What is Phoslock?

Modified Granulated Ferric Hydroxide Oxide (GFH) – phosphate, silicates, arsenic and heavy metal remover.

Phoslock Composition:

Fe(OH)O, granules in fully hydrated form.

The Purpose of Phoslock:

To be used in fresh and salt water aquariums to
remove large quantities of phosphate, silicates, arsenic and some heavy metals contributing to nuisance algae growth.

The Benefits of Phoslock:

• Phoslock maintains extremely low to non-measurable levels of phosphate and silicates thus greatly reducing propagation of algae.
• Phoslock removes arsenic and other heavy metals.
• Phoslock is safe for the most delicate reef aquarium invertebrates – it does not contaminate the water column with iron.
• Phoslock has an extremely low impact on trace elements and desirable fertilizers like potassium.
• Phoslock is non-leaching, it permanently and irreversibly binds phosphate and silicates.

Phoslock Comparisons:

Comparison of different phosphate
removing products marketed for use in aquarium applications is challenging for
one main reason: all phosphate removing media's are designed for use in “open-loop” applications such as clean up of drinking and waste waters, where contaminated water passes through the media bed only once.

We will not be comparing white colored phosphate removers such as Phosphate Sponge and Phos Guard with media's based on GFH, as white colored or aluminum oxide based media's release phosphate back into aquarium upon reaching their adsorption capacity, thus they are not perfectly suitable for use in aquariums.

Comparing to products such as PhosBan and Rowaphos, PŪRA PhosLock is 10% more effective than PhosBan and 3.0% more effective than Rowaphos in removing phosphate from fresh and saltwater. It seems that all three brands perform very similarly in removing phosphate, but this is not the entire picture.

Large quantities of free iron in aquariums are known to cause permanent damage to fish gills. PhosLock is much harder and far less prone to disintegration in high flows compared to the other brands.

Over 72 hrs of use one gram of PhosLock releases less than 0.02 mg of iron comparing to 3.7 mg per gram of Rowaphos and 98.8 mg per gram of PhosBan. That is 185 times less than Rowaphos and 4940 times less than PhosBan.

Recently appearing on the pet markets granulated and palletized media's based on Bayoxide E33 product are about 14% less effective in removing phosphate and release 270 mg of iron per gram of media – that is staggering 13500 times more than PhosLock.

How do I use PhosLock?

PhosLock can be placed into any media reactor, or confined into the provided mesh bag. PhosLock can be placed into any canister or wet/dry filter.

How long will it take for phosphate level to fall?
If PhosLock is placed directly into the flow of water with no bypass it usually takes 24 to 48 hrs for significant reduction.

Phoslock Instructions for use:

In canister filters that get infrequent servicing, many months worth of Phoslock can be put into service all at once. Phoslock never leaches phosphate back into water.

Phoslock Usage:

For freshwater aquarium use, use 1 tablespoon of Phoslock per 50 gallons of water monthly. For salt water tanks use 1 TBS of Phoslock per 25 gallons of water monthly. For reef and and planted aquariums use 1 TBS per 20 gallons of water, monitor phosphate levels with a test kit and keep below 0.05ppm.

Replace media as necessary when phospahte levels rise. To clean up a well established tank with robust algae growth, triple the standard usage dose. Mechanically remove as much algae through scraping as possible and vacuum the gravel bed.