Poll: Do you GFO?

[USMA36]

just curious who uses gfo and how often. Do you use a less than recommended dose for your tank size? How old is your tank? I had been running 3/4 cup high capacity gfo 24/7 through a BRS dual reactor as recommended by their reef calculator but I was stripping my water, well at least according to my Hannah checker and my corals. I recently changed it to 30 min on 30 off with about 1/3 the recommended amount and I am still at 0. I may take it offline for a bit and see what I end up at naturally. Tank is still new. Just about 1 year old mixed reef 100 total water volume. I’m hoping it doesn’t swing the other way too fast and anger the spa corals with dirty water.

 

[Pongo]

My PO4 just peaked at 0.06 this week.
Haven't needed GFO yet, but I keep a small reactor in the closet in case I do some day.

 

[Ryan Rosales]

Yeah, you wouldn’t know when high PO4 is gonna hit you.
Have one reactor hooked up, actually on stand by with a gate valve.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used it 24/7.

 

[madweazl]

Tank is 20 months old and I've never used it. PO4 is typically around .05 via Hanna ULR or .01 if you believe Triton more.

 

[andrewkw]

I use it 24/7 but I don't change it religiously. Carbon dosing is my main phosphate reduction method, I still run gfo and change it about every 1-2 months.

 

[CypressReef]

I used it 24/7.

Randy, how often to you change the GFO?

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, how often to you change the GFO?

Thanks

The tank is down now, but I think it was typically 2-4 weeks.

 

[Mark Gray]

I have never used it

 

[jrwoltman]

Yes, I use Chemipure Elite (contains GFO) in conjunction with Purigen and swap them out every 3 months.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Only in case of emergency really.
I just bought my second 5 oz jar in eight years.

 

[Zacco]

I stopped using GFO and have gone to using Chaetomorpha Algae and a high powered Hydroponics/Aquaponics grow light in the sump refugium tumbled by a power head. SPS were suffering from the use of GFO (I was probably using way too much). Tank has never looked better since I made the switch and there is virtually no algae in the display tank. If you do use GFO, I am a firm believer that it should be used in moderation. 1 TBSP to every 4 gallons of water. There has also been studies that I've read that GFO has the potential to strip a number of transition metals (such as zinc,copper,manganese,ect.)

 

[Joseph Wright]

Yes, when nitrates are low and I’m not dosing Red Sea no3/po4 reducer. The imbalance of those two kills off beneficial bacteria that process nitrate to nitrogen. When I get a nitrate spike( yes things die and cause this). I take out my gfo and run straight reef carbon in that reactor. Makes the water even clearer and crisper!

 

[Brew12]

I wiped all my starter corals using GFO. Now, I keep it as a reminder that I need to do what my tank/testing tells me instead of what I think I should be doing.
I feel this is a good read.
https://battlecorals.com/blogs/blog/185869191-phosphate-ramblings

 

[Peng]

New tanks don’t have any need for GFO. The story goes like this - a person sets up a new tank, saw some algae, set up GFO, corals go pale, no coralite algae, corals die, the person wonders why, spend more money and add amino acids and vitamins... I don’t wanna be a conspiracy theorist but I’m really wondering who pushed these trends. The first thing many new comers worry about is how to eradicate NP.

GFO/PhosGuard/ Cheato etc are problem solvers. If you don’t even have a problem, do not use them. For a new tank having algae and brown dino is normal. If you test 0 on phosphate it means you need to take that thing off. Many reef tanks with a good skimmer never end up needing one because phosphate never goes out of range. But I keep seeing a lot of people asking why their P is zero and why their acros are pale and not growing. This hobby used to encourage people to aggressively tackle nutrient problems by prophylactically setting up carbon-GFO reactors and oversized skimmers plus refugium and some even took pride of showing zero NO3 and zero PO4. That age is gone but old articles and posts continue to haunt.

 

[Hitman]

BRS high capacity GFO runs 24/7 about 1/2 cup max.

 

[Scorpius]

GFO removes more than just phosphates. Ever time I use it no matter how much/little I run I do major havoc to the ecosystem of my tank. I try not to use it now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

GFO removes more than just phosphates. Ever time I use it no matter how much/little I run I do major havoc to the ecosystem of my tank. I try not to use it now.

I agree it removes some other things (e.g., silicate and organics, maybe aluminum), but is there a specific thing you were worried about?

 

[Zacco]

GFO removes more than just phosphates. Ever time I use it no matter how much/little I run I do major havoc to the ecosystem of my tank. I try not to use it now.

I'll second this. You have to be careful using this stuff because it can cause an imbalance in your tank. I lost a few colonies of Acro's using too much GFO. That's why I've switched to just running Chaeto and a some Red Dragons Breath Macro in the display tank. Going the all natural route has worked wonders for me.

 

[amazongb]

I used GFO but have recently converted my two little fishies reactor to a home-made algae reactor. I've been logging test results daily, and so far, I'm very impressed. When I disconnected my GFO, PO4 shot up from .04 to .20. I installed the reactor and a week later, PO4 is back down to .06.