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Should I use GFO??


Paratore

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I've been battling some algae for a while now and I can't seem to beat it. I've cut feeding to a bare minimum, but that hasn't seemed to help. I'm thinking of adding GFO to the system to see if that helps me get the edge on it until my macro algae starts to get a footing. Would you guys recommend using GFO? I've heard a lot of good and bad things about it? I just don't wan to stress my acros out.

It's a mixed reef so I've got all kinds of corals, SPS LPS and Softies. Corals all look great, I just hate the algae look.....

 

 

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Whenever I stop using GFO for awhile, I get algae problems. Once phosphates go high in a tank, they seem to get attached to live rock and sand chemically. You need to keep running GFO to remove the phosphate that leeches into the water once the concentration of phosphate in the water is lowered. At some point, you will get the phosphates down and then you can keep them down using less GFO.

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GFO is really effective at lowering phosphate----sometimes too good. As Matty said, you need to be really careful that you don't lower it too quickly. Measure your Phosphate and see where your starting point is. Then use about 1/2 the recommended GFO amount in your reactor. Measure your levels again the next morning. (I had levels drop .18 in 8 hrs once, and that is way too fast.) If it is dropping too quickly, put your reactor pump on a timer so that it is on about 3 hrs per day. This will allow you to maintain some level of phosphate, which your corals do need.

 

I have two of my systems running GFO in a reactor on a timer. One tank stays steady at .08, and the other stays steady at .05. Both tanks have a little bit of algae, but not too much. When I let my phosphates get above .15 or so, the algae starts to bloom....

 

Good luck!

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I do not use it, and have stopped for several years now. I prefer carbon dosing which doesn't go to well with GFO.

IME back when I was using it I found it unnecessary for me if instead I cleaned my skimmer neck everyday. I know other people have had similiar reports after using the swabbie product for their skimmer necks, but I am not that fancy yet. So I rinse my neck off every morning which improved skimmer performance dramatically.

 

I still clean my skimmer everyday now, but with the carbon dosing (I use vodka) my phosphate levels are always very low now despite my constant over feeding.

 

JME

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I only have a nano skimmer but i keep a toothbrush for my reef and have found that cleaning the skimmer neck makes a huge difference +1 I do also run small amount of gfo in the form of chemipure elite. I think no mater what you do to combat it that you need to listen to your tank and monitor parameters stripping phosphates from the water to quickly is really hard on your corals as well. Also should mention take care if running in a reactor with carbon as I have had it pulverize the carbon into dust when i mixed the 2 together in the same chamber.

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