GFO or biopellets?

Hi everyone, I am considering adding either GFO or biopellets to my tank. I am leaning towards biopellets because the are less labor intensive. What do you think?

My tank is a 40B with no sump. I have a Tunze 9004 skimmer, a small HOB fuge (more to add water volume than anything else), and we have phosguard in a media bag.

We are having a small algae bloom, which is not a big deal, but we would like to have a more stable enviroment for both our current corals (softies and lps) and for things we would like in the future (sps, anenome, a clam). We were a bit lax in keeping up with water changes, but in the last month we've consistently been doing them weekly. I tested phosphates today and it was at .55ppm.

Thanks for the help.

 

Alot of people do both

 

Do you think it would be overkill? I figured I'd start with one and see how that works before trying the other

 

I alot of peoples systems the BP ups the ratio of Nitrates and Phosphates and there is left over phosphates in the water. Thats why the use GFO. What does your water tell you?

 

Definitely both. The removal is on balance more stable with both.

 

my water tells me its dirty and it needs help lol. I think I'll start with GFO, get used to how that works out and then add biopellets once I'm confident with GFO. Thanks for the help

 

I'd start with the GFO and see what that does for you. JMO.

 

i use both of them

 

From my experience gfo is useful if you want to reduce PO4, biopellets will help to balance NO3 and keep this parameter on safe level which should be about 0.2-0.3.
If your skimmer is strong enough you don't need to run gfo, skimmer itself should keep PO4 low about 0.02-0.03 but if your skimmer is crap or if you have a lot of fish then gfo is an additional option to keep PO4 in safe range.

 

Just something to think about, if you have nitrates I would say start the ecobak slowly now, and then if there is leftover PO4 run GFO I know it can look expensive up front but in 2+ years on a heavily loaded 125g I still have only used up about 350ml of pellets, GFO can get pricey fast.

Now if you DON"T have excess NO3 then just run the GFO.