thelostrican
I hate to post
I run gfo, if I take it out I notice it very fast, so I hate you all, JK
And happy fathers day!
And happy fathers day!
Anybody quit GFO and live to tell about it?
- Thread starter LouH
- Start date
Just trying to learn here - not sure I understand that statement can someone explain?
Also just got phosphates under control by running GFO. How long does it take to see a decline in the typical nuisance algae in the tank??
Joe
I run GFO all the time. Without it my p04 shoots up and I get algae issues... I was tired of replacing it every two weeks and switched to high capacity gro and will never go back. While it costs more I have not needed to change it in 14 weeks. My tank has never looked better. Over time HC will save you money and time. Just adjust the flow to clean it out every so often....let's see how many weeks I can go...
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
If you have hair algae or any other micro algae species in your display tank, phosphates and nitrates that are present in your water column are utilised by the algae quite quickly even though your phosphate test kit shows low reading (or no reading at all). In this scenario, micro algae effectively mask the true phosphate and nitrate readings.
If you keep macro algae (e.g. chaeto) in your sump or refugium, the same scenario applies, but who cares as long as micro algae are kept at bay.
In essence, one may not have zero nitrate/phosphate readings in a tank as long as there are sinks for them. What matters is that that sink must not be micro algae.
hth
thelostrican
I hate to post
I ran gfo for about 5 years contiuously along side soluble organic carbon dosing(vodka and vinegar). It took a lot less gfo than before organic carbon dosing but I still nee4ded a little to clean up the low range .
I decided to stop the gfo about 3 months ago and sightly increase th organic carbon dose ; use a little extra N via sodium nitrate and aspartate too. PO4 stayed low ,around .03ppm for 2 months; then it beagn to climb/.08 ;so, last week I started gfo again in small amounts ( 400ml for the 650 gallon system). PO4 is back down. I'm still tinkering with the N additions to see if that can generate more PO4 removal by the bacteria involved to a point where the gfo can be stopped and /or the carbon dose reduced.
GFO also takes up some free metals like copper and silicates too, btw.
I decided to stop the gfo about 3 months ago and sightly increase th organic carbon dose ; use a little extra N via sodium nitrate and aspartate too. PO4 stayed low ,around .03ppm for 2 months; then it beagn to climb/.08 ;so, last week I started gfo again in small amounts ( 400ml for the 650 gallon system). PO4 is back down. I'm still tinkering with the N additions to see if that can generate more PO4 removal by the bacteria involved to a point where the gfo can be stopped and /or the carbon dose reduced.
GFO also takes up some free metals like copper and silicates too, btw.
hilgert
Excessive Minimalist
Do you run cheato in your system? In other words, was GFO the only primary removal method for phosphates?
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
UPDATE:
It has been just over a month since I stopped my Rowa reactor. I thought I should provide an update.
Today's testing with my Rowa Merck high sensitivity phosphate test kit produced a reading between 0 < P <= 0.008 mg/l. I am absolutely over the moon. There is no micro algae growth on live rock, but there is a thin layer of green film algae on glass, which I need to wipe with my magfloat once every two or three days.
The phosphate reading climbed up to (0.008 < P <0.015 mg/l) on 21th June. This reading was taken five days after removing quite a bit of chaeto from my sump for nutrient export. Hence, as long as my chaeto grows, it appears that phosphates will remain low.
I will continue to use CAC (Seachem matrix carbon) and Seachem purigen though as I do not wish to rely solely on chaeto and my skimmer for nutrient export.
It has been just over a month since I stopped my Rowa reactor. I thought I should provide an update.
Today's testing with my Rowa Merck high sensitivity phosphate test kit produced a reading between 0 < P <= 0.008 mg/l. I am absolutely over the moon. There is no micro algae growth on live rock, but there is a thin layer of green film algae on glass, which I need to wipe with my magfloat once every two or three days.
The phosphate reading climbed up to (0.008 < P <0.015 mg/l) on 21th June. This reading was taken five days after removing quite a bit of chaeto from my sump for nutrient export. Hence, as long as my chaeto grows, it appears that phosphates will remain low.
I will continue to use CAC (Seachem matrix carbon) and Seachem purigen though as I do not wish to rely solely on chaeto and my skimmer for nutrient export.
LouH
LouH
Great update. The issue with my "experiment" was the fact that I didn't measure phosphate. I've never had a kit give me colormetric outputs that I could confidently align with a corresponding value on a chart. Because of this, I've stopped trying to measure it and just go the subjective route. I may look at the Hanna Instruments unit. It appears to be about as good as you can do with hobby grade testing equipment. At least it takes my color sensing abilities out of the process.
moe458
New member
i have been running my GFO (RowaPhos) for a year until 6 weeks ago when i started to see GHA all over my tank. I was not sure what was going on. I didn't pay much attention for a few days and it went all over. I changed the Rowaphos and let it run..but GHA kept growing like crazy...after doing some troubleshooting and found out that the phosban reactor was not tumbeling...so i replaced the jet on it and it started to tumble. I see the difference in GHA going down in last 4 days i have replaced the jet. all test kits are just junk when it comes to testing phospates unless you go digital with Hana meter...not sure how good is that..anyhow..going down the path I also want to know what the after affects of replacing GFO with macroalgea cuz let's face it ..GFO is expensive...but effective when needed.
