gfo or pellets? what's your preference?
- Thread starter Jritter02
- Start date
tommyboynj
New member
You may need to run both in the beginning. What are your current po4 and no3 readings.
TangingOut
New member
Don't mean to hijack, but I'm in the same boat as OP. Nitrates are 30-40 and phosphates around 1.0-1.2
I've been using Reef BioFuel and microbacter7. I've been turned on to Red Sea NoPoX and will start using that to further reduce the nutrients, but don't want to be dosing forever.
My plan is to use the spectrapure dual reactor to first run gfo/carbon and once phosphates are to a stable low point, retrofit the gfo reactor to run bio pellets. Many have done so with the BRS one which is pretty much the same. Is this a sound plan?
I feed 4 medium sized feedings per day and don't want to reduce. Little to no food reaches bottom and any that does is quickly consumed by the cuc. I'm sure some rocks that I've attached to the back wall and overflow is leaching as they were dry live rock and I don't think I fully cured them.
I've been using Reef BioFuel and microbacter7. I've been turned on to Red Sea NoPoX and will start using that to further reduce the nutrients, but don't want to be dosing forever.
My plan is to use the spectrapure dual reactor to first run gfo/carbon and once phosphates are to a stable low point, retrofit the gfo reactor to run bio pellets. Many have done so with the BRS one which is pretty much the same. Is this a sound plan?
I feed 4 medium sized feedings per day and don't want to reduce. Little to no food reaches bottom and any that does is quickly consumed by the cuc. I'm sure some rocks that I've attached to the back wall and overflow is leaching as they were dry live rock and I don't think I fully cured them.
GFO and Pellets are different things.
GFO - Phosphate only
Pellets, Carbon (NOPOX) - both Nitrates and Phosphates, skewed toward Nitrates
I tried Pellets and Carbon dosing. My experience with reactors was a mess, and I find carbon dosing easier to fine tune so went that way. You may need a little GFO along with that though, depending on your parameters. GFO in a media bag may be enough or possibly a smaller amount in a reactor.
@Tanging out: your phosphates look high. NOPOX if you continue to dose will take care of Nitrates but I think you'll need GFO too. Possibly quite a lot replaced regularly with frequest testing. Long term, you can use pellets or carbon whichever works best for you.
-droog
GFO - Phosphate only
Pellets, Carbon (NOPOX) - both Nitrates and Phosphates, skewed toward Nitrates
I tried Pellets and Carbon dosing. My experience with reactors was a mess, and I find carbon dosing easier to fine tune so went that way. You may need a little GFO along with that though, depending on your parameters. GFO in a media bag may be enough or possibly a smaller amount in a reactor.
@Tanging out: your phosphates look high. NOPOX if you continue to dose will take care of Nitrates but I think you'll need GFO too. Possibly quite a lot replaced regularly with frequest testing. Long term, you can use pellets or carbon whichever works best for you.
-droog
TangingOut
New member
If you think they're high now, you should've seen them a little over a week ago. Off the charts!!! At least according to API, 4+ and I wouldn't even have known if I wasn't planning on putting my first coral in. A little diatom that only lasted 3-4 days was my only clue.
Yes I know, API isn't very good and I have better test kits on order.
What you are saying about a nitrate based reactor seems to be surfacing via many I talk to. Seems many either have good or bad luck on the reactors, and little in between. I am playing with setting up a sulfur/aragonite deal, but experimenting with vinegar dosing first.
The nice thing about that reactor setup is I may not have to dose as much calcium. But I am hearing the sulfur side is pricy. No idea how fast if gets worn down.
I tested nitrates with a new test kit last night and discovered I was at 7ppm (Salifert) rather than the 0 I was reading (Red Sea). I chose to believe the Salifert reading and upped my daily carbon dose from 5ml/day to 9ml/day and will re-test in a week. I did the whole thing in <10mins while my kids were taking a bath.
Hard to get that kind of flexibility with reactor.
No idea about sulphur reactors. Sounds wierd, but I'd be interested to read about it if you have a good link. Don't understand your point about calcium dosing. Reactors and carbon dosing are all using bacteria to bind the nutrients and get skimmed out. Neither one really affects Ca as far as I understand. Sure, both methods recommend you skim a little wet but the effect there would be negligable. Its possible I misunderstood your meaning though
-droog
Hard to get that kind of flexibility with reactor.
No idea about sulphur reactors. Sounds wierd, but I'd be interested to read about it if you have a good link. Don't understand your point about calcium dosing. Reactors and carbon dosing are all using bacteria to bind the nutrients and get skimmed out. Neither one really affects Ca as far as I understand. Sure, both methods recommend you skim a little wet but the effect there would be negligable. Its possible I misunderstood your meaning though
-droog
For phosphates, I went the GFO route. It only involves a predictable chemical reaction that follows straightforward physical laws. Using biopellets to reduce phosphates is no where close to being as dependable or predictable.
For nitrate reduction I depend on the denitrification process that exists in my fish only aquarium. I have been careful about stocking level but feed generously. Salifert nitrate test solution is colorless. I recently hedged my bet and added a variety of macro algae to my sump. All but chaeto growing well, even with phosphate and nitrate level test solutions being colorless, i.e., ~0 ppm. Chaeto has fallen apart and disappeared completely!
Many have a secondary reactor, or chamber with aragonite following the sulfur to buffer the PH. I know of one large LFS that uses sulfur reactor on all their tanks in a combined system. Just economies of scale of multi-thousands of gallons of water, including the CA side.
I have no experience on it, and my posts on here has only turned up a few folks that have really seemed to dive into it. All I can say is $500 buys a lot of vinegar.
Here is a link to one such system:
http://www.marinedepot.com/filters_korallin_biodenitrator-ap.html
im stoked.
