Is now the right time to run GFO/Carbon?

[johnbr]

Hi guys,

Well my tank has been setup for 5 months now and I started to see some algae. Since the system was fairly new I wasn't chasing any numbers. I have a 120 Gallon with 14 fishes and 2 shrimp + few CUC members. I feed only frozen food 2x day + 2 algae sheets for my tangs. My skimmer is rated for a 220 Gallon tank with heavy bio stock. I've been doing 15% water changes every Friday. So, this week I started to see red algae and did a complete water test.

PO4 and NO3 came out 0.32 and 30ppm respectively.

Even after changing the water and starting to feed less these numbers are only seem to increase over the past few days.

I'm no dosing anything just feeding my corals with reef roids 2x week and Fuel also 2x week.

I just got a BRS Dual Reactor GFO / Carbon. Any precautions that I should take before installing this system? What about any risks?

I'm sorry but I've never used GFO / Carbon before.

Thanks

 

[Booger McMoron]

Following!!

 

[Fishfinder]

Personally I would stop the reef roids until nutrients come down. Yes you can run carbon and GFO. That will bring the numbers down. I would choose a carbon source to dose instead of the GAC and GFO. But both will get you threre

 

[theMeat]

Agreed, carbon dose, but it will take longer than reactors

Need to step up your water changes, or get some way of lowering nutrients. Like big fuge, algae scrubber, or carbon dosing. Gac and gfo media is a pain to change, causes swings, and gets expensive over time.

 

[Fishfinder]

Yes I didn't mention the old trusty water change because I don't regularly do them. Get a couple water changes head start and then go with your method of nutrient reduction.

 

[johnbr]

Hey guys thanks for all the replies. I'm already doing water changes.

I thought about a scrubber but my budget now does not allow me to get one. So you guys think dosing carbon would be better? I mean the reactor has 2 canisters so what should I do with the second one?

Also do you guys think that running this setup I'm gonna have swing issues? Someone mentioned swings?

and...

Regarding the maintenance I saw a video on YouTube and it seemed pretty easy to change the media.

thanks a lot

 

[Fishfinder]

Changing media isn't hard. I still run carbon. I personally had a bad experience with GFO. It works. Just make sure you bring it down slow and not toooo much. I've been bacteria and carbon dosing with great control. It's personal preference, they will both work. Try that and see how it does for you. Keep testing often

 

[johnbr]

Changing media isn't hard. I still run carbon. I personally had a bad experience with GFO. It works. Just make sure you bring it down slow and not toooo much. I've been bacteria and carbon dosing with great control. It's personal preference, they will both work. Try that and see how it does for you. Keep testing often

Is that true that since is my first time doing it should I put only half of the recommended dosage since putting too much could shock the tank and kill/bleach all corals?

most of my tank is LPS though

thanks

 

[Fishfinder]

Yes absolutely run half dose. Even LPS will get angry about a big reduction in NO3 and PO4

 

[theMeat]

The reason it causes swings,,,
New media soaks up, then slows til it stops when saturated. Then you change media, and repeat

Gfo will lower phosphates, not nitrates.
FWIW, carbon will not do much for nitrate removal. Not to be confused with carbon dosing which will. Although sometimes, most times, tanks take a while to start responding

No, not hard to change media, and keep feeding reactor or otherwise, but gets old.
You must have media on hand, then...Your gfo will likely get used up faster causing you to change it every 3 weeks. Carbon could last 4. So you can either change your carbon earlier than needed and do it once, or keep track of each separately and do it twice.

 

[mike werner]

if you do go with the gfo reactor turn the water flow down as it exits the reactor.this will allow for a slower reduction of phosphates so not to shock the corals.

 

[theMeat]

You want the flow through gfo reactor at a rate so that it lightly tumbles. You don’t want the carbon to tumble because it will crumble and go into water column. So you pack thecarbon down with floss/pad to keep it still

 

[theMeat]

The way I see it

Running half dose of carbon...
Carbon will remove things from water. Some of those things good, some bad. Will also help make water clearer. Will do little for nitrate and running half dose will slow the removal process.

Gfo will only remove phosphate.
Running half dose will not slow the removal process, only quicken the time the media needs to be replenished. If you want to remove the most phosphate in the fastest way, put small amounts and change often. Put more than needed and you won’t have to change as often, but gfo media can /will get stuck together and become a big block, making it hard to remove, especially if you don’t make it tumble.

