Filtration Media

[Bobhelp4]

I have a 65 gal Red Sea max and I have the i tank media basket in the back. I currently am using 2 bags of 11.7oz chem I pure elite, a 60g bag of purigen, and a 60g bag of phosguard. I recently bought some GFO by Kolar Filtration but I don’t have any experience with it. I have all softies in my tank. Should I add the GFO in a bag and put it in the top rack of my media basket WITH the Phosguard? Or do I do one or another? And if so which one should I use? How much of the GFO do I use for my tank size?

 

[rkpetersen]

I wouldn't use both GFO and PhosGuard, as they serve the same purpose. What is your phosphate level? If it's already low (since you're running PhosGuard), adding GFO, especially as much as that label suggests, could punch the level down to hard zero, and some corals (and macroalgae) may not like that.

Also, GFO is very fine and will get all over the place unless you either put it in its own reactor with the media surface just barely moving, or in a very fine mesh bag and then in a reactor.

Phosguard leaches aluminum into the water, but the levels are rarely very high and aluminum isn't particularly toxic anyway. GFO presumably leaches iron into the water but iron is typically removed from the water so efficiently that tests may still show a very low iron level even while running GFO.

 

[Bobhelp4]

So would you recommend using the Phosguard or GFO? And if I use GFO, would putting it in seachems “the bag” media bag be okay to use? It seem pretty good at keeping smaller particles in...

 

[rkpetersen]

If you're using PhosGuard now and it's working, I don't see a compelling reason to change.

Yes, THE BAG (lol) is actually not bad for containing GFO.

 

[Bobhelp4]

I just have super high phosphates and nitrates still

 

[rkpetersen]

If phosphates are very high then you might switch to GFO. Still will have to deal with high nitrates, though. Best way there imo would be setting up a macroalgae refugium or turf scrubber, plus increased water changes. Or you could look into carbon dosing with vodka or a commercial product like Red Sea NoPoX. However I would try not to mix carbon dosing with any other form of nutrient reduction.

 

[Bobhelp4]

I do have Red Sea nopox and I just have trouble dosing it daily. I’ve been maybe considering a dosing pump to do nopox and maybe Red Sea B for my Alkalinity since that’s what is used the most in my tank. I try to keep it around 10 sometimes I raise it to 11 when I get frags but find it dropping to low 9s fast and sometimes in the 8s. I may switch to the GFO in the bag. How much would you recommend dosing? It says 8fl oz per 50 gal on the GFO container. I have a 65gal tank