GFO and interceptor

So I am posting this in a separate thread because my boyfriend asked it a few pages in to my red bug thread, and nobody is responding.

I am dosing interceptor to treat for red bugs tonight. I am not sure if I even need to turn off the GFO reactor. It is pretty expensive stuff and I don't want to waste it.

Is it a bad idea to just run the GFO on some RO/DI for 3 weeks? I don't want it to solidify. And red bugs can't live nearly that long without acros. I have read as few as 3 and as many as 5 days. They will surely be dead by then.

I'm guessing phosphate is released when something dies? I am really not trying to have an algae outbreak here. I couldn't catch a bunch of my inverts, so some of them are most likely going to die. Please pray for my pom pom crab everyone!

 

I would leave your GFO running and I am not sure but RO/DI only might change the "makeup" of the GFO

 

i pulled all my gfo, then when i did my water change i put it back in, whats the point of leaving it in when its designed to pull organics out? wouldnt it defeat the purpose and pull out some of the interceptor?

 

Have you done this before?

 

if anything it might harm the bacteria

 

Aren't you just putting the red bugs right back in when you do this?

 

Not always, im sure there is a risk of it, but i tossed my gfo and put new stuff in when i did my water change it was about exhausted anyways. i did my treatment and i havent had them since, but have had other problems that were a little more serious, also start dipping your corals from here on out, it'll help you ALOT and pull off all the garbage you dont want.

 

I shut my reactor down for a couple of days then ran it again. I changed my carbon each time I shut it for the rest of the treatments after the first one. The only reason you are doing so many treatments is to get any of the bugs that hatch from eggs since they are safe in the eggs. Let your skimmer run with the collection cup off and let the water flow through your refuge too.

 

Is this 100% necessary? I started the treatment about a half hour ago with the GFO on...

 

GFO shouldn't really bind organics so much, ostly just metals. GAC will remove organics with hydrophobic portions though. Presumably this would include interceptor.