gfo went everywhere... help

rynosreef

Member
ok i had gfo in a sock in my sump. the sock broke no i have gfo everwhere..... someone help me fast what should i do. will it kill my fish and corals.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Get the GFO out as best as possible and would probably do a good water change.....Also GFO is meant to be run in a reactor as well.....
 

flower

Well-Known Member
I answered in a PM you sent...I really don't know what it will do to corals and fish. while searching for an answer. That Reef central folks put GFO in filter socks all the time, I never heard of that until now.
Somebody on Reef central mentioned iron and TDS being in GFO, that it binds the phosphates to it and keeps it. If that's the case and it's released into the tank it might cause a problem. Bang guy or one of the super brains like Spanko or Florida Joe might know for sure. I know it will clog up power heads.
 

rynosreef

Member
well today i am buying a reactor i never want this to happen ever again. today i plan on taking everything out of my sump cleaning everything even water, besides the skimmer is do for a cleaning. i am going to siphon as much as i can out of the display tank for a big water change.
after all this what else should i do more water change?
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by rynosreef http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465644
well today i am buying a reactor i never want this to happen ever again. today i plan on taking everything out of my sump cleaning everything even water, besides the skimmer is do for a cleaning. i am going to siphon as much as i can out of the display tank for a big water change.
after all this what else should i do more water change?
Well...it all depends on how the coral are doing...if they are all drawn up then you have to wait a few days and do another big change, but if everything is fine and the tank looks clean you should be fine. Just keep an eye on the tank and if the corals.... even say a month from now look bad you can trace this incident as the cause. Write down this date and what happened right now while it's fresh in your mind.
That way if you need help down the road you can explain exactly what happened and what you did to fix it. Who knows, your corals may do better than ever before, and you just accidently discovered the cure to brown jelly disease. You never know....LOL
I agree, get a reactor.
 

rynosreef

Member
lol it would be nice to discover the brown jelly disease cure. i wasnt thinking i was going to spend my sat-day doing this but there aint any better time to upgrade than now right. so far everything looks good my black clowns, naso tank are all swimming there hearts out but i have not seen my potters wrasse yet... i am hoping for the best.all corals are starting to open up....so far so good.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by rynosreef http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465651
lol it would be nice to discover the brown jelly disease cure. i wasnt thinking i was going to spend my sat-day doing this but there aint any better time to upgrade than now right. so far everything looks good my black clowns, naso tank are all swimming there hearts out but i have not seen my potters wrasse yet... i am hoping for the best.all corals are starting to open up....so far so good.
Fingers crossed for you.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
This has happened to people before, and let me reassure you that it won't kill your tank. Shawn has the right of it, suck out as much of the GFO as you can find. You'll probably need to do a few water changes while you do this, and make sure you're thorough and get in all your rocks as best you can. Small amounts of GFO will not, however, do much to your display tank in the long run as long as it's not blocking any return pumps or powerheads. You'll want to remove it as soon as you can....if a fish mistakes it for fish food and ingests it, the GFO may cause intestinal blockage.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
I only caution getting it out as much as you can, because I would think and assume that if it lays on corals it would have a negative affect, and I've read instances, where people have I guess "OD'd" there tanks using to much to fast, and not sure if it free floating or the quantity inside the DT......
Flower I honestly haven't heard of GFO being used in a filter sock, and even looking at **************'s website they even recommend it being used in a reactor.....Not saying it's not done, but I'm sure we'd find most folks using it in a reactor for several reasons, and the first being what happened earlier, and secondly the flow rate needs to be controlled through the media, which it wouldn't be running it in a filter sock, and as we all know with "media" that it is used more efficiently when run in a reactor; due to the mere fact all surfaces of the media are being utilized vs 1 side of it......
I'm curious as to why Chemipure still utilizes their product that way.....Your not really getting full efficiency out of their media IMHO......
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465668
I only caution getting it out as much as you can, because I would think and assume that if it lays on corals it would have a negative affect, and I've read instances, where people have I guess "OD'd" there tanks using to much to fast, and not sure if it free floating or the quantity inside the DT......
Flower I honestly haven't heard of GFO being used in a filter sock, and even looking at **************'s website they even recommend it being used in a reactor.....Not saying it's not done, but I'm sure we'd find most folks using it in a reactor for several reasons, and the first being what happened earlier, and secondly the flow rate needs to be controlled through the media, which it wouldn't be running it in a filter sock, and as we all know with "media" that it is used more efficiently when run in a reactor; due to the mere fact all surfaces of the media are being utilized vs 1 side of it......
I'm curious as to why Chemipure still utilizes their product that way.....Your not really getting full efficiency out of their media IMHO......
LOL...I'm with you...... I was trying to find some info for our friend, and actually came across a whole group of folks who do that. For the very reasons that has happened here...I would always go with a reactor, that's what the stuff was made for. I was surprised to find people giving advice to use it that way. They were talking over my head about TDS and iron being in the GFO and talking about overdosing.
I absolutely agree with you 100%...Use stuff the way it is intended to be used.
 

