GFO in Bag?

[alvieman]

Hey all, i've been running GFO in a reactor for awhile now but am curious if anyone has just used it in a "Carbon Bag" and had good results? Obviously you want to rinse throughly before use so nothign gets into the DT, just curious who all just uses a bag. Reason being with the new stand and bigger sump I may not have room for the reactor. LMK what ya'll think!

 

[stunreefer]

I've done it before and IMO it's not nearly as effevtive. GFO works better if its tumbled (ie, reactor), and I run carbon passively.

 

[alvieman]

That was my thought too, get the tumbling effect, but thought i'd ask for opinions.

How much GFO does everyone put in their reactors? I've heard some say it doesnt matter, all about how fast you push the water through, others say 1 gram per gallon. Any thoughts?

 

[stunreefer]

I use a TLF reactor, and just make sure that the very top layer is lightly rolling. thats solely how I determine flow rate.

FWIW when I ran GFO passively one time it caused some weird goo build up...I have a feeling it was crappy GFO though.

 

[alvieman]

So its not so much how much is in the reactor, just the flow?

 

[stunreefer]

So its not so much how much is in the reactor, just the flow?

Oh, should've mentioned that too, LOL.

Amount of GFO definently effects results... I can lighten every coral very easily with the addition of too much GFO, or with too high a flow rate. I use 2 grams per gallon of water, sometimes less. I run a low nutirent system though, so if I run more I see colors lighten tremendously.

One time after changing out the GFO in my reactor, I reinstalled the reactor, flushed the chamber, and forgot to turn the effluent flow rate back down.... in about four days almost all my SPS lost TONS of color. I figuired it out and slowly brought them all back around, but be carefull. That was using about 1.5 grams/gallon too... I couldn't imagine if I'd used 5 g/gal!

Regardles start with small amounts with just the surface of the GFO tumbling lightly in the reactor.

 

[alvieman]

Good deal, corals are quite happy now but I am seeing a lil excess algae and such so I know my nutrients are a lil higher than i'd like. Its all SPS so lower nutrients the better. I will prolly add just a touch more this next time around or just up the flow a lil, right now the GFO hardly even moves, i'll get it tumling a lil more tonight and see if that helps before switching it out.

How often do you change your GFO??

 

[stunreefer]

i'll get it tumling a lil more tonight and see if that helps before switching it out.

Depending how long the media has been in the chamber (if its been used up yet or not), increasing flow rate will definently help.

How often do you change your GFO??

When I notice algae starting to grow on the glass. I dont get any growth on the glass at all (I clean in ~ once a month), so when I see little fuzzies growing I change it up. This is generally every month to month-and-a-half.

 

[alvieman]

Yup then i was pretty accurate in my assumption, i just started gettin some algae on the glass, its been about 1.5-2 months so its prolly due to be changed anyway. I'll swap it out tonight and get the flow adjusted. Thanks for the info!!

 

[Poseidon]

Can you run carbon AND gfo in the same reactor? (Assuming the reactor is large enough?)

 

[alvieman]

I know this one!! lol

Yes you can, however the carbon will more than likely have to be changed prior. Carbon bottom, GFO top to get the tumbling effect. I've heard of some layering using filter pad to seperate and some just mixing both of them together (obviously then there's no layering). Neither seemed to have any benefits or disadvantages from what i've read/heard. I've contemplated doing the same, however since I change carbon monthly and GFO bi monthly, it didnt make sense, I may start doing it all in one though for convenience and just change both every 6 weeks instead of 8.

 

[stunreefer]

Carbon bottom, GFO top to get the tumbling effect.

Thats the crucial part right there... IME GFO needs to be tumbled unless its running passively. I've had it do some funky stuff if its not tumbling. For example one time it created some funky slime residue that caused my skimmer to stop skimmer, and ticked off the corals, etc. After a water change and running carbon it went away, but it started with a TLF reactor full of GFO that had an extremely slow flow rate through it. Either I didn't turn it up far enough initially (most likely), or a pieces of GFO clogged up the ports...regardless it was no good.

Carbon should not me tumbled IMO/IME as its a less compact substance and does break down into finer particles when tumbled. The particles will settle on corals and can create problems, along with shooting small particles of carbon into the water column which can cloud (or at least be less clear). There is an exception with certain carbons like ROX carbon, which is supposed to be extremely compact leaving it harder to break down while tumbled. Flip-side is that since its more dense, its less efficient. Plus carbon really is only effective for about a week (less most of the time), thereafter being just a means of biological media (like bio-balls ).

Its much easier to tumble GFO than carbon though, so putting them in the same chamber with carbon on bottom and GFO tumbling on top is generally acceptable. Personally, I've almost always ran carbon passivley with great results. I run it for about a week, then pull it out. I do this roughly once a month. I have ran it in a reactor and IMO pans out to another thing to change (media) out and another pump.