28G Nanocube - New setup GFO reactor question

[MaxaM]

I have a 28G nanocube that has been stagnant with literally no life in it for about a year and a half. The tank crashed when I was neglecting it, fish died and I lost interest in the hobby. Over that year and a half I continued to top the tank off with tap water (bad, I know) with the intent of starting it up again.

Well, that time has come and I'm ready to give this another shot. I have about 15lbs of live rock and a 3" sandbed. I did a 10G water change with RO/DI mixed with Salinity, and added a bottle of Instant Ocean Smart Start to get the tank going. New Chemipure elite with purigen and filter floss. Still no CUC or fish in the tank.

I've had a pretty nasty start and have a ton of GHA on the live rock and on the back of the tank. I just purchased the Two Little Fishies 150 Reactor and 150 grams of two little fishies phosban, but I'm not sure how much GFO to use once that arrives. Suggestions? Also, I plan on eventually getting rid of the chemi-pure elite and replacing that with just carbon.

Thanks!
Drew

 

[coverdog]

I believe BRS supply web site has a chart that shows how much to use for size of tank. Scroll down to the reef calculator link on the bottom their home page.

 

[MaxaM]

Thanks for the reference! According to that calculator I'll only need about 5 tablespoons, but I think I'll double that over time depending on how the tank reacts.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Thanks for the reference! According to that calculator I'll only need about 5 tablespoons, but I think I'll double that over time depending on how the tank reacts.

Do it very slowly! It can starve your tank. You do want a small trace of phosphates for your corals. .03-.06 is ideal

 

[MaxaM]

Sounds good! I just purchased a salifert phosphate test kit so I should have a more accurate measurement than using the API kit. I'll start with 5 tablespoons and keep an eye on the levels as I slowly increase GFO as necessary.