btldreef

Moderator
I've had a reactor malfunction and shoot it all over my tank, and I think Cryptics had it go all over his tank at one point as well. Just stay on top of your water changes, suck out as much as possible and observe your tank, but you should be fine.
As for brown jelly disease, ugh, don't even get me started on how much I hate that! IMO, it's worse than your fish getting ich! I lost all but one of my Euphyllia's, and a ton of acan colonies and a bleeding apple scolymia to BJD.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465673
I've had a reactor malfunction and shoot it all over my tank, and I think Cryptics had it go all over his tank at one point as well. Just stay on top of your water changes, suck out as much as possible and observe your tank, but you should be fine.
As for brown jelly disease, ugh, don't even get me started on how much I hate that! IMO, it's worse than your fish getting ich! I lost all but one of my Euphyllia's, and a ton of acan colonies and a bleeding apple scolymia to BJD.
Not even a reactor is safe?...
...I hope this does not become the jinx thread that started it all, like the leak thread did...LOL
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Good luck! What kind of reactor didya get? I have a BRS reactor for my GFO, and I recently got a 2LF reactor and retrofit kit for their bioplastics. I like both, but I admit I'm not a fan of the tubing that came with the BRS reactor...it's stiff, and tends to go everywhere but where YOU want it to go.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465747
Good luck! What kind of reactor didya get? I have a BRS reactor for my GFO, and I recently got a 2LF reactor and retrofit kit for their bioplastics. I like both, but I admit I'm not a fan of the tubing that came with the BRS reactor...it's stiff, and tends to go everywhere but where YOU want it to go.
Agree....can't see the reactor from BRS being an issue, but the tubing is hideous....I got rid of their tubing and hard plumbed mine in place with unions if I want to totally remove the reactors.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
I got the duel carbon and phosphate reactor from BRS...I attached the thing to wood that I place on the back wall behind the tank...I can take the whole thing to the kitchen to service and not have to bend over to the floor. I got used to the tubes, they sure are rigid like you said, but I found a sweet spot in the tank where it all works.
 

rynosreef

Member
got a phosban 250 reactor with a mag 3 pump. I must say my tank looks a lot better within the 12 hours of water change and running the reactor. i dont know why i didnt have a reactor to begin with. i love it. I am also putting in an order for bio pellets, if anyone has any experience with them i would love to hear about it
 

acrylic51

Active Member
I hope your not running the mag drive 3 wide open on that reactor......How is the media moving in the reactor.....As far as the bio pellets......Don't waste of money.....
 

btldreef

Moderator

Quote:Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/391014/gfo-went-everywhere-help#post_3465771
I hope your not running the mag drive 3 wide open on that reactor......How is the media moving in the reactor.....As far as the bio pellets......Don't waste of money.....


+1
That pump is too strong at full strength. The GFO should barely be moving in the reactor, you just want the top layer to lightly tumble. Any more movement than that and you're likely to end up with GFO all over your tank again.
 
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