Will a GFO reactor keep red slime algae from returning?

[FugeTown]

I've read plenty of forums seen lots of YouTube videos and they all say water flow, low nutrients, proper lighting keep red algae down oh yea and manually sucking the stuff out of your tank. Ive done all this and it always seems to find it's way back. Actually just replaced my t5 bulbs last week which they were definitely over due but I'm getting sick n tired of the trying to keep this stuff from returning so my question is will a gfo reactor keep the red algae in check? Also i don't have a sump anymore and read it's possible to hang a brs gfo reactor on the back of display tank running the hoses in the tank, is that really possible? I have used chaeto algae at one point too which kept the red algae away but got rid of my sump and thinking of using the gfo as a new plan of attack. If you have used a gfo reactor and had sucesss with it let me know too. Thank you.

 

[Peter K]

From personal experience, I have never had that much success with GFO. Do you carbon dose at all? Carbon dosing can encourage all types of bacteria to grow and sometimes can cause cyano to appear at moments (We dose NoPox and occasionally get a few patches of cyano ever 6 months or so). Yes you can run a brs gfo reactor on the back of your tank long as you can set it on something or screw it into a board or wall. I think GFO is one of those medias that people love or don't see a huge amount of success with, one of our close friends had a large issue with all types of algae and GFO worked wonders for him. Chemiclean red slime remover has worked for us at points as well and might be a good option to dose and then add the GFO reactor on your system after dosing to keep the phosphates in check as soon as it is all gone. Good luck, red slime can be a real PITA sometimes.

 

[dealseer]

I can assure you that GFO definitely absorbs phosphate.

 

[FugeTown]

From personal experience, I have never had that much success with GFO. Do you carbon dose at all? Carbon dosing can encourage all types of bacteria to grow and sometimes can cause cyano to appear at moments (We dose NoPox and occasionally get a few patches of cyano ever 6 months or so). Yes you can run a brs gfo reactor on the back of your tank long as you can set it on something or screw it into a board or wall. I think GFO is one of those medias that people love or don't see a huge amount of success with, one of our close friends had a large issue with all types of algae and GFO worked wonders for him. Chemiclean red slime remover has worked for us at points as well and might be a good option to dose and then add the GFO reactor on your system after dosing to keep the phosphates in check as soon as it is all gone. Good luck, red slime can be a real PITA sometimes.

I dont dose Carbon but this is the second time I've used chemiclean which does get rid of the slime algae but it's a pain cause you have to do big water changes after to remove most of the dead stuff in the water. I only have two clownfish in my tank now a pair of course but this makes the nutrients low for my corals so I feed them they get hungry lol but I think the gfo might be a good solution for my situation but I'm gonna start with a really low amount from the start cause I've read some horror stories about some people who have over done it with gfo resulting in dying corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Have you measured nitrate and phosphate?

 

[jsker]

Have you measured nitrate and phosphate?

+1

Also are you use RO/DI? and how long has it been since the filter have been changed?

 

[FugeTown]

Have you measured nitrate and phosphate?

You know I have the ati phosphate test kit that shows 0 phosphate but I read that test kit is junk(I highly doubt it's zero ) my ati nitrate test kit doesn't show anything detectable levels in my water either.

 

[FugeTown]

+1

Also are you use RO/DI? and how long has it been since the filter have been changed?

Of course I am , I have the pure water aspect down actually these last 6 months I've been focusing on chemistry and the tank has been improving for sure.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not assume the values are low enough to reduce cyano, but there are also other things to do about cyano, such as reducing organics and increasing flow.

 

[FugeTown]

I use distilled

 

[FugeTown]

I would not assume the values are low enough to reduce cyano, but there are also other things to do about cyano, such as reducing organics and increasing flow.

Right now I'm using 2 800(total of 1600 gph) gph powerheads in my 40 gallon breeder does that sound like enough flow to you?

 

[jsker]

Right now I'm using 2 800(total of 1600 gph) gph powerheads in my 40 gallon breeder does that sound like enough flow to you?

More than enough. Once the Ro/DI is used in the system, there will be a noticeable difference, instead of using distilled water.

 

[GoVols]

For phosphates:
GFO tumbling in it's own reactor... Junkie ;Wacky over here.

