Carbon dosing and GFO use

Mastiffsrule · 07/06/2016, 05:48 PM

Hi all.

Quick question if I may. I have a 180 gallon set up for about 8-9 years now. It is fairly heavily stocked mostly with coral. There are only 7 fish, the Vlamingi being the biggest. I have been dosing vodka for 6 months or so with good results. My tanks numbers have always been stable except for No3 an Po4 which were always high. Hence my carbon dosing regimen.

The dosing has eradicate the No3 to undetected level per salifert. My issue is Po4 is still sitting at just below .25 per salifert. Most articles I have come across including the reefkeepng one mentions not to use GFO.

Is anyone dosing and running the GFO or any other options out there?

Thanks for the help in advance.

bertoni · 07/06/2016, 06:38 PM

GFO is fine to use with carbon dosing as long as the amount is small enough to leave some phosphate for bacteria to consume. If I wanted to lower the phosphate, I'd go slowly. I might try 1/8 cup to see what happens. It'll probably be depleted in a few hours, but you can check the change in phosphate level to see how much of a change you can detect.

tmz · 07/07/2016, 11:17 AM

I used small amounts of gfo along side carbon dosing for several years with care to avoid overstripping the PO4( keeping it over 0.2ppm ). I haven't needed any gfo in the last 3 years or so.

07/06/2016, 05:48 PM	#1
Mastiffsrule Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 31	Carbon dosing and GFO use Hi all. Quick question if I may. I have a 180 gallon set up for about 8-9 years now. It is fairly heavily stocked mostly with coral. There are only 7 fish, the Vlamingi being the biggest. I have been dosing vodka for 6 months or so with good results. My tanks numbers have always been stable except for No3 an Po4 which were always high. Hence my carbon dosing regimen. The dosing has eradicate the No3 to undetected level per salifert. My issue is Po4 is still sitting at just below .25 per salifert. Most articles I have come across including the reefkeepng one mentions not to use GFO. Is anyone dosing and running the GFO or any other options out there? Thanks for the help in advance.

07/06/2016, 06:38 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	GFO is fine to use with carbon dosing as long as the amount is small enough to leave some phosphate for bacteria to consume. If I wanted to lower the phosphate, I'd go slowly. I might try 1/8 cup to see what happens. It'll probably be depleted in a few hours, but you can check the change in phosphate level to see how much of a change you can detect. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

07/07/2016, 11:17 AM	#3
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	I used small amounts of gfo along side carbon dosing for several years with care to avoid overstripping the PO4( keeping it over 0.2ppm ). I haven't needed any gfo in the last 3 years or so. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.