GFO - Reactor vs. Canister Filter

[goldenhurricane2]

So I'm having a Cyanobacteria issue (red and lyngbya) in my tank. I have a media reactor with phosban in it, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. So my question is: would it be more beneficial to put the phosban in my canister filter? I have an unused tray in there. That's also where I put my activated carbon.

It just seems like the amount of flow through the media reactor is pretty minimal, but quite a bit higher through the canister filter.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[DED65]

I have had the best luck with Chemiclean, It will take care of Cyano in a couple of days and is reef safe. GFO and Phosban doesn't need a lot of flow. Gfo only needs to tumble a little.

 

[goldenhurricane2]

I have had the best luck with Chemiclean, It will take care of Cyano in a couple of days and is reef safe. GFO and Phosban doesn't need a lot of flow. Gfo only needs to tumble a little.

Yeah I have some chemiclean but I haven't used it in fear of the algae coming back worse.

It just seems like such little water flows through the reactor... I'm not even sure it's doing anything productive.

 

[DED65]

Have you tested the phosphate level? You can test the output of the reactor vs the tank to see if there is a difference. Chemiclean in my experience does wipe the Cyano out, now if you were to introduce it again...

 

[goldenhurricane2]

Have you tested the phosphate level? You can test the output of the reactor vs the tank to see if there is a difference. Chemiclean in my experience does wipe the Cyano out, now if you were to introduce it again...

Yes phosphates read low but I know it's a false reading bc of the Cyanobacteria throughout the tank...

Doesn't chemiclean just get rid of the visible algae? It doesn't really help with my phosphate issues.

 

[FishGuyBri]

Not to hijack, but is there a way to run GFO without a reactor for only a short time?

 

[DED65]

When I used it, it took out all of the Cyano.

 

[DED65]

What are your nitrates at. A lot of people are dosing nitrates to get rid of Cyano. Seems you can have an imbalance between nitrates and phosphates allowing the Cyano to grow.

 

[goldenhurricane2]

What are your nitrates at. A lot of people are dosing nitrates to get rid of Cyano. Seems you can have an imbalance between nitrates and phosphates allowing the Cyano to grow.

Both nitrates and phosphates read low.

Nitrates read around 1ppm
Phosphates read around 0.02ppm