Experienced SPS keepers, are you using GFO's?

[SERVO]

Don't really worry about PO4's other than water changes. I think that PO4's will green out our acro's IMO.

 

[fishdoc11]

Well I must admit I am somewhat suprised by the results of this thread/poll so far. I was under the impression that most sps keepers did not use phosphate removers. Maybe my thinking was/is several years old
I know I have personally answered many questions in this forum about P removers causing coral deaths with that as the primary culprit IMO.

alot of people dont rinse the media and then complain about coral losses....that isnt the GFO that is just their fault

As far as this point I must say that first line in the directions for the jar of Phosban I bought several years ago says...and i quote "Do NOT rinse Phosban before use!" unquote.... IMO this is another case of a product comming out before it was fully tested only to have experienced aquarists figure out how to use it safely using their tanks as guinea pigs. As much respect as I have for Sprung and most of the other "old salt" experts this still dissapoints me.

At any rate I still wonder how many people that have voted in this poll have kept sps for more than a year or two and what coloration in their tanks looks like? I have no doubt in some it is excellent as I recognize several very experienced posters that use P removers with outstanding tanks. In my tanks I have managed to maintain excellent coloration and growth for the last several years without it.

FWIW, Chris

 

[jay24k]

I've never used it but am curious on it. My 180 will be 2 years old in May and before that I had 1/3 of my rock in a 44 for another year or so. I do have to clean my glass every 3 or 4 days but I have never had any algae beside in the overflows which I clean out every 2 weeks. (small clumpful).

I'm just wondering if it will bite me later on or if nothing is wrong, leave it alone.

 

[duec22]

Greg Hiller, if you are going to mix it with carbon, deff. do not do it as a fluidized bed. The GFO is very brittle and the carbon clumps would turn it to dust. I mix them and do as you suggested and have them packed tight and don't have any problems.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Yeah i dont even let the media tumble in the reactor...it stays still. Very little flow....also mitigates the effects IMO of quick shocks because not too much happens quickly, also keeps the media from being destroyed and released.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8475173#post8475173 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Greg Hiller
I'm going to be pretty conservative about how much I use, but my skimmer, and other nutrient control systems are not keeping up to my satisfaction (the algae on the glass is bad in about 3 days) on my 400 gallon system.

Greg- I'm guessing that your current problem is similar to my experience (ie: increased microalgae growth in an older established reef aquarium.)
I suggest being VERY conservative with any GFO PO4 remover. One small bag (run passively in my sump) was enough to visibly make a difference in my aquarium within 24 hours.
I realize that some people (such as David Saxby) have run ROWA continuously since day one with no ill effect- but an older established system that hasn't been run with a GFO that's suddenly subjected to a large (or even "recommended") treatment might stress sensitive corals (such as Acropora) very severely.
I know some folks call this stuff "expensive rust", but IME it can be a useful tool if used properly.

 

[Fliger]

I have a friend who runs two Phosban reactors in succession (sidewinder770, there is a thread) and it works well. Mixing them in a much larger reactor like the FR509 works perfectly though. I've been doing it for well over a year. It works perfect with ROWA. I used that bigger carbon - the rabbit food sized stuff and it doesn't tumble. The ROWA is mixed all throughout and then some sits on top and "dances" with a MH900 hooked up. I try to use amounts that woud require changing at the same time.

I'll go get a couple pix

 

[Fliger]

Here you go, HTH ...

 

[Fliger]

dp

 

[Greg Hiller]

>I'm guessing that your current problem is similar to my experience (ie: increased microalgae growth in an older established reef aquarium<

Gary, thanks for the warnings. This is a fairly new tank (set up about 1 year ago), but it has much of the rock from my old 110 G tank that was set up for many years. I will take it slowly. I have a LOT of very large Acro colonies that I would hate to loose. I'll probably hook a single chamber up initially and slowly ramp the flowrate up over a few weeks.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Greg- those large older Acro colonies are your bragging rights. Good luck with the GFO- I'm interested in hearing your opinion on it.

 

[ReeferAl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8465569#post8465569 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaddyJax
I personally think that it srtips more than P04 out of the water.

I found some information on what else it removes at USFilter

In addition to phosphate, silicate and arsenic, which I already knew it removes, they say it removes chromium, selenium, antimony and copper.
I don't know if any of those could be a problem. They are all either not needed or needed in only trace amounts and it is unlikely the GFO could drop the levels too low, particularly considering they likely start at levels higher than NSW anyway.

Allen

 

[ReeferAl]

I found a reference in Advanced Aquarist that addresses these levels in salt mixes. Arsenic, antimony, chromium, copper and selenium are all higher to much higher than NSW in the salt mixes. Only silicate is lower. Unless you want to encourage diatoms, that is not a problem. I'd say the fact that GFO's remove things other than phosphate looks to be a good thing and not a bad one.

Allen