GFO was a huge mistake

[NuckChorris]

So I’ve been wanting to keep some acros and my tank has been heavier on the nutrient side. So I added a GFO reactor to my tank and ran it for 4 or 5 days and everything seemed ok. PO3 came down so all seemed ok. I had to go to Europe for work and was gone a week. I get back and see my Duncan’s not looking happy. Fast forward to today and I lost one Duncan colony that had close to 20 heads. Another colony has lost several heads. 2 montiporas dead. I guess maybe the PO3 fell too fast but I removed the reactor and now my PO3 shows .20 and NO3 50. I’m trying NP Bacto Balance now but I’m at a loss at this point on where to go from here. Tank is 2yrs old. WB Reef 130.4.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

So I’ve been wanting to keep some acros and my tank has been heavier on the nutrient side. So I added a GFO reactor to my tank and ran it for 4 or 5 days and everything seemed ok. PO3 came down so all seemed ok. I had to go to Europe for work and was gone a week. I get back and see my Duncan’s not looking happy. Fast forward to today and I lost one Duncan colony that had close to 20 heads. Another colony has lost several heads. 2 montiporas dead. I guess maybe the PO3 fell too fast but I removed the reactor and now my PO3 shows .20 and NO3 50. I’m trying NP Bacto Balance now but I’m at a loss at this point on where to go from here. Tank is 2yrs old. WB Reef 130.4.

Out of curiosity, what was your po4 before adding GFO? As .2 is still high IMO. Probably right, shift in parameters caused the corals to stress and eventually die.

 

[NuckChorris]

Out of curiosity, what was your po4 before adding GFO? As .2 is still high IMO. Probably right, shift in parameters caused the corals to stress and eventually die.

.30 then with GFO went to .02. After removal it’s up to .20. The Duncan’s loved the high phosphates apparently. As did the montipora. Strange to me that it tested .20 today because I did a 30 gallon water change Sunday.

 

[Pistondog]

.30 then with GFO went to .02. After removal it’s up to .20. The Duncan’s loved the high phosphates apparently. As did the montipora. Strange to me that it tested .20 today because I did a 30 gallon water change Sunday.

Po4 gets bound up in rocks and sand then releases when po4 is lowered in water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Was likely too fast a drop, maybe too far while you were gone.

Slow and steady when starting GFO.

The rise after removal is expected for the reasons noted above.

 

[Righteous]

Was anyone in the house when you were gone? Because one of the things I’ve had happen twice (before my house ventilation unit) was the pH shoot up, and nutrients plummet over vacation due to sudden drop in house CO2. I didn’t have gfo running at the time, and it still happened, and the first time resulted in a dino outbreak.

My assumption was the high pH sped up growth and the nutrients from autofeeder couldn’t keep up.

Before I left the third time, and before I had the house ventilator put in, I turned off the skimmer which helped.

 

[jda]

Were your fish being fed as much while you were gone? The fish waste offers more available sources of nitrogen and phosphorous than nitrate and phosphate. The fast/large phosphate drop, and then rise, from the GFO was likely a problem, but not having new sources of other forms of N and P could have contributed too in some sort of perfect storm sort of way.

I have a theory that GFO not only binds orthophosphate (the kind that we test for), but also other available sources of phosphorous that we cannot test for. Lanthanum Chloride mostly binds orthophosphate leaving the other forms mostly in tact. Thus, too much and too quick with GFO can cause issues that nobody seems to have with Lanthanum Chloride. Slow and steady with either works. This is mostly from usage anecdotes, but the science does not totally discard the theory. In any case, if you want to use GFO, I would keep feeding the fish very well while you do.