What GFO to use or how much to use to not cause my water to be yellow or a clay tint to it..

[websurfer]

Hello All,

This has been my new struggle with trying to control my phosphate.

I bought 2 AQUA MAX reactors and one is running mixed GFO with carbon and the other full GFO.
My issue I have tried 3 different types of GFO, with BRS and kolar labs my water is a yellow or brown tint. and with phosguard a clay like tint. no matter what even if I prewash all of them use a smaller amount I will get either a yellow or clay like tint to the water and my skimmer and pumps will slowly clog up with sediment from the GFO. and then i will wake up one day to a nice Algae break out.. This has been my battle for months and starting to get over this tank haha..

I have tried less flow but to the point its not even flowing at all so pretty much not doing anything but making my water nasty looking..

I have the s1000 and if i stop running GFO my tank will look amazing for a week or so but then the phosphate start to rise and all heck breaks lose.

How can i stop this GFO from causing cloud nasty looking water.?
Should i just go back to dosing No Pox?

Thanks all

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello All,

This has been my new struggle with trying to control my phosphate.

I bought 2 AQUA MAX reactors and one is running mixed GFO with carbon and the other full GFO.
My issue I have tried 3 different types of GFO, with BRS and kolar labs my water is a yellow or brown tint. and with phosguard a clay like tint. no matter what even if I prewash all of them use a smaller amount I will get either a yellow or clay like tint to the water and my skimmer and pumps will slowly clog up with sediment from the GFO. and then i will wake up one day to a nice Algae break out.. This has been my battle for months and starting to get over this tank haha..

I have tried less flow but to the point its not even flowing at all so pretty much not doing anything but making my water nasty looking..

I have the s1000 and if i stop running GFO my tank will look amazing for a week or so but then the phosphate start to rise and all heck breaks lose.

How can i stop this GFO from causing cloud nasty looking water.?
Should i just go back to dosing No Pox?

Thanks all

Sounds like too much flow grinding up the GFO.

It should only be gently moving at the surface of the GFO in the reactor.

The mixed GFO and carbon should not be moving at all and should be held in place by a sponge.

You need to pre rinse GFO until water runs clear

 

[Dan_P]

Hello All,

This has been my new struggle with trying to control my phosphate.

I bought 2 AQUA MAX reactors and one is running mixed GFO with carbon and the other full GFO.
My issue I have tried 3 different types of GFO, with BRS and kolar labs my water is a yellow or brown tint. and with phosguard a clay like tint. no matter what even if I prewash all of them use a smaller amount I will get either a yellow or clay like tint to the water and my skimmer and pumps will slowly clog up with sediment from the GFO. and then i will wake up one day to a nice Algae break out.. This has been my battle for months and starting to get over this tank haha..

I have tried less flow but to the point its not even flowing at all so pretty much not doing anything but making my water nasty looking..

I have the s1000 and if i stop running GFO my tank will look amazing for a week or so but then the phosphate start to rise and all heck breaks lose.

How can i stop this GFO from causing cloud nasty looking water.?
Should i just go back to dosing No Pox?

Thanks all

I find this a difficult question to answer because GFO never did this to my system. Especially vexing is that you still get colored water with low flow, a go to solution if GFO is escaping the reactor.

 

[Miami Reef]

Have fresh saltwater nearby. Let’s assume you are only going to use GFO (no mixing with carbon).

Put unrinsed GFO in the reactor. Put the reactor outlet tube into a bucket outside the tank. Turn the reactor on and allow it to run until the output is clear (you can point the tubing with flowing water to the side of a white container to see the color that comes out).

Once clear, put the reactor outlet back into the tank. Ensure the GFO is only GENTLY tumbling on the top 2 centimeters. Only the surface layer should gently move.

 

[exnisstech]

I just run the brs bulk gfo when I need to in a two little fishies 150 reactor and my water stays clear. I run double sponges on top and I rinse with with RO water first and place the outlet hose in a filter sock just as precaution. Never had colored water doing it this way.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

can we start at the beginning... What size is your tank and what is the phosphate level?

What kind of pump did you put on the reactor? I use the sicce syncra nano on mine, the GFO should tumble only at the bottom of the reactor.

Do you rinse the gfo? I start the pump and let the water run brown into a bucket for a few seconds, when it runs clear then put the tube in the tank.

Do you run activated carbon? That should help with the water color.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

Your either not rinsing the GFO or Grinding it with to much water flow . Either way be careful with the amount you use to much and it becomes dinoflagellates city