More to cyano, than just phosphates

 

[skim]

Red Slime ( Cyanobacteria ) is not an Algae but is a Bacteria. What I would suggest is to get a power head, nothing too extreme and blow of all your rock work. I think you maybe surprised at how much detritus will rise up from the rock. I think you should also take a good look at your flow patterns and flow rate within the display, take a sheet of paper and draw or sketch where you see the Cyano or better yet take some photos and this will tell you where you are lacking flow. You may want to put back your sump as if Cyano shows up it will tend to hold itself in the sump because of slower flow, make sure you have it lit and preferably reverse to display as Cyano lives by Photosynthesis.
The most effective thing you can do is to blow the rock work with the power head and do a water change, then add or move to obtain better flow around your display. You may also want to Google Cyanobacteria and read the Wikipedia explanation of what it is, it has some very interesting facts about Cyano.
Good Luck!!

 

[FugeTown]

More than enough. Once the Ro/DI is used in the system, there will be a noticeable difference, instead of using distilled water.

Why do you think this?

 

[FugeTown]

Red Slime ( Cyanobacteria ) is not an Algae but is a Bacteria. What I would suggest is to get a power head, nothing too extreme and blow of all your rock work. I think you maybe surprised at how much detritus will rise up from the rock. I think you should also take a good look at your flow patterns and flow rate within the display, take a sheet of paper and draw or sketch where you see the Cyano or better yet take some photos and this will tell you where you are lacking flow. You may want to put back your sump as if Cyano shows up it will tend to hold itself in the sump because of slower flow, make sure you have it lit and preferably reverse to display as Cyano lives by Photosynthesis.
The most effective thing you can do is to blow the rock work with the power head and do a water change, then add or move to obtain better flow around your display. You may also want to Google Cyanobacteria and read the Wikipedia explanation of what it is, it has some very interesting facts about Cyano.
Good Luck!!

I've read a lot about cyanno (dealing with cyanno battle for a good 6 years off and on) , I can't put sump back because my tank isn't drilled and I was using a overflow to get the water down there which over time it drove me mental because of how many random times it lost siphon just a pure headache I want this to be enjoyable because I'm working everyday and I like to come home to a relaxing reef tank you know what I mean. I don't want to drill my tank either for the same reason. I'll try blowing my rocks off maybe in a couple weeks though cause just did a big water change after dosing the chemiclean and need a little break from water changes. My powerheads have been moved multiple times in my small 40 gallon breeder with a sandbed and they are setup nice so my sandbed doesn't get blown across the tank leaving huge mounds on one side of the tank plus the most important is that all my corals love the water flow they are in not getting blasted constantly growing nice.

 

[jsker]

Why do you think this?

Cyano love phosphates and silica. Here is a thread with my battle link

There could still be silica in the distilled water.

One other note with my battle, by cleaning my skimmer throat and changing my filter socks more often help starve off my cyano.

 

[FugeTown]

Cyano love phosphates and silica. Here is a thread with my battle link

There could still be silica in the distilled water.

One other note with my battle, by cleaning my skimmer throat and changing my filter socks more often help starve off my cyano.

Yea I'm guilty of not cleaning my skimmer housing enough, the reason I'm not a big fan of ro water is it's a big waste of water 1 to 4 ratio I can't let that much go down the drain. I'll check out your thread though.

 

[FugeTown]

Cyano love phosphates and silica. Here is a thread with my battle link

There could still be silica in the distilled water.

One other note with my battle, by cleaning my skimmer throat and changing my filter socks more often help starve off my cyano.

Just checked out your thread wow your tank looked far worse than mine did I only had some cyanno on the sandbed not on my rocks, I do feed my corals coral frenzy which is loaded with phosphates and I'm going to continue to use it thus another reason I thought the gfo might be a good option for me , but a very light use of it. Here's a pic of my tank check it out doesn't look that dirty.you can see the little bit of cyanno left on the sandbed but maybe I could blast my rocks with the powerheads like the other guy recommended cause they do have some detritus on them but my snails help some.

 

[jsker]

Yea I'm guilty of not cleaning my skimmer housing enough, the reason I'm not a big fan of ro water is it's a big waste of water 1 to 4 ratio I can't let that much go down the drain. I'll check out your thread though.

I drain mine into the washer and we using the waste water for laundry. About 6 gallons of filtered water will have enough waist for a full load of laundry Now if one has a front loader, that would be a different story on the amount of waste per load.