Im gonna win

this battle with GHA if it kills me. I had success with a blackout. but shortly after it slowly came back. just ordered the brs media reactor with hope that this with carbon/gfo in it will reduce phates and finally ill have a nice looking tank. currently i have 2 HOB filters with a sock each of GFO and some carbon in them but algae is just growing on them so its obviously not doing ish. so frustrating.. with my work schedule its so hard to keep a routine WC schedule but im not slackin any longer. this ends now!

 

or should i run a combo of phosban and gfo, and keep nothing but carbon in my HOB's? input would be lovely guys.. and gals

 

SnooknRedz


The reactor will give you a more efficient use of the GFO
I would not run both carbon and GFO in same reactor as typically both these media exhaust at different times , depeding on PO4 level you would initially need to replace the GFO sooner than the carbon

I would run the carbon in one of the HOB and leave the reactor for GFO

if you have not used GFO before start with half dose and change it every3 or 4 days
GFO has limited ability to absorb phosphate and is exhausted far quicker than many people will realise in tanks with measurable phosphate

at the same time continue manual removal stripping as much GHA as you can by hand
the GFO will then help you remove the phosphates this releases

Steve

 

Of course the standard question of what is your level at? What is your stocking list and how much & how often are you feeding? What size CuC you have?

Going off your sig you have a 20gal & 96w t5, but how long is your photoperiod?

How often are you changing your media? Every 3-4 weeks is whats kinda recommended.

I know when using GFO in the BRS reactors they recommend adjusting to get a tumble to it. I dont use GFO but given that guidance I dont know how much putting it in a sock is working for you.

 

Thanks steve! Ill def make the reactor pure GFO and ill leave the carbon in the filters. would it be wise to put phosban in the other hob? or does it need to be tumbled in a reactor to actually do its job? I did not know that gfo will deplete that quickly. looks like im going to need a lot of the stuff then haha.

 

I dont know my actual phosphate level, but its obvious i have some so its not worth testing imo. I have 2 fish a torch coral and 7 polys, my cuc is the reefcleaners 20L package it has an assort. of snails more that 30 and i have 6 blue leg hermits. i feed every 2 days sometimes 3 if im busy, and its not much at all. my lights are on from 10-5 with my actinics on hr before n after my daylights are off.. um im changing my media once a month, because thats what i was told. Ill look to change more frequently from now on maybe bi weekly till this goes away.

 

Phosban /GFO

I believe its the same product SnooknRedz

the problem as you already noted and as khowst mentions is that in a sock its less efficient
it tends to clump and can go solid which means only outside surfaces are working for you
tumbled lightly in a reactor the full surface area is expossed to water hence improved efficiency

Steve

 

in that case ill save my money and just run one or the other. I get where your coming from with the clumping, just cant wait till i get this in the mail and get this tank on its feet. preciate the input.

 

If you're looking at removing high levels of phosphate quickly, perhaps look into Phosguard or a similar product. It is cheaper than GFO, but it's life is shorter, and if not removed within a few days, will tend to leach the phospahtes back into the water. But again, it's half as pricey, and you can put a dose in a reactor, remove and replace in 3-4 days, and continue until the problem is solved. Then switch to GFO for long term filter media.

 

ill look into it.. thanks sacul