I had a disaster in my 105---a feeder malfunctioned (well, yrs truly mis-set the aperture) and dumped a good cupful of quickly sodden and uncatchable spirulina into my reef. Which set off an epic algae bloom. After trying numerous things SHORT of GFO, I filled the double-size reactor (Two Little Fishies) with 2 jars of the stuff, on November 1 and let it run. (It's 1 jar per 50 gallons, and let it run about a month before changing medium)---Now, day 30, I have rocks clearing of the plague, strands of the stuff floating loose, and some of the far-side algae (from the current-blast of the Gyre) is now looking increasingly unhappy. I have lost some snails---they apparently don't like iron---but one is still tootling along munching film algae.
Once I started the GFO, (I'm in the middle of a kitchen remodel, so my tank has been sorely neglected, as in, I can't access it because of stuff from the kitchen,) I have not pulled any algae, just let the GFO work. And it is getting there. I'm going to look up the change-interval for GFO---under normal circumstances it's, I think, 3 months, but to get rid of this stuff---I may just go ahead and change it out to be sure. GFO doesn't give you any visual clue as to when it's absorbed all the phosphate it can take, and there was plenty in there. So I may just figure it's worth it to keep going.
Once I started the GFO, (I'm in the middle of a kitchen remodel, so my tank has been sorely neglected, as in, I can't access it because of stuff from the kitchen,) I have not pulled any algae, just let the GFO work. And it is getting there. I'm going to look up the change-interval for GFO---under normal circumstances it's, I think, 3 months, but to get rid of this stuff---I may just go ahead and change it out to be sure. GFO doesn't give you any visual clue as to when it's absorbed all the phosphate it can take, and there was plenty in there. So I may just figure it's worth it to keep going.
