The Chronicles of my Bryopsis War

[jef4y]

Ripped Tide;874040 wrote: I was doing the same until talking to randy and listening to him talk about the reactors that he builds for municipal water sources.

They fill it up and don't change it but once every few years. They use a down flow and backwash it to break the bonded po4 off. Po4 adheres to the gfo, and when it grinds against itself, it lets it go.

I fill the reactor up, and once a week or so, I'll open the valve for full flow and allow the gfo to tumble aggressively. I'll drain that water into a bucket. I have been really pleased with the out come and it DESTROYED my po4. I feel like I have a license to feed.

That's an interesting take, and makes a LOT of sense.

How do you deal with the couple gallons of saltwater you waste in the process? Just make up a small amount or let the ATO top off with fresh water?

 

[ripped tide]

I usually do it when I am doing a water change and just turn the ATO off and account for the additional water removed during the back washing when I add the newly mixed water back to the tank.

Edit: I do change the gfo about once a month.

 

[ringo®]

On the good side......you should get alot of votes from the "something green" CiPP contest this month.

 

[ripped tide]

<div class="gc_ifarem_title">Yay! No algae - YouTube</div>

 

[ralph atl]

or you could use less, and change it weekly......

I use a cup of HC GFO and change it out weekly....

I feed 4-5 cubes per day.....plus supplement occasionally live foods...

 

[heathlindner25]

Ripped Tide;874052 wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUxpuaRr1Wo">Yay! No algae - YouTube</a>[/QUOTE]

Looking good Dylan! I'm a big water change kind of guy..lol

 

[ripped tide]

I'm not saying that won't work, but you have to change your gfo 4x a month. I only change it once. I like less work

Flushing it out takes a whole 45seconds and doesn't make a mess.

Edit:

heathlindner25;874056 wrote: Looking good Dylan! I'm a big water change kind of guy..lol

Thanks! No bubble algae! No cyano, only a bit of diatom.

 

[acroholic]

Ripped Tide;874040 wrote: I was doing the same until talking to randy and listening to him talk about the reactors that he builds for municipal water sources.

They fill it up and don't change it but once every few years. They use a down flow and backwash it to break the bonded po4 off. Po4 adheres to the gfo, and when it grinds against itself, it lets it go.

I fill the reactor up, and once a week or so, I'll open the valve for full flow and allow the gfo to tumble aggressively. I'll drain that water into a bucket. I have been really pleased with the out come and it DESTROYED my po4. I feel like I have a license to feed.

GFO is supposed to be in a fluidised state all the time anyways. How is backwashing it going to help, as it is grinding against itself all the time, at least in my MRC reactor is does? Over time all my GFO circulates within the reactor as part of being fluidised, continuously hitting other GFO granules 24/7.

 

[jdavid]

Update?

 

[jef4y]

Just ran through another gallon of Tech M. I think this makes 4 gallons of that and another 2 or 3 of Continuum. MG up to 2400. CUC doing their job, sort of, the Nudibranch's are all MIA. They hung around for a few days, but the last I saw, one went down the overflow and ended up in a filter sock, and a few days later one was stuck to a powerhead. They just aren't strong enough to keep up with the flow. Unless of course they are buried in the rock somewhere.

The cutting down on feeding has worked wonderfully. Most everything is picking at the rock and it seems to be receding a bit. My cleanouts no more softball sized wads of bryopsis, but still pulling some out. It looks a lot better. I can see rock. Seems like I'm SLOWLY winning the war.

Will take a pic tomorrow.

 

[heathlindner25]

congratulations ,tech-m will work...

 

[ralph atl]

Acroholic;874060 wrote: GFO is supposed to be in a fluidised state all the time anyways. How is backwashing it going to help, as it is grinding against itself all the time, at least in my MRC reactor is does? Over time all my GFO circulates within the reactor as part of being fluidised, continuously hitting other GFO granules 24/7.

I agree, I'm thinking the wrong application here for us versus large freshwater systems where it is not fluidized, and it's hugely compacted in massive amounts, so they break it up after months of use and in effect, begin using the GFO that was being bypassed from tunneling.......just an opinion.

 

[jef4y]

Today's update - looks like I'm SLOWLY winning the battle...

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[jdavid]

that is a nice sized wrasse you have there

 

[jef4y]

Yeah, it's a pretty big one. Eats like a horse.

 

[outdrsyguy1]

too bad it doesn't eat like a horse that eats bryopsis!
You could rent out a fish like that for $$$!