First saltwater tank and some questions

[Nohva]

Hello everyone! My girlfriend and I joined the club recently and have been to the last 2 meetings. Our tank has been up and running for about 2 months now and we recently added 4 fish (took us a day to get the 2 yellow tail damsels out!)

My main question right now is... GFO, Carbon, or bio pellets.

I have read so much about this online its starting to make me a little crazy. Some people say just GFO and carbon, others say carbon and biopellets, and some say run just GFO. I wanted to drag this topic up and see what club members have had success with. Also I am a little confused about running them inline or off seperate pumps... ARGHHGH! Anyways, any help or suggestions would be very welcome.

Also thanks everyone for being so friendly. We are very happy we have joined the club!

 

[ironworker]

nice tank

 

[Jeppun21]

Beautiful tank bro

 

[Pappy]

Nice tank! I only run gfo and nothing else.

 

[JasonM38401]

Nice looking tank

 

[ToXIc]

I run all 3.
Carbon for the usual reasons.
Pellets to reduce nitrates and phosphates.
GFO to reduce phosphates for 2 reasons. 1. If there is no nitrates present the pellets won't reduce the phosphates. 2. I have a ton of phosphates in my system.


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[orthokardia]

I run Pellets and Carbon
1. Carbon removes chemicals you biological methods and skimmer can not remove
2. Like Kevan said Pellets removes nitrate NO3 and phosphate PO4. They work by using the NO3 and PO4 to build bacterial cells. The bacteria require a specific ratio of NO3 to PO4 to build these cells. If you run out of one the Pellets will not be able to use all the other to make bacteria. So you need to test for NO3 and PO4 until you understand your tank. If you have no NO3 and a ton of PO4 then you can remove the PO4 using GFO or a lithium based liquid remover. If you have very little (<.01PPM) PO4 but have measurable NO3 then run only pellets. If your tank is >6mo old and you are only running pellets and still have NO3 then look for something dead or decaying. If their is nothing then you need more anaerobic biological filtration. You might add more rock, use a remote deep sand bed (RDSB), or even try a long tube with a slow flow (ask Pickupman for deets).
I hope this helps.
-bart

 

[Bluejawtrigger]

Little lite reading. I hope it helps. I've been running BioPellets for 14-15 months and love them.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/carbon-dosing-method-testing-started-107232-36.html

 

[islander84]

^^^^ very well said Bart. As far as your question about running inline or seperate pumps....it depends on gph of your pump(s)....the gfo needs to gently tumble, and the biopellets need to tumble.....the carbon can be mixed with gfo however i run it seperately in a media bag only because i dont run it all the time. Make sure you rinse all media in fresh r/o water. Before using in your tank as the dust from carbon is known to cause hlle.... gfo dust could cause some harm as well if in a mass quanity....not sure on the pellets...

 

[gmoney243]

There's also algae. I prefer more natural methods like a refugium or algae scrubber.

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[Dowtish]

Being that your tank is new, I would highly suggest putting bio-pellets online. i started running them right after my tank cycled, and have never had a single bit of algae issues for almost 2 years now. And my parameters have always been where they needed to be for the most part. The cost of GFO alone is probably 10 times that of bio-pellets. Because you have to change it out every 3-4 weeks, which is a pain too. Bio-pellets, you add about a 1/4 of the suggested amount for the first 2-3 weeks, and then add another 1/4 and so on till you get to say 400ml of pellets, and then you dont have to change it out, you just add more as they are consumed.
Send me a private message if you want. you are welcome to stop by and check out my tank, and see how I run my bio-pellets and carbon. what kind of pumps I use, and reactors etc.

PS Alot of us in the club are really happy with Ecobak pellets from Warner Marine, which you can get at the Aquatic Critter. Along with an Atomic Reef Reactor made by a couple of our members.:bigsmile:

 

[palvyre]

I am running an over sized skimmer, carbon/gfo and a refugium with a live sand bed and macro algae.

 

[Chelle's Ocean]

Congrats on being in the hobby Nice tank - like the rockwork with so much swimming space around the front, great room for lots of coral growth

 

[Nohva]

Thanks for all the info everyone. My NO3 is somewhere around 10+ppm right now (not great at guessing that color chart). I don't currently have a tester for NO4. A refugium is sadly out of the question for the time being, because of my sump size and room under the tank being somewhat limited.

I see that some of you run GFO for example only when needed? Is there any pitfall in setting up a system with all three on a new tank?

Just like everythingi in this hobby it looks like everyone has opinions and have had success doing different things. I do enjoy that there are 100s of ways to do the right thing and I guess the same can be said for the wrong way as well (I have found a few already!) If i was planning on eventually running all three (or at least have the option too) could anyone recommend a pump that could support that? I would probably be running the BRS carbon/gfo and then a seperate biopellet reactor. I think i would split the line from the pump with a Y and have a valve for each before the reactors. I've seen were people use the Mag7 but that seems like a huge pump... thanks again everyone.

 

[Pappy]

You can't run gfo and carbon together as gfo requires very low flow with little tumbling and carbon requires more. Then again carbon is not necessary IMO unless you don't do regular wc's. Just posted on another thread that carbon is only used to remove discoloration and odor. As far as bio pellets I have no experience with them but would venture to say that with a regular wc every week and good feeding practices that keeps everything in check.

 

[palvyre]

I am using the Eheim Compact 1000 pump. It's adjustable from 95 gph up to 295 gph. Small foot print for use in your sump and really quiet. I am running both carbon and GFO together in an atomic reef reactor and it works fine at about 100 gph.

 

[Dowtish]

I also run carbon and GFO together when needed in one atomic reef reactor. I use a mini jet 606 pump. They top out at 168 gph. I use a small ball valve to control the flow/tumble.