We’re here today to talk about the new product by Equo S.r.l., a well known company from Prato specialized in aquariology products. With this new entry Equo wants to solve the phosphates and silicates troubles that many marine and freshwater aquarium go trough (qui l’articolo in italiano).
The product named Remover Po4 & SiO2 is listed by the company under “filter materials and removers” to which carbon, zeolite and anti-nitrates material also belong.
As you know, the ordinary maintenance of reef aquarium is based on the removal of these compounds, organic and inorganic, as they could interfere with the vital parameters of the live stock.
The most monitored ones are definitely nitrates, phosphates and silicates.
We won’t worry about nitrates as they can be kept to a minimum by an optimal bacterial filtration, while Po4 and SiO2 are a more challenging, sometimes driving us to the use of removal substances to get rid of them. Silicates are often present in the RO water we use, and even the best performing membrane cannot remove them completely. We have to use specific removers in a post-filter on our RO unit to remove them before using our RO water.
If this is not possible, silicates will inevitably build up in our tank favoring the proliferation of unwanted algae. Moreover, even the most talented aquarium lover has probably had some troubles with phosphates build up during tank maturation or at any other point.
It’s not so rare to have a phosphate increase in our tank and it can be caused by different factors. We can generally blame organic material decay, mostly due to over-feeding our fishes and inverts; or the poor quality of the RO water used.
Phosphates build up effects are easy for anyone to spot… Uncontrolled algae growth, cyanobacteria, darkening of coral tissue, slowed calcification process of corals with their death in extreme cases.
Resin type
The material used as a remover is aluminum oxide – Al2O3, a compound with specific characteristics which guarantee many advantages over Iron(III)hydroxide most commonly used in commercial resins.
First of all, Aluminum oxide has a high adsorbent value just like Iron(III)hydroxide, but it differs from the latter in the velocity of action. The compound is very stable, insoluble in water so it doesn’t release aluminum or any other potentially harmful compounds, and it’s also biocompatible (also used in food preparation processes).
The usual brown-reddish residue which iron based products leave in the tank when first placed in are totally absent. Even though we know this residue is not harmful to our animals, we tend to worry when we see our tank water going brown even if for a few minutes, and I much prefer its absence.
At DaniReef we had a box of Remover Po4 & SiO2 for trial, we tested it and we are now ready to share our interesting findings with you.
The box
The package is excellent, with a paper box of the classic Equo orange and blue colors which distinguish the company at an international level.
We had a 500g sample pack, but they have 100g, 250g, 1 kg and 5 kg formats available.
As always, the bigger the package the better the deal.
The box includes a mesh for containing the material, detailed instructions in several languages and obviously the resin, well sealed in a laminated aluminum bag which guarantees an optimal conservation of the product in time.
Once opened the bag, we find this salt-like material made up of unsymmetrical white round grains.
The grain size is specifically thought for its use in sump, and it differs from the other product Remover Po4 & SiO2 Reaktor which is finer and made for fluidized bed filters.