Also a good idea to put a valve on reactor if running gfo, because you will likely need to adjust to keep the flow at a good rate to have media lightly tumbling

Ime two lil fishes reactors are not good for gfo, because the media will leak out into water and since iron based will find its way onto pump magnets and cause problems

When it comes to carbon it’s a good idea to step it up to full amount so you don’t shock your corals with more light because the water will/should get clearer, and you also don’t want to shock your bio load, particularly the ammonia part of your nitrogen cycle

When it comes to gfo you should run full amount if you are outside of the given parameters of .05 max phosphates for a happy reef tank that we go by these days. Because gfo is not magic and it will take time for it to go down. It goes up and down much more and faster just from the tank lights going on and off

 

[johnbr]

Yes absolutely run half dose. Even LPS will get angry about a big reduction in NO3 and PO4

Thanks

The reason it causes swings,,,
New media soaks up, then slows til it stops when saturated. Then you change media, and repeat

Gfo will lower phosphates, not nitrates.
FWIW, carbon will not do much for nitrate removal. Not to be confused with carbon dosing which will. Although sometimes, most times, tanks take a while to start responding

No, not hard to change media, and keep feeding reactor or otherwise, but gets old.
You must have media on hand, then...Your gfo will likely get used up faster causing you to change it every 3 weeks. Carbon could last 4. So you can either change your carbon earlier than needed and do it once, or keep track of each separately and do it twice.

That's what I was thinking. Since I have high PO4 the media will have to be replenish faster. I could do every 2 weeks in the begging and always checking with my hanna phosphate checker.

if you do go with the gfo reactor turn the water flow down as it exits the reactor.this will allow for a slower reduction of phosphates so not to shock the corals.

The kit sold by BRS includes a small valve just for the reactors to control flow.

You want the flow through gfo reactor at a rate so that it lightly tumbles. You don’t want the carbon to tumble because it will crumble and go into water column. So you pack thecarbon down with floss/pad to keep it still

Yes I saw a tutorial that you want the GFO to tumble a little bit to avoid clogging.

The way I see it

Running half dose of carbon...
Carbon will remove things from water. Some of those things good, some bad. Will also help make water clearer. Will do little for nitrate and running half dose will slow the removal process.

Gfo will only remove phosphate.
Running half dose will not slow the removal process, only quicken the time the media needs to be replenished. If you want to remove the most phosphate in the fastest way, put small amounts and change often. Put more than needed and you won’t have to change as often, but gfo media can /will get stuck together and become a big block, making it hard to remove, especially if you don’t make it tumble.

Also a good idea to put a valve on reactor if running gfo, because you will likely need to adjust to keep the flow at a good rate to have media lightly tumbling

Ime two lil fishes reactors are not good for gfo, because the media will leak out into water and since iron based will find its way onto pump magnets and cause problems

When it comes to carbon it’s a good idea to step it up to full amount so you don’t shock your corals with more light because the water will/should get clearer, and you also don’t want to shock your bio load, particularly the ammonia part of your nitrogen cycle

When it comes to gfo you should run full amount if you are outside of the given parameters of .05 max phosphates for a happy reef tank that we go by these days. Because gfo is not magic and it will take time for it to go down. It goes up and down much more and faster just from the tank lights going on and off

Okay. I'll keep my eyes on that. Can I run everything 24x7 right? Skimmer and reactors? Regarding the water been clear I only run blues anyways with 5% white for only 2 hours.

 

[theMeat]

Yup, run 24/7

 

[johnbr]

Yup, run 24/7

Hey Meat,

Just got everything installed and I decided to change something in last minute. I'm not gonna run GFO since I'm new to this hobby and never played with these before. So is that ok running both reactors with carbon splitting the dose between the canisters? If so regarding the gate valve that comes included. Since carbon does not have to tumble can I just leave it open at full flow?

thanks

 

[Fishfinder]

You can put it all in one canister. Don't tumble the carbon. Turn the valve down, you don't want it flowing too much.

 

[johnbr]

You can put it all in one canister. Don't tumble the carbon. Turn the valve down, you don't want it flowing too much.

Hey @Fishfinder

Thanks for replying...

So I decided not to use GFO and since I have 2 canisters put carbon on both of them. The valve I have it closed 45% give or take.

 

[WWIII]

Carbon dosing (vinegar, vodka, sugar) is different from running activated carbon (the black stuff).

Activated carbon clears the water making it less yellow and also binds organics.

Carbon dosing feeds the bacteria that consume nutrients like nitrate and phosphate. (Something like that anyways)

Gfo is pretty good at reducing phosphate, but probably won't do much for the 30ppm nitrates. Macro algae, carbon dosing, and waterchanges will lower nitrates. Also feeding less and cutting back on stuff like reefroids will help keep nutrients a little lower.

 

[Fishfinder]

Personally I would leave it in one canister, just easier to change out. Make sure it isn't tumbling. You can run GFO, nothing extreme is going to happen. Just monitor nutrients. And I actually use the GFO to gauge my flow rate