(resolved) GFO dust everywhere

I have a BRS dual reactor running GFO granules in the first chamber and rox .8 carbon in the second. I thought I had it tumbling like they show in their videos, but it must have been a little too high again b/c when I woke up this morning there was GFO dust all over my rocks. Looked like my diatom bloom all over again.

I guess I need to look into getting the more expensive GFO High Capacity stuff. Does anyone use this and is it worth it? This is the second time I've had a problem with dust getting out of the reactor and into my tank.

Also, is it safe for me to use a turkey baster and blow the stuff off my rocks? The tanks a little over 3 months old and I've never done this to clean debris off the rocks before b/c I wasn't sure if it was safe.

Thanks

 

Baste it off all should be fine. How do you rinse the GFO? I put mine in the reactor and then run water through until it runs clear. I discard the water that rinsed the GFO.

 

Thanks! Yeah when I put new media in, I hook it back into the sump and let it run into a bucket until it's clear. Usually takes about a gallon or so. Last night I just tried to turn the flow up a touch b/c it was starting to tumble less. Shouldn't have gone to bed right afterwards or I would have caught it. It still didn't look like it was tumbling too much, but the dust was making the carbon reactor cloudy

 

You do leave the carbon reactor empty while rinsing the GFO and the empty and rinse the carbon chamber?

 

Nope never thought of that.. makes sense! I will do that next time I change the media out.

The problem was last night I wasn't changing anything out, it had been in for a week or two and the gfo was losing tumble so I just turned the valve up a hair for more flow. It was running good and not cloudy until I did that.

It was just a frustrating thing to wake up to my tank looking yellow

 

What kind of gfo do you use John? I'm out of the granules and it's time to order some more - wondering if I should get something different? Or maybe I just need to watch my flow more closely

 

I agree, I run mine fairly high during the rinse then cut in back once the carbon is in place. I also change the GFO and carbon every 2 weeks. I cut the amount of GFO back. I use about 1/3 to 3/8 of a cup on my 75.

 

Oh wow thanks, I was wondering if I needed to use as much as their calculator said. They suggest about 1 1/4 cup, I cut that in half the first two weeks, then have been using their recommended since.

I've been changing them both out every 2 weeks also, when I do water changes.

 

They recommend at least twice what the OEM's do for the same material when it comes to GFO.

 

I'm sorry, OEM's?

Do you use the granules?