Do your polyps hate GFO?

[rogersb]

I have been running a reef for almost 3 years now. I always ran chemi pure elite which has some GAC and GFO. I upgraded from a 20 to a 60 to a 75. My 75 has a larger sump and I did put one bag of chemi pure elite in there when I first set it up but decided to get some ROX .8 and BRS GFO a few weeks ago. I put both in the sump at the same time and my polyps have been irritated ever since. I put the GAC directly under the overflow into the sump so it gets plenty of water over it and I put the GFO in a bag and into my skimmer. The GFO doesn't fill the mesh bag and will get some air in it and rise into the skimmer neck and tumble in there. I thought that would be about the same as a reactor and have read of people on the sps forum doing this. I used half of the beginner amount listed on the BRS site because my algae problem is not very large. I have a black algae that is less than a quarter of an inch. My tang and algae blenny do not touch it and it grows around my polyps and annoys them.

Since putting in the GFO my polyps have been ****y. I pulled it out for a few days, but could see the algae was making a come back so I put it back in. I don't have much of a CUC and ordered the 110 snail pack from reefs2go with cerith, nerite, astrea, and turbo snails. I've never had turbo snails. I am hoping they will take care of the problem.

My parameters last I checked were alk - 7, ca - 420, mg 1300. Anyone else have polyps that hate GFO? I have some that do not look like they will pull through and I would like to take it off line but don't want to lose others to the algae irritating them. Any ideas?

 

[Reef Bass]

My polyps have never expressed irritation with BRS GFO. You mentioned you switched over to ROX at the same time. That may be the more likely source, not that it's irritating, but that it absorbed something that the polyps are adjusting to being without.

It also sounds like you've recently changed tanks, and adapting to the new environment could also be the reason your polyps look a bit off.

 

[rogersb]

The tank change was in November(7+ months ago). The polyps have not had a negative reaction until both GFO and GAC were added. You could be right about the carbon, I just assumed nothing really got irritated by carbon but it does make sense that they are adjusting to having less nutrients.

I was thinking about changing the carbon out every 2-3 weeks. Do you think I sould cut the amount in half and see if it helps or keep it the same and see if they adjust?

 

[j.p. harrington]

ive been running GFO for about a year now i did change from BRS to ROWA<<<<<better product
anyways i feed extremly heavy and do have algae (its part of it) since i introduced GFO about 1 year ago my growth rates have taken off
with that said i had someone local add GFO to his tank and he had the same reaction as you are having.
i say give it a little time and see if they adjust to it in my experience and i have high end low end z.p's (about 60 different types) some colonies start looking like crap melting whatever you wanna call it then week or 2 later they start growing liek crazy again brighter and seem to be tougher than ever

 

[Lynnmw1208]

do you rinse the GFO and carbon before using? I make sure to rinse mine before putting it into my reactor. I haven't seen any ill affects on my zoas though. maybe it's the sudden change or something that is being taken out of the tank like phosphate.

 

[rogersb]

I rinsed both of them pretty well. Looking at the tank last night there are only two zoas that are bothered now. Initially several were closed and looking bad but now it is just my magicians and valentines day massacres. I could care less about the magicians but the VDMs are my favorite polyps in the tank.

My clean up crew is pretty sparse so I have been feeding pretty lean lately. I ordered the 110 snails reefs 2 go had for $50 last week and when they show up I will probably start to feed normal again. Hopefully that adds some nutrients back to the tank that they are missing.

 

[Ritten]

I had the same experience with Rowa. My clam also didn't seem to like it.

 

[mallorieGgator]

I don't have problems with GFO and my zoas and palys.

 

[zooty]

I don't have problems with GFO and my zoas and palys.

agree
using a reactor for the gfo as well

 

[mallorieGgator]

I just use a media bag since I have no room for reactors. It still works but I'm sure not as well.

 

[kichimark]

I use ROX and BRS GFO in my tank. I do tend to not use the recommended level which I use a little less (if it says 12 tablespoons I use 10). It is just me and not based on any data. My clams have not shown any detrimental effects.

 

[rogersb]

I use ROX and BRS GFO in my tank. I do tend to not use the recommended level which I use a little less (if it says 12 tablespoons I use 10). It is just me and not based on any data. My clams have not shown any detrimental effects.

For the gfo I used half the amount. I believe the recommended amount was 10 and I used 5. However, I did use the full amount of carbon. It has been almost 2 weeks now and I have been under the impression that 2 weeks is standard time for people to change their carbon so I will probably go with a little less than the recommended amount. Any thoughts?

 

[Fcamdog]

I run carbon in my reactor for one week and then run GFO for three weeks and repeat the cycle. It's been working great for me doing this. I found that my zoas and softies suffered without any carbon, but did worse running carbon 24/7. I stumbed upon this by trial and error and it keeps everything happy and growing. I plan on running carbon and GFO in this fashion for now on.

Fcamdog

 

[rogersb]

Thank you. It is about time to change my media and I am going to try this ^