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View Full Version : GFO + Carbon ... which one first


seandanekind
01/10/2005, 11:35 PM
Hi Doctor Holmes-Farley...

I have a dual chamber calcium reactor that I'm not using, and was hoping to use for chemical removal. It's about 12" tall with a 6" diameter main chamber and a 4" diameter secondary chamber. Water flows from the tank into the 1st tube where it recirculates at about 250 gph. Runoff from the 1st tube feeds the 2nd tube, it goes thru the media, then back to the sump.

I was hoping to use a small amount of GFO in one chamber and Activated Carbon in the other. Is there any reason to use carbon in the 1st chamber and then GFO in the 2nd (or vice-versa)?

If it would be more efficient use of the media, I can make both chambers into fluidized beds. If I shouldn't put both chambers directly in line with each other, I can replumb them into 2 discrete chambers.

The tank is a 400 gallon mixed reef with a 180 gallon refugium / prop / macroalgae tank on a reverse daylight schedule, and a 120 gallon sponge refugium getting much less flow than the other tanks. There's plenty of skimming, and I'll soon start growing macro algea in the 180.

Am I just going for overkill on the chemical filtration since I have Macroalgea and sponges growing and sucking up nutrients anyway?

Randy Holmes-Farley
01/11/2005, 08:22 AM
I expect the difference is small, but I'd use carbon in the first chamber and the GFO in the second. The carbon will take out some of the organics that might take up the surface of the GFO,, leaving it more free for phosphate. In the reverse order, the GFO will take up some organics, blocking the GFO surface, and the phosphate that can no longer bind to it won't bind to the carbon.

I do not know if a fluidized bed is necessarily better, but it might be.

This article may also be useful for you:

Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binders
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.htm

I don't think it is necessarily overkill. :)

seandanekind
01/11/2005, 10:01 AM
Thanks!!

Yep, I read that article the other day. Thanks for your work!!

Randy Holmes-Farley
01/11/2005, 03:41 PM
You're welcome.

Good luck! :)