But like reef frog said more than likely it's because the source of the phosphate was removed before it became phosphate. Also it could be your test kit as more than likely you don't have 0.00 phosphate, or you may have adjusted you skimmer, or there is more algae growth and therefore phosphate removal. Whatever it is carbon doesn't remove phosphates long term. __________________ Aquatic systems supervisor, somewhere around 100k gal. Current Tank Info: 40g breeder sps

01/06/2014, 02:51 PM	#2
GroktheCube Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 2,063	I believe it can adsorb some organophosphates, but AFAIK it cannot remove PO4.

01/06/2014, 02:54 PM	#3
Reef Frog Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 3,121	It is not effective at removing PO4 per se. But it removes some dissolved organic compounds, as do skimmers, which given time, would break down further into other elements, including phosphates.