GFO Reactors
- Thread starter spinsonic
- Start date
downbeach
New member
Give it a week, check it. When the PO4 stops declining change out the media. What type of GFO did you get? Contact time is important here, but you need just enough flow to keep the media from clumping, so adjust your flow so the media is just slowly moving at the top.
What are you using to measure it with?
What are you using to measure it with?
Phosphate can come down very fast with GFO, but it really depends on how big your tank is. Sometimes it bottoms out within a day and then starts to creep back up as phosphate starts to leach out of the media.
I would check it after 24 hours, then again in another 24 to see if it's rising. Remove it when you do see it rising, then let it go for a week or two without GFO to get a feel for how much phosphate your tank generates over time so you can plan out a long term GFO strategy.
I would check it after 24 hours, then again in another 24 to see if it's rising. Remove it when you do see it rising, then let it go for a week or two without GFO to get a feel for how much phosphate your tank generates over time so you can plan out a long term GFO strategy.
Mavrk
New member
As I understand it, exhaustion speed depends on how much phosphate there is to begin with. For instance RowaPhos rates itself at a 3ppm before exhaustion. Given the efficiency of RowaPhos, if you have over 3 ppm in your tank, it will be exhausted pretty quickly. However if your levels are lower, then it will last longer depending on how fast phosphate is added back into the system (leaching from rocks/sand, or from food/poop).
Some brands are not as "efficient" and bring it down more slowly. I know the HC GFO from BFS is at least as efficient as RowaPhos. I know the regular stuff is not quite as fast, but is still pretty fast at removing phosphates.
For what its worth, now that you are running GFO, you will probably get a 0.00 reading on the Hanna Phosphate Checker, so you might want to get the Ultra Low Phosphorous Checker instead and multiply by about 3 to approximate your phosphate levels (yes, I know they measure two different things, but at these low numbers the extra accuracy is worth it). I recently bought the phosphate checker and wish I had gone the other route. But it is good enough I guess.
Some brands are not as "efficient" and bring it down more slowly. I know the HC GFO from BFS is at least as efficient as RowaPhos. I know the regular stuff is not quite as fast, but is still pretty fast at removing phosphates.
For what its worth, now that you are running GFO, you will probably get a 0.00 reading on the Hanna Phosphate Checker, so you might want to get the Ultra Low Phosphorous Checker instead and multiply by about 3 to approximate your phosphate levels (yes, I know they measure two different things, but at these low numbers the extra accuracy is worth it). I recently bought the phosphate checker and wish I had gone the other route. But it is good enough I guess.
I'm not sure what is meant by "3 ppm before exhaustion". The phosphate level can be very low, but if the water to GFO ratio is high enough, the media can be exhausted very rapidly. If the phosphate measurement is correct, 0.36 ppm might exhaust a fair amount of media in a few hours.
yea i didnt want to deplete phosphates too fast, so only filled less then half of the canister. I do water test tomorrow and see where we're at, then test again friday and if it doesnt drop. I'll then replace the gfo.
Tank is 150g so im pretty sure i didnt go overboard with gfo.
Thanks Everyone!
Tank is 150g so im pretty sure i didnt go overboard with gfo.
Thanks Everyone!
Mekanic
Member
Rowaphos rates there absorption capacity as follows.
RP10
100 ml tub of RowaPhos
Will remove 3 ppm of phosphate (PO4) from the following volume of water -
400 Ltrs
( 88 gals ) (100 USG)
RP25
250 ml tub of RowaPhos
Will remove 3 ppm of phosphate (PO4) from the following volume of water -
1,000 Ltrs
(220 gals) (250 USG)
HHIreefer843
New member
be very careful about taking all the phosphates out to quickly....i did it and my sps went down hill really quickly. Take what BRS tells you to put in the reactor and use about half of that and work your way up....i wish i would have done that!
Mavrk
New member
Thanks. I forgot to put in the 100 ml of RowaPhos for 100 gallons of water part. Sorry about the confusion. :crazy1:
WOW! this stuff is amazing! from .36 to .08 in two days. I'm wondering why people bother with carbon dosing. :spin2:
Yes, i did some research and only used half the dosage. Will test again tomorrow and see where we stand on the 3rd day. Cant wait to see how my lps and sps like the low phosphates. and ohh the algae!
Yes, i did some research and only used half the dosage. Will test again tomorrow and see where we stand on the 3rd day. Cant wait to see how my lps and sps like the low phosphates. and ohh the algae!
Oh, we'll see how you feel about it some day when you have a tank that burns through $50/month of GFO!
reeksreef
New member
My phosphates was high and I've went thru 1 can of phosban so far. Was at .63 now hanging around .08-1.0. Hair algae is trying to take over the tank so I'm carbon dosing also. Remember your rocks and sand will start leaching phosphates back into the water so it will be an uphill battle until you're able to get it under control.
lmao...:lmao:doesnt this stuff suppose to last a few weeks at a time?
The other thing is calcium carbonate can adsorb phosphate if there's a lot of it in the water, then leach it back out if the water concentration drops. If you've had high phosphate for a long time, you might think you're home free when it reads zero after a day or two of GFO, only to watch it shoot back up after a couple days without any. Sometimes this can go on for months if you've had a particularly dirty tank.
