GFO so messy

[SteveG_inDC]

Is it just me or does GFO make a bloody mess? I got a box from BRS and tried rinsing it by running it in my reactor in a 5 gallon bucket. It turned really dark brown immediately. I replaced the water and it once again dark brown. Finally after a while I got it to just produce a light brown effluent. Meanwhile my white bucket was stained, my sink was stained, and everything that touched it was stained. Is that normal? If I can't get my white bucket to look white again, should I take it out of service and never use it for things like acclimating fish and whatnot?

 

[[Cameron]]

I find GFO to be a pain. I suggest a liquid phosphate remover such as Phosphate Rx. Generally should be used for a phosphate spike and not for general phosphate management. Also care should be taken with liquid phosphate remover since over-dosing or lowering phosphates too quickly can be problematic.

 

[Bam327]

Is it just me or does GFO make a bloody mess? I got a box from BRS and tried rinsing it by running it in my reactor in a 5 gallon bucket. It turned really dark brown immediately. I replaced the water and it once again dark brown. Finally after a while I got it to just produce a light brown effluent. Meanwhile my white bucket was stained, my sink was stained, and everything that touched it was stained. Is that normal? If I can't get my white bucket to look white again, should I take it out of service and never use it for things like acclimating fish and whatnot?

What GFO is it? I use BRS High Capacity and there is hardly any rinsing with it. I dump a liter or two of water until it’s clear

 

[SteveG_inDC]

I used BRS GFO regular capacity.

By the way, my latest problem is that the GFO is turning my tank cloudy. Not brown, but more like smokey. My first reaction was that maybe it stripped all the phosphates and I'm seeing a bacterial bloom. I started running carbon and nothing happened. I turned off the GFO media reactor and in a day the water cleared up. I turned it back on, cloudy. Off, cleared up.

BY the way, this batch of GFO had only been running for less than a week so it could not have been used up. It lowered PO4 from 0.15 ppm to 0.07 ppm. Previously it had been as high as .45, but I changed it out, so the GFO is doing its job, but I cannot understand this side effect.

Wondering if I should get high capacity (twice as expensive), go with liquid or just try another brand, like Two Little Fishies Phosban, D&D Rowaphos, or Seachem PhosBond. There are a dozen more products but they all seem to be variations or mix in other media (carbon, aluminum oxide, etc.). I just don't want side effects (this freaking mess or this cloudy water).