GFO vs. Chaeto reactor

[new2saltyfish]

Just bought a two little fishes reactor for my 5 gallon nano. Looking to control some phosphates. Hanna checker states .20. Nitrates at 10. I do roughly 1 gallon water changes per week. Trying to research whether I would be better off having a macro algae reactor or just running GFO. Seems to be mixed reviews/opinions all over. Any thoughts?

 

[Skmaiden]

What corals are you planning to keep? Water changes can help lower the nitrate a bit but IMO neither are particularly high and running GFO could strip the water cleaner than is ideal for some softies/lps if you're going that route. I'd do gfo over a cheato reactor but if you want softies/lps, you're probably better off with water changes vs gfo. A reactor on a 5g is also rather klunky - if the tank is an AIO, running any carbon/gfo in a media bag may be simpler.

 

[Joker]

Basically gfo will strip p04 out of the water fast and will need replacing over time

Chaeto reactor will take up p04 slowly and no need to replace anything.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Sounds like long term, Chaeto is the best method. Only have roughly 4 gallons of water volume so I would think using the two little fishes reactor as a macro-algae reactor would be plenty big (believe it's around .5 gallons of water volume or so). Follow-up question then; do you adjust your lighting period based on your phosphate? Maybe start off with a 4 hour photo-period and increase from there as needed?

 

[new2saltyfish]

Currently have zoos, sps, lps. Here is a picture of the tank. Digi’s and pocillopora seem to be doing well but not crazy growth. Sorry for the crappy photos

 

[Joker]

That should work. I would run it for no less than 6hrs but no more than 12hrs. Start with 6 and add a hour until you see your p04 reach and maintain its level.

 

[Joker]

Currently have zoos, sps, lps. Here is a picture of the tank. Digi’s and pocillopora seem to be doing well but not crazy growth. Sorry for the crappy photos View attachment 185576View attachment 185577View attachment 185578

That looks awesome no complaints here on looks

 

[pugz508]

The two little fish reactors can break down when in direct contact with led lights which I found surprising because there's no to little heat output. With such a small nano a auto water changer using a dosing pump would be Interesting for stability. 1g over the course of a week wouldn't be to taxing on a regular dosing pump. As for the p04, people run beautiful aquariums with higher than normal p04 but .2 is 4x the middle suggested range of .05 (.03-.08po4) gfo would be to aggressive in that small of a tank with a swing. There's also the issue if you strip it clean of p04 and the negatives that would cause. I'd say as long as your rodi is g2g and not producing p04 then continue water changes and check your feedings.

 

[Mixed Reefer]

What’s causing the high phosphates? Maybe need to figure out if it’s the food choice. Maybe as simple as changing to better quality food. Also could be coral food such as reef roids. These will raise your phosphate. Ive used a chaeto reactor, algae scrubber and GFO. GFO is my choice when lowering my phosphates. Go slow use less than recommended when starting out.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Most likely it's the reef roids is causing the issue. Only thing I worry with the GFO is that with a tank volume of about 4 gallons, I'd need like 1/2-1 tablespoon of media according to the BRS stuff.

 

[Skmaiden]

Most likely it's the reef roids is causing the issue. Only thing I worry with the GFO is that with a tank volume of about 4 gallons, I'd need like 1/2-1 tablespoon of media according to the BRS stuff.

agree, reef roids often result in higher phosphate for small tanks.

You're also right that you'd probably only need a small scoop of GFO. If you're going with GFO you can also just hang a mesh media bag in a higher flow area of your AIO sump chamber. This method is generally a little less effective but for such a small tank it's easy to compensate with a bit more media if needed.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Maybe what i can do then is hang a small amount of gfo and try out the reactor as a chaeto reactor. If the chaeto reactor goes well i can ditch the gfo, if not i’ll have that backup

 

[Skmaiden]

Maybe what i can do then is hang a small amount of gfo and try out the reactor as a chaeto reactor. If the chaeto reactor goes well i can ditch the gfo, if not i’ll have that backup

You could try but you often get one out competing the other. I'd suggest try one or the other in isolation to better gauge it's effectiveness,

 

[Mixed Reefer]

You have a five gallon nano. I would cut back on Reef roids to once a week and use less. Also I would feed reef roids night before water change. Instead of GFO I would use chemi pure elite and see if that will fix your problem. Also dry pellets or flake food for fish can cause your phosphate to rise. Maybe switch that also. My opinion. Good luck

 

[new2saltyfish]

You have a five gallon nano. I would cut back on Reef roids to once a week and use less. Also I would feed reef roids night before water change. Instead of GFO I would use chemi pure elite and see if that will fix your problem. Also dry pellets or flake food for fish can cause your phosphate to rise. Maybe switch that also. My opinion. Good luck

I do use flakes; what would you use instead to cut the phosphates? I do reef roids probably every 10 days and I would say an under 1ml slurry

 

[Mixed Reefer]

I do use flakes; what would you use instead to cut the phosphates? I do reef roids probably every 10 days and I would say an under 1ml slurry

Frozen foods have less phosphates. Better for nutrient control. But you have to look at ingredients because every food is different.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Frozen foods have less phosphates. Better for nutrient control. But you have to look at ingredients because every food is different.

Do you recommend a particular one?

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Do you recommend a particular one?

I use SanFrancisco Bay frozen but there’s many choices. Just don’t overfeed. Five gallon tank is easy to overfeed and cause nutrient Issues.

 

[new2saltyfish]

Another issue i seem to be having is alk swings. Currently running all for reef on an x1 doser. Calcium seems to be stable at 440, mag 1380c but alk will swing from 8.2 after manual dose, and by the end of the week alk is 6.7 while the ca and mag stay the same. Currently dosing 5ml per day divided into 12 times. Does this seem off? I feel like that’s a lot of ml of all for reef for 4 gallons water volume

 

[Skmaiden]

Another issue i seem to be having is alk swings. Currently running all for reef on an x1 doser. Calcium seems to be stable at 440, mag 1380c but alk will swing from 8.2 after manual dose, and by the end of the week alk is 6.7 while the ca and mag stay the same. Currently dosing 5ml per day divided into 12 times. Does this seem off? I feel like that’s a lot of ml of all for reef for 4 gallons water volume

Check online for All for Reef dosages. BRS note’s don’t exceed a max dose of 25ml per 26g which you’re practically at. Not 100% on the risks but worth looking into as it seems like you’re dosage is likely high, especially for a non SPS dominant tank that shouldn’t be consuming excessive amounts of alk.