Two quick questions about GFO, please advise

[Admonition]

I have never run GFO before and plan to purchase a minimax reactor and use BRS GFO. I subsequently have two questions.

 

First, I currently have chemi-pure elite and purigen running in inTank baskets in my Fusion 30L. Is it okay to continue to use them while running GFO, or will it cause problems?

 

Second, I have read that stripping the water of phosphates with too much GFO too quick is harmful to corals. However, my tank has been running at 0 phosphates for months due to the algea outbreak consuming the phosphates as they become available. Therefor, should I still be conservative with my GFO addition or can I be more 'aggressive'?

[rmacedo2010]

dont quote me on this but i believe the only problem with running all three chemi pure, purigen, and gfo will be that you will completely strip your tank of phosphates. i run a ultra low nutrient system with .02 phos and .01 nitrates but i also supplement amino acids (acropower) and feed other coral foods. what type of phosphate test are you using? some kits cannot read down to such a low level of phosphates. I personally use a hanna checker. basically what is all comes down to is keep an eye on your corals. i find if i dont supplement with coral foods my sps show me by pale colors and decreased polyp ext. i dont have a large fish load in my tank so my fish dont create alot of waste. my opinion for your is if you dont have a large fish load and want to keep low nutrients i believe a quality gfo and carbon is all you need. ditch the purigen

[ew_fish]

I'd start with 1 TBSP per 4g. I agree with above post also.

[metrokat]

i run a ultra low nutrient system with .02 phos

0.02 phosphates is not an ULNS. 0.002 would be.

[rmacedo2010]

0.02 phosphates is not an ULNS. 0.002 would be.

sorry thats what i meant. lol

[Admonition]

Rmacedo: Well that's why I'm curious about my initial dosing because I've run my tank for months with 0 phosphates (zero only because the algea is consuming them). So technically I would assume it shouldn't be an issue until the dry rock leaching phosphates stops, at which point I'll have to be more careful about not stripping too much out of the water like you mentioned. And as far as a test kit I use the Hannah ULR Phosphorus checker and Red Sea kit, both reading zeros.

 

Also, I only have one fish and plan on two more small ones, so I'll keep your suggestion about purigen in mind

 

Ew_fish: thank you, I believe that's also what BRS recommends.

[Lawnman]

What BRS recommends is way to much GFO. I would replace suggest using a teaspoon instead of a table. I use 4 teaspoons of high capacity in my 65 gallon system and never have algae. I change the GFO once a month.

[rmacedo2010]

you only have one fish how often and how much do you feed? are you using ro water and if so is it store bought or home made. and lastly what are your water change habits (how much / how often). all questions you must ask yourself just remember adding gfo, having purigen, and chemipure are methods of removing phos. but finding out the source is the real problem. just as reminder also, food is the main source of phos, feed just enough your fish can consume and rinse your thawed food well (if feeding frozen of course)!

[Admonition]

you only have one fish how often and how much do you feed? are you using ro water and if so is it store bought or home made. and lastly what are your water change habits (how much / how often). all questions you must ask yourself just remember adding gfo, having purigen, and chemipure are methods of removing phos. but finding out the source is the real problem. just as reminder also, food is the main source of phos, feed just enough your fish can consume and rinse your thawed food well (if feeding frozen of course)!

 

I feed him every day once a day, but I only feed what he'll consume in front of me. I use RODI water made via my Spectrapure RODI unit. I change 25% of my water every week.

 

It is my belief that my addition of BRS reef saver dry rock into a two year old established system caused a mini-cycle (I did not cure the dry rock because I mistakenly assumed I wouldn't need to). The GHA that I'm fighting is almost exclusively found on the two pieces of dry rock, avoiding my large pieces of original live rock. I'm hoping that the addition of GFO will help me fight off the algae until the dry rock is done giving off phosphates, and then subsequently use the GFO as simple preventative maintenance.

[rmacedo2010]

It wouldn't hurt to add a few more snails and hermits assuming u have some already. And also look into a lawnmower blenny. Not a super attractive fish but has a awesome personality. Depending on the severity of the problem sea hares are very helpful because the eat only hair algea, so when u have no more hair algea they starve and die. So passing along to a friend with a gha problem or trading into your Lfs is your options there. But try the GFO and see how that goes. I don't wanna throw to many things at you at once

[Admonition]

I recently added a bunch of new snails which are eating, but not doing much in the way of the long strands of GHA (which are hard to remove by hand due to their location). I thought about a lawnmower blenny (god knows my wife loves those guys), but I haven't gotten one for two reasons, I heard that its a crap shoot on whether or not they'll actually go after my GHA, and the fact that they can get rather large. I also thought about a sea hare but I can't find them at any of my LFS, and I'm concerned about the possibility of them releasing their defensive toxin/dye into my tank.