GFO side effects?

[theyangman]

I started GFO (Fauna Marina Ultra Phos) about 5 weeks ago on my tank in my sump and recently I have noticed a rust colored gunk building up in my sump. It isn't in my tank but is is all over in my sump. I have (had) clear tubing for my returns and drains and even those have the rusty colored crap building up in them. It is in my skimmer, and it is all over the place.

Now, here is my question I also have started a regiment of Prodibo; using both BioDigest and Bioptim.

I have taken the GFO offline for now and I have continued my run of Prodibio for now. (I did this weeks dosage)

The question lies in which of the two is causing this gunk build up in my sump? Or is there any outlying issues that I should look for? There is nothing else I have altered in my tank in the past month or so. That is why I am pointing these two things out.

 

[Poseidon]

post a pic if you can, give us a better idea of what you mean

 

[Salty Cracker]

I have no idea what Prodibio is.  So there's that.

I use bulk GFO, not any brand name shit, like ultra phos or whatever that is... fauna marin is one of those chemical companies I don't trust any more than most dog "food" companies.  Very likely they are a chemical company looking to milk you for money.

What you need to do is stop reacting to things that aren't doing anything.  If I had some brown stuff in my sump, the LAST thing I would do would be to shut off a reactor.  In fact the very last things I will ever turn off in a tank is 1) skimmer, 2) GFO, 3) biopellets and 4) carbon. 

But hey. that's me.  I asked the lfs for help for 12+ years, and they always had some sh*t to sell me to "fix" almost anything.  When you get tired of dead colonies and $10,000 coral bills, grab some bulk stuff from beanbag and get on the success wagon

 

[theyangman]

I'm not saying it is bad, it is just gross and annoying. It was cleaned out today and took forever.

It is like a rust colored mud in my skimmer. The tank had just a fine rusty dust on it.

 

[theyangman]

Well I put the other two reactors back online. They were only offline for a half a day or so....

 

[iantower]

I would have to say it's just the Fauna Marina Ultra Phos causing the rust, my rowaphos does the same thing if I don't rinse it well enough before putting it online, and even then it still causes some rust colouring.
It's definitely not your Probidio doing it so no worries there.

I give my Rowaphos a good rinsing with RO water then I pump a whole 5 gal bucket of RO water through it and into the sink before I put it online.

Hope that helps!

Cheers.

 

[spyd]

As mentioned, it sounds more like a rinsing issue? All ways rinse and soak carbon, GFO, etc in RO/DI water before putting it in a reactor. Both those medias are extremely dusty. Soak it, then pour it into a fish net or something to strain the water out. Give it one last rinse and put it in the reactor. I fill the reactor with RO water and then connect it back into the system. Turn on the reactor and have some water pass through the reactor but have a container on the output and dont allow any water back into the system until it is running clear. Once the output water is clear, remove the container and leave it running.

GFO just needs to be fluidized and look like it is just slightly bubbling on the top. You dont want it moving too fast as that will cause dust. You also dont want it moving too slow and be compacted.

 

[copperkills]

+1 GFO dust

 

[TORX]

Prodibio, BioDigest and Bioptim. A lot of chemicals in the tank to clean it up with GFO and biopellets. Too many things for me to know what is going on in that new tank anymore.

 

[reeffreak]

I add a filter sock to the end of the output to catch all the small reminits of the gfo.

 

[spyd]

I add a filter sock to the end of the output to catch all the small reminits of the gfo.

Smart!

 

[Duke]

I have no idea what Prodibio is.  So there's that.

I use bulk GFO, not any brand name shit, like ultra phos or whatever that is... fauna marin is one of those chemical companies I don't trust any more than most dog \"food\" companies.  Very likely they are a chemical company looking to milk you for money.

What you need to do is stop reacting to things that aren't doing anything.  If I had some brown stuff in my sump, the LAST thing I would do would be to shut off a reactor.  In fact the very last things I will ever turn off in a tank is 1) skimmer, 2) GFO, 3) biopellets and 4) carbon. 

But hey. that's me.  I asked the lfs for help for 12+ years, and they always had some sh*t to sell me to \"fix\" almost anything.  When you get tired of dead colonies and $10,000 coral bills, grab some bulk stuff from beanbag and get on the success wagon

+1

 

[Poseidon]

Is it possible you have your tumble rare just a bit high and some gfo dust is getting out and settling on things ? I know I have that once in awhile

 

[reeffreak]

[quote author=reeffreak link=topic=6400.msg62323#msg62323 date=1380542416]
I add a filter sock to the end of the output to catch all the small reminits of the gfo.

Smart!
[/quote]

I thank salty for the idea I seen it when I was at his place awhile back, I thought how the did a guy like that think of something so smart.

 

[harleymike]

The flow out of my gfo reactor goes into my filter sock, and catches anything that might get out of the reactor. I use bulk gfo also. Nothing special. Works great.

 

[Reef Hero]

I doubt it is the prodibio products..... if you have not been rinsing your gfo and watching the tumbling rate then i would say that is most likely the cause. A screen mesh or filter on the output helps a lot.....i use one on my carbon output as i find those particles come out randomly for me. I found that rowaphos has a lot more "dust" than the brs hc gfo.....

 

[Duke]

what i do when i rinse my gfo is just fill the reactor with unrinsed dry gfo.. then i do a waterchange and pump out as much water as i can through the reactor to rinse the gfo.. i can pump about 3 gallons through it before my return pump starts sucking air.. this has always been the easiest and cleanest way to rinse my gfo, i used to use filter socks on the output but now i just suck out any reminants of gfo or other gunk in the sump when i do the rest of the water change.

 

[theyangman]

I had the GFO running with regular tap water for like an hour in the bath tub. I had it hooked to a mag pump and it was rinsing it that way. I too have a sock that the return lines from the 3 reactors go into too.

I am now using Jerry Brand HC GFO so lets see if there is a difference in the "dust" and what not. His GFO does seem a lot "darker" as the Ultraphos from Fauna Marin was really brightly colored even out of the container while the Jerry stuff seems darker.

 

[Duke]

I had the GFO running with regular tap water for like an hour in the bath tub. I had it hooked to a mag pump and it was rinsing it that way. I too have a sock that the return lines from the 3 reactors go into too.

I am now using Jerry Brand HC GFO so lets see if there is a difference in the \"dust\" and what not. His GFO does seem a lot \"darker\" as the Ultraphos from Fauna Marin was really brightly colored even out of the container while the Jerry stuff seems darker.

i wouldnt rinse it with tap water personally, i use tank water only, r/o water would be good too. Whats everyone else do ?

 

[pulpfiction1]

ro water

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk HD