GFO and Algae or something!

Discussion in 'Algae' started by zesty, Aug 7, 2013.

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  1. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    So, 2 weeks ago, I turned on a dual reactor for GFO and carbon. My goal was to reduce PO4 in my tank as they were pretty high. Well, after a week, I noticed a brownish film showing up, water turned cloudy and brown stuff showing up. I was out of town last weekend and came back and that's when it was the worst.
    The one thing I do not have is my parameters from before I did a water change last night. I do have them from today, I drained my sump (last night) and cleaned out everything the best I could.
    So here are some pictures of what it looked like before I cleaned it up. It was gross. I ended up getting most of it out, then I slammed on a filter sock to catch the crud I mixed up into the water column.

    Today, everything looks really good, the filter sock has trapped a lot of the brown crud. So, I'll take that one off and replace it with the other and clean the first one.

    Is this coming from the GFO? I had noticed some cyano in my fuge section before I started the GFO. I guess I was hoping that the GFO would reduce the PO4, but then it just seemed to get everywhere and turned all hoses brown and everything. Onto the pictures.

    Thanks!

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  3. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

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    Did you rinse it first?
     
  4. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    Yeah, I rinsed it pretty well (AFAIK) I rinsed both the GFO and carbon. I rinsed at least 2 gallons thru each. I may have had the GFO tumbling too much at first. This was my first time running GFO, so when I first turned it on, some of the GFO got out and got into the sump, but it wasn't too terribly much.
     
  5. evolved

    evolved Wrasse Freak

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    Yes, that's from the GFO. Rinse it more, like 5-6 gallons with a pretty high flow and you'll stop it from doing that.

    *Edit* I just noticed the last photo; that's detritus sitting in the bottom of your sump. Unrelated to the GFO, but suck that junk out. :)
     
  6. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    ok, awesome! I can take that advice! I'm glad it's nothing more serious.

    What's a good way to get all that crap outta there? I used a mj to pump most of the water out of there and got most of the detritus. I just couldn't get every last bit of detritus outta there.

    Thanks!
     
  7. Mr Cob

    Mr Cob Plankton

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    Syphon it with a plastic tubing. As long as the end that you suck on to get the syphon going is lower than the end in the water the syphon will start very easily and you can avoid a mouth full of detritus :)
     
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  9. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    Sometimes the best answers are the easiest... Thanks! ;D
     
  10. vankirk

    vankirk Sea Dragon

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    I use a wet/dry shop vac to clean out my sump.
     
  11. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    I'm not an expert but it sure looks like the GFO was the culprit just by the color similarity. Sorry that happened Zesty! That sucks to come home to :( although I'm sure you're glad to hear it sounds like it can be fixed relatively easy.
     
  12. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    What's up with the 545 calcium?