GFO making me crazy!

[gesock]

I have a reactor with GFO in it and it's driving me crazy. I clean the GFO everytime before using it. First time I started it up my tank immediately went cloudy. So I started running it through my filter sock. Took care of the cloudiness but now it's clogging my filter sock. I've even started only running it over night every other night and I'm still having issues with clogging.

Any tips on what would be a good remedy? Have the reactor set for minimal tumble and sponges (even though they are large pores) but it's still getting out.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Can you post a picture of how your reactor is set up? And yes, it should only have a slight tumble to it

 

[gesock]

Can you post a picture of how your reactor is set up? And yes, it should only have a slight tumble to it

 

[threebuoys]

Did you ever solve your problem? I plan to buy a GFO reactor and I'm researching the issues others have had. What is the micron rating for the filter sock you are using?

Thanks,

 

[gesock]

Did you ever solve your problem? I plan to buy a GFO reactor and I'm researching the issues others have had. What is the micron rating for the filter sock you are using?

Thanks,

Nope just dealing with the same issue and running it through the sock when I do run it. I usually just run it a couple of days a week. 100 micron socks are what I'm using. I do have to say that the GFO did take care of the algae problem I was having.

 

[malacoda]

I only use GFO on rare occasions for very short intervals (e.g. I only have a slight bit of experience with it), so take this with a grain of salt, but...

After you've pre-rinsed the GFO to remove the really fine dust, the particles that go into your reactor should be 'heavy' enough to sink to the bottom of the reactor when the flow is off. Then, once dialed in, the flow through the reactor should be low enough to make the GFO gently percolate like simmering oatmeal, with very, very few, if any, particles visible up in the water column of the reactor.

If the particles aren't staying at the bottom and just lightly dancing around a little, then one of two things is likely the problem...

• The flow through the reactor is too high -- either lifting the particles themselves out of the reactor ... or causing the particles to rub against each other too harshly and break down into dust
• and/or ... the GFO your using is too fine and dusty 'out of the bag' to begin with

There's really nothing else I'm aware of that could be causing it to leave the reactor.

Hopefully someone with more long-term GFO experience will chime in to confirm this.

 

[gesock]

I only use GFO on rare occasions for very short intervals (e.g. I only have a slight bit of experience with it), so take this with a grain of salt, but...

After you've pre-rinsed the GFO to remove the really fine dust, the particles that go into your reactor should be 'heavy' enough to sink to the bottom of the reactor when the flow is off. Then, once dialed in, the flow through the reactor should be low enough to make the GFO gently percolate like simmering oatmeal, with very, very few, if any, particles visible up in the water column of the reactor.

If the particles aren't staying at the bottom and just lightly dancing around a little, then one of two things is likely the problem...

• The flow through the reactor is too high -- either lifting the particles themselves out of the reactor ... or causing the particles to rub against each other too harshly and break down into dust
• and/or ... the GFO your using is too fine and dusty 'out of the bag' to begin with

There's really nothing else I'm aware of that could be causing it to leave the reactor.

Hopefully someone with more long-term GFO experience will chime in to confirm this.

The flow through the reactor is more than likely too high but I have adjusted it many times and can't get it to move around gently. Since it's been used no one will exchange it for me. Also I wash it throughly but that wasn't helping and I haven't used anything other than BRS GFO but I thought that would be pretty good. Great insight and thanks for adding this.