Phosphates and GFO?

[gnashty]

My phosphates have been very high .75 (tested twice by me and then by Jenn, confirmed) so a couple days later (today) I hooked up a BRS GFO/Carbon Reactor with the recommended pump (mj1200), followed all the instructions and used about 2 cups of GFO for a volume 240 gal system (directions on the BRS said to use 3.5 cups but I knew to be careful and used 2. i checked my phosphates about 1 hour later and the phosphates were at .4i sh, tested twice...is that possible and is this a bad thing? did I just pull a :doh:

 

[gnashty]

i guess so....thanks for the gfo, great deal too!

 

[ralph atl]

it can also take a while for phosphates to go down where they should be, as your live rock and sand get saturated with it. You might have to change it out a bunch at first, only after your tank inhabitants get acclimated to it, of course!

 

[gnashty]

I went ahead and unplugged it for the night - went down and stayed down to about .25 from .75 in 6 hours or so....dont need to wake up to any surprises..

 

[jaustin]

maybe slow the flow for now or remove half. Start slow for sure or you'll piss off SPS. You don't have to let it tumble, that just helps with preventing the GFO from clumping which takes a few weeks anyway.

As said above you'll have to change it out often for the first couple months in order to get the P04 that's saturated in the rocks and stuff.

Good luck and like with anything in this hobby take it slow.

Happy Reefing!
Jason

 

[gnashty]

I think the reactor i have is underrated for my tank because it said 1 tbls per 4 gal for 4-6 weeks then 2 tbls per 4 gal - for me that is 3.5 cups, the reactor could only really hold like 2 cups but i wanted to to tumble so I removed a little more to about 1 3/4 cup..so IMO I took it real slow using about half or the recommended starting point..

I have no SPS in my tank, all softy's and LPS, some chalice, cyphastrea, nem etc..

I am going to check my phosphates again and then turn it back on for the day - it runs my carbon too.