Rcunning8
Premium member
Thought I made it clear that was my experience. Haha sorry didn't mean to offend u over an opinion on gfo lol. The reasons I prefer to use it in a media bag are listed above and are the reasons IN MY EXPERIENCE that if I have to use gfo, that I use it in a media bag and I think they are pretty good reasons other than the tumbling reason being to harsh on the media which may have been the brand I was using, I dunno. I like to keep my tank a little dirtier then most because it is a mixed reef.
The person who started this thread keeps his water super clean and has trouble with bleaching chalices and melting zoas occasionally (in fact he was just texting me about two frags I grew out in my tank and melted in his) and I figured adding gfo in a reactor would not be ideal in his scenario and if he did he should put it in a media bag and place in a baffle for easy removal when stuff starts to look too clean in there.
In my scenario I know for a fact that it's gfo causing these issues. I know that everytime I place gfo in my system that within about 2 weeks I will see a few indicator zoa colonies start to lose their skirts, acans start to not be as puffy and if left in long enough I start to lose colors in a few indicator corals and those indicator zoas they will start to close up, algae will grow on them and they will melt if I don't get the water a little dirtier soon.
Now, since gfo doesn't possess an ionic charge like gac, the use of a media reactor with gfo increases the rate at which phosphates are removed (where apparently this is not the case in GAC where what I have read indicates same rate of removal via bag or reactor). The absorptive capacity of gfo depends on the volume of gfo used and will be the same in either reactor or media bag but the rate at which phosphates are removed are completely different in reactors compared to media bags and I've confirmed this with my Red Sea phosphate test kit. This is why I don't recommend this technique to Krishna specifically because his tank is already IMO too clean and rapid removal of phosphate IMO will not help his cause. This is also the reason I no longer use a gfo reactor in my tank, because I would rather have phosphate removed at a slower rate than a rapid rate so my corals have time to adjust. Also I like keeping my sump area simple, less pumps, less clutter, less tubing, less wires, less power used and most importantly less work than just filling up a media bag and throwing it in a baffle area and leaving it until u get the numbers you want.
Again if you are the kind of guy that likes doing extra work, having your sump area cluttered with reactors, pumps, wires and tubing and your method works for you then by all means go ahead man
but if u are lazy like me and if you take a second to realize that a media bag does the same exact thing as a reactor with less hassle, less clutter and is actually logically indicated as a seemingly better technique (IN MY EXPERIENCE) because the rate at which phosphate is removed, then maybe your should think about getting on the media bag train man!! lol I hope you have a better day bro perhaps this will brighten your mood
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mixed reef ...blue lights.. all is well .. until i realized how nice the acros can actually color up. then i had to do it 
