GFO and Carbon reactor

Scribe · Oct 8, 2013

So I ordered a dual reactor from BRS for Carbon and GFO to hopefully help with my algae issues. I've never used Reactors before, and am curious if I should be running them 24/7 or more like my protein skimmer, and run it for like 8-10 hours a day. Also I've read that BRS overestimates how much media you should use in the reactors, where is a good place to find out how much I would need, of each carbon and GFO?

Tab28 · Oct 8, 2013

I also have that same dual reactor. The GFO you will need the step the amount weekly until you get the amount recommended. You can find the exact ratio to use on the net. Tank size judges how much to use.

If you dies too much GFO without stepping it weekly you can crash your tank do bd careful. The time it takes to clear the algae out depends on how high your phosphates are and also his much algae you have. I have a 150 gallon with a good amount of algae but not like a neglected tank and phosphates were less than zero. The algae was causing a misreading. The would eat the phosphates causing a zero reading. After about two weeks the phosphate numbed started reading more accurate as the algae level started going down. It took a few months to clear if all out.

The dual chamber reacter is harder to clean since the GFO causes both side to clog up .

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I run mine 24/7 my skimmer as well for what that is worth.

AZDesertRat · Oct 8, 2013

Most vendors recommend a maximum dosage of 10 grams of GFO per 10 gallons of tank water, about 1 level teaspoonfull is close. You want to start with half that amount of 5 grams per 10 gallons so you don't shock your system. Personally I keep the 1/2 dose 24/7/365 and find my phosphates to be undetectable with Salifert kits.
Carbon is a well discussed item, it has been linked to HLLE disease in some fish so use it sparingly, kind of like an insurance policy.

One thing I would do is take a look at the plumbing arrangement on the Spectrapure dual reactor and modify yours to match. This configuration allows you to control each chamber individually without affecting the other or to take one or the othe rout of service for maintanance etc. Carbon and GFO have both different useful lives and different flow requirements so you want to contol each on its own.

I would run it 24/7/365 once in operation, when wate ris not circulating through a filter, skimmer etc, it is becoming stagnant, septic and deprived of oxygen and can create problems when turned back on. Keep it moving.

Scribe · Oct 9, 2013

Tab28'. That makes a lot of sense with the algae absorbing phosphates and giving you a false read. I was getting 0 reads, but have tons of algae. Wrapped and unwrapped tank...a lot of algae die off, and phosphates rose. Couldn't figure it out. Now I know why. The reactors were almost not ordered since I wasn't getting a reading above zero. Thanks for the enlightenment.

AZdesertRat, thanks for the suggestion on the mod. I like the idea. May have to tweak it after I get it up and running for a bit. Sure ill have more questions coming during set up.

Tab28 · Oct 9, 2013

It will take awhile before you start seeing improvements. The algae eat the phosphates faster then the GFO absorbs. You can try to manually rip some of the algae and the will make the process faster. You will start noticing the algae will have a glued on like grip but it will start being easier to pull. At its peak of algae I was changing my GFO twice a week. It started going down to lasting months.

If you also start manually removing some of the algae that algae will not be consuming phosphates and giving you a positive negative. Do you have any other algae eating inverts? What kind of algae is it. Bryopsis is tough to get rid off and nothing will eat it, almost nothing.

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