Thinking of using a GFO reactor: tips?

[Letterkenny]

I haven’t been running GFO in my 130 but am thinking of starting to. My P has been running between 0.03-0.1 but will spike up when using reef roids. The desire to use GFO in the first place is that I’d like to feed reef roids more often and was hoping to use this to balance it out. Any thoughts?

 

[Daddy-o]

I found GFO to be messy and expensive. I switched to PhosGuard.

 

[schuby]

You already have low phosphate. Running GFO may push you to a place you don't want to go when your phosphate gets too low too fast. I recommend against GFO on a low-phosphate system.

 

[jda]

Have a high quality tool to measure - the Hannah Ultra Low is really the only one to have. Make sure that you never let the water get below 1 to 3 ppb. Understand the relationship that P has with aragonite and binding... you will need to factor in the time needed for the rock/sand to unbind once you lower the water level of P. Use small amounts changed regularly (like every day or two).

GFO is not dangerous, but using it wrongly can be. GFO, like aragonite, will bind to "equilibrium" with the water so you don't have to worry about going to absolute zero, but spiking the water level way low with the GFO only to have it rise again when the aragonite unbinds can be upsetting to a lot of coral.

You should also consider just not dosing reef roids - there is no evidence that they actually do anything. If you think that they do, then quit for a month or two and see if you can tell the difference. Often, what people see as a positive from dosing coral foods was actually just the tank getting to a place where it was making strides anyway.