How many of you DON'T use GFO?

[miggs76]

After using GFO for over a year I decided to pull the plug.  I initially used it to get over a cyano outbreak, but that was when my tank was only 5 or 6 months old.  It is now a fairly mature tank of about 20 months.  It hasn't even been a week but I'm seeing some really positive results in coloration of my corals.  There hasn't been an algae outbreak either.  I'm wondering if I'm in the minority.  My phosphates are still at .01 with a hanna ultra low phosphorous checker.  Unless I see things going downhill, I'm keeping the plug pulled.  What say you'all?

[AlanM]

I just got annoyed with the mess it made despite my best efforts during the month I ran rowaphos. Now I have a powerful grow light over my fuge and grow shocking quantities of cheato and hair algae which I toss, and it seems to be keeping both NO3 and PO4 very low.

[Origami]

Keep it pulled. I ran my last tank for several years after pulling the plug on GFO. Worked fine. I had a little phosphate creep recently and put the GFO back on this "new" tank but may pull it again sometime down stream. I'm not wedded to GFO.

[steveoutlaw]

Never used it, and don't plan on it.  In an emergency........maybe, but I think it just points to another problem in the tank that needs to be solved.

[rocko918]

Nope, don't used it.

[pizzaguy]

For those that don't use it, is a refugium a must have in place of gfo?

[YHSublime]

Nope over here

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

lo. Just a Pump, a Heater, and Powerheads, and the Light here...
 None of that Fancy Stuff. lol.

[Rosco's Reefs]

Nope, never have.  At the risk of being cocky, tanks look pretty good.

[matt]

Have not used...havent needed to

[Gadgets]

I use it religiously. But I also have a pretty high fish load and feed a lot so gfo and weekly water changes are a must. Lol

[Marc Weaver]

I don't use it either. 

[treesprite]

Not me

[Neto]

I stopped using recently on a reactor but might use it soon on a media bag.

[Origami]

The key here is that GFO is a tool. Use it when you need it.

 

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[miggs76]

wow...I'm glad I put this thread up.  I figured that most people ran GFO but it looks like that isn't the case. 

[CaptainRon]

I've run it in the past, but just haven't gotten around to reinstalling it in my current setup - I even created a port off of my manifold just to feed my BRS Dual GFO/Carbon reactor. I did have a pretty significant break out of cyano, but I think that was due mostly to the fact that my skimmer was out of commission for a couple weeks while it got dialed in when it's feed was transferred to the manifold.

 

In general, I agree with much of what's been said, it's a tool to be used on an as-needed basis.

[sachabballi reef]

i use it more with this tank because i think my rock is leaching.

i dont use it at all on the 72

[Incredible Corals]

Don't use it here. Just lots of water changes with reef crystals.

[taiscici]

I don't use it because it's too expensive. I used lanthanum chloride instead when I need to remove phosphate.

[sen5241b]

I've hardly ever used. Cheato with strong flow and strong light has always eatem up my 'trates and the have consistently tested low or zero.

[sen5241b]

But sometimes its not about the best method but about multiple methods for purposes of backup. What you gonna do if your cheato fails while you're away? If you got GFO running your saved.

[s2nhle]

I am not using it on my current running system. I use refugium and voka dosing.

[Neto]

I read somewhere that GFO causes your corals to become more pale too

[YHSublime]

Never used it, and don't plan on it.  In an emergency........maybe, but I think it just points to another problem in the tank that needs to be solved.

 

I agree with Steve 100% on this one.