[nineball69]

My tank is doing very well with LPS and softies. My phosphates are almost at zero but NOT at zero. I am debating on picking up a gfo reactor. I'm just getting into sps coral and need advice. What are the benefits of GFO reactor? I have a protein skimmer and refugium with chatoe. I also use R/O.

 

[Jessemac]

GFO in a reactor is best and will reduce your Phosphates to 0. Being you say you already have really low phosphates, this would take them the rest of the way down. The close your phosphates are to zero the better your corals will do especially SPS corals.

 

[jamey1010]

If you have good nutrient transport right now and no algae problems you can run without one but I think most of us run one, rather than test kits you can tell if your phosphates are high by how often your cleaning your glass. If it's more than once every three days than there elevated slightly, 4-6 days and your fine.

There are some other methods to reduce phosphates such as running a good skimmer and vodka/vinegar dosing.

I run gfo in a reactor and dose vinegar to help with nutrient transport.

 

[nineball69]

I have read posts about the vodka/vinegar technique but I am unfamiliar with it. I don't have any algae problem and clean my glass about every 4-5days. (Good visual identification of increased phosphates by the way). Do you recommend a certain brand? Tell me a little bit about the vodka/vinegar technique.

 

[iyachtuxivm]

The high capacity gfo from brs works great and lasts a long time. Its expensive but instead of weeks I have gotten months out of it.

 

[Hal]

GFO in a reactor is best and will reduce your Phosphates to 0. Being you say you already have really low phosphates, this would take them the rest of the way down. The close your phosphates are to zero the better your corals will do especially SPS corals.

+1 And with low/no phosphates you'll find that you don't need to scrape the glass as often. The only downside to running GFO is that it's expensive. For most people, it's recommended that you change it out once a month.

 

[nineball69]

I am not too worried about my phosphates being low since everything in my tank is growing very well. I feed my corals 2-3/week and do weekly water changes. I'm just a little concerned since I just picked up some acropora. I guess I will just keep an eye on the growth and see if I need to invest in a GFO reactor. I really dont want another thing to be paying montly on.

 

[Jessemac]

You can buy the GFO in bulk on BRS. enough to last months or longer.