Considering Adding GFO Alongside With Pellets and Carbon

[Steve...]

Hi Everyone,

Its been over a month now and I've still been seeing some air bubbles on my live rock. I'm suspecting this is some cyno or hair algae starting to pop up. Right now I'm running pellets and carbon in my tank. Reading some treads in on the form is it safe to say that pellets don't do a good job of removing phos? My next step was consider adding GFO , could anyone provide me with some experience and pre-cautions about this idea? I know Kein has had great success with this set up.

[The Grizz]

Been running pellets & carbon for some time now with undectectable Phos but adding GFO wouldn't hurt one bit.

[Top-dogg]

I'm running carbon, gfo on dual reactors and bio pellets in phosban reactor all plumbed from my return line. I had cyano bloom and hair algae after I introduced the pellets. Now the pellets are stablished with bacteria that cyano and hair algae are now almost 80% gone and improving growth/color on some all of my sps. I also dose coral snow from zeovit.

[globaldesigns]

I run all 3 without issue

[Steve...]

Sounds good! What kind of GFO is worth looking at ?

[kien]

Originally Posted by Steve...

I know Kein has had great success with this set up.

I just copy whatever Kein does. He said it was okay to use GFO with BioPellets so that's what I do too.

[ruslicus]

And I can confirm I do same as Kien advised and my PO3 is 0 now. Yahoooooooooooo!

[Steve...]

Originally Posted by kien

I just copy whatever Kein does. He said it was okay to use GFO with BioPellets so that's what I do too.

lol, looks like this is the case . When adding the GFO, do you guys by pass it through another reactor eg: bio pellets then GFO or do you guys have individual in and outs? Right now, both my carbon and pellets are separated. Is there also a break in period for GFO, like add little slowly and increase amount with time?

[ruslicus]

Steve, my experience, as I just recently did it as per Kien guideline, was to allow some time GFO to start working. Initially my PO3 was 0.08-0.09 which is not bad, but too high for very nice SPS coloration. My target was to remove PO3 as my NO3 was at 0.00. BioPellets remove majority of NO3 but a little of PO3. I run separately. BioPellets outlet goes into skimmer intake, and GFO goes into return chamber. Within a week my NO3 is still at 0.00 and my PO3 is 0.00-0.03. Thank you Kien!

[kien]

Originally Posted by Steve...

Right now, both my carbon and pellets are separated. Is there also a break in period for GFO, like add little slowly and increase amount with time?

I know of many people who run GFO and Carbon in one reactor with success. The advantage in doing it this way is to save on space and money (and possibly added heat from an extra pump?). I've also seen people run two reactors off of one pump (i used to do this a while ago). Myself, I have the room in my sump so I just run separate reactors with separate pumps for two reasons:

1. I like to change out my media on alternating intervals. That is, on the 15th of every month I change out my GFO while on the 30th of every month I change out my Carbon. I do this to reduce my one time maintenance (ie, so that I'm not spending too much time changing out both media at once). I also like to spread the effects of the changes.

2. I like to flow different rates through my media.

At any rate, I've seen it done many different ways to suit peoples needs.

Originally Posted by ruslicus

Thank you Kien!

You're welcome. I'm happy to see that things are working out now. See, I told you not to panic :-) Now just sit back and let your tank settle in