GFO and refugium?

Angela2016 · May 10, 2016

Does it make sense to run gfo and a refugium? I have a small fuge set up but it hasn't brought down my phosphates or nitrates. Phos is 0.48 and nitrates are 5. Will GFO cause my chateo to stop growing or possibly die?

Isaac Alves · May 10, 2016

Great question. I would like to know some expert opinions myself.

Jakepen · May 10, 2016

I would assume it would be difficult to have a successful refugium, while running GFO. How small is your refugium, and what do you have in it?

Ebone · May 10, 2016

GFO does not reduce nitrates, a fuge can.... I run both GFO and a fuge with cheato

Angela2016 · May 10, 2016

Jakepen said:
I would assume it would be difficult to have a successful refugium, while running GFO. How small is your refugium, and what do you have in it?

It's a small fuge, only 16"x8" drop in acrylic fuge with chaeto.

JPSika08 · May 10, 2016

GFO reduces phosphates while Fuge nitrates, they should work great together, also, the fuge serves for colonizing copepods in your system.

Luke Schnabel · May 10, 2016

Typically in a fuge your macro algae will consume more nitrate then phosphate. So you'll need something additional to get the remaining phosphate. I have my fuge on a 12hr light cycle and run GFO 24/7. Your macro algae will eventually catch up to the amount of nitrate your adding to the tank by feeding. I would reccomend doing more water changes in the meantime.

FishOfHex · May 10, 2016

Angela2016 said:
Does it make sense to run gfo and a refugium? I have a small fuge set up but it hasn't brought down my phosphates or nitrates. Phos is 0.48 and nitrates are 5. Will GFO cause my chateo to stop growing or possibly die?

Yes running both will be best. GFO will pull out phosphates and the refugium will primarily pull out Nitrates with the macro algae, It does pull out a smaller amount of phosphates but not like the gfo would. You could even bump it up one step closer with a Biopellet reactor I use all three plus carbon on my reef.

dbl · May 10, 2016

I'll jump on the bandwagon...I too have a fuge with macros and run GFO 24/7. The reasons were stated above...they each serve their purpose.

seastar · May 11, 2016

I also run both. Same as above. Just wanted to note that when I first added the GFO my chaeto took a drastic decline and I thought I was going to lose it all, but I took out the stuff that turned brown and it's growing like crazy again.

zoomonster · May 11, 2016

Ditto... I run GFO 24x7 and a refugium with sand, rock, chaeto. Aside from pulling nitrates the fuge is the pod palace aka tank kitchen. If you have low nutrients then the chaeto or whatever is just going to grow slower. I light mine 24x7 and have never had any issue with growth.

Martin H. Lawton · May 11, 2016

When I did use gfo, I ran it with my fuge. I never have phosphate problems.. knock on wood..

Dwb5 · May 11, 2016

Does anyone have prob. with chaeto not growing in there fuge?

dbl · May 11, 2016

I personally do not. In fact I have to take gallon zip lock bags worth out every 2-3 weeks. But every system is different.

Dwb5 · May 11, 2016

I put some in my fuge. And put a cheap led on it running for 8hrs a day and it fell apart.

dbl · May 11, 2016

Let's not derail the OP's thread, but it's probably your light. Do a quick search on fuge lighting.

Angela2016 · May 11, 2016

Dwb5 said:
Does anyone have prob. with chaeto not growing in there fuge?

I've had that problem. That's why I asked about the gfo making it worse. I've had about a hand full of chaeto in my fuge for 2 months now with a 6,500k light but not much growth. My phosphates have been 0.48 and nitrates around 5. Unfortunately I also have a lot of hair algae. Any thoughts as to what could cause the chaeto to not grow?

abinder · May 11, 2016

Nitrates at 5 isn't bad.
Some people purposely keep their's between 3 - 5 because they many corals like a little nitrate in the water.

Run some GFO to get your phosphates down. I personally use RowaPhos and am very happy with it. With RowaPhos, a little goes a long way.

Dwb5 · May 11, 2016

Could it be that there is not enough nitrates in the water for it to grow?

Rodmad4 · May 11, 2016

Can u provide more information on your system? You want to get to the bottom of the high phosphate. Gfo is a bandaid on a bleeding wound. Need to find source of your high phosphates. .48 is way to high for nitrates to be at 5. Nitrates actually help eliminate phosphate, research it.

How old is system?
How big?
How many fish?
What are you feeding and dosing?
What test kits are you using?
What kind of lights?
Old bulbs?