GFO issues

[starionesir]

I recently started running brs gfo to help lower my phosphates which its doing well with but my xenia and duncan coral don't seem to like it at all. They have all but completely closed up. The leather, polyps, zoas and frogspawn seem unaffected by it. I used the amount from brs thats recommended. Any ideas as to stop the coral recession? Here is a picture of the duncan a couple days ago. It looks worse than that now.

[hogfanreefer]

How much have you lowered your phosphate and how fast? What are your other parameters?

[starionesir]

Calcium 400 ppm
Ph 8.3
Mag 1300 ppm
Dkh 9.6
Phosphate .19 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm

Phosphate a month prior to starting gfo and bio pellets was .27 ppm so dropped roughly .10 ppm in a months time. I have the gfo in a avast reactor with a very slow tumble so its not being churned up too much. And the biopellets are also in a avast reactor that I have converted to a recirc setup and is running there recommended gph.

Recently the xenia has started to open up a little more when the moon lights are on and close up tighter once the lights come on. Same with the duncan. Opens up a little at least on one head with the moon lights on but when I get home from work are completely closed up.

[explorer07]

Yhea you should start out about half our even more than that of whats recommended because duncans like dirtier water and can get shocked if it's stripped of phosphates to fast.

[starionesir]

So should I shut the reactor off right now or what? I don't want to waste the gfo that's in there either and just leaving the water sit in the reactor usually isn't a good idea. Can the coral recover or is it a goner?

[Wolf_Zero]

Personally, I would keep the GFO running the way you have it. A .08ppm drop over the course of a month is far from a drastic change. Especially considering there are folks on the forum that have dropped their phosphates by ~.2ppm over the course of a day using LaCl and didn't report any negative effects.

Given that the coral is still opening with your moonlighting, I would have to imagine that they are going to be able to recover. Since they're closing up when your main lights turn on, you may consider reducing your photo period for a short while. Since the water is now cleaner, more light is going to be able to penetrate deeper into the tank. Likewise, from the picture in your first post, it looks like there's some algae growth near the coral. If that's the case, you'll want to remove the algae as soon as possible because that will cause corals to close up like that.

[starionesir]

I wanted to take the duncan out and clean the algae away too but didn't want to stress it anymore than needed. So wonder if the phosphate drop wasn't that much then why did it close up?

[Wolf_Zero]

It may be worth checking your alkalinity a bit more frequently in between water changes. Most phosphate removers can indirectly lower alkalinity which could be stressing your xenia and duncan corals. Did you make any other changes when you started using the GFO/biopellets (e.g. did you start feeding less)? Have you had your water tested elsewhere just to make sure your test kit is accurate?

[starionesir]

I don't have any local fish stores around me anymore. My test kits are all new and I have double checked some of the tests to confirm they are good. I even have checked my alk red sea test kit against the hanna alk tester. I do a check on my tank once a month at least and right everything down in a journal to keep track of any changes from the previous month. I will check alk again tonight when I get home to see if it has changed but my ph has not changed which if alk fell I would think my ph would follow it.

[coralsnaked]

If Alk was a problem most likely all corals would be affected. Dosing GFO is best started at 1/2 the recommended dosage, and always be sure to wash it well to remove the dust. With that said if GFO is causinf some irritation at this point I would continue to run it as long as the PO4 persist in levels above 0.04ppm. However you can turn the reactor down a bit to lower the tumbling of the GFO and this way slow down the pull down of PO4,

[Fish Biscuit]

+1 test your Alk. I'm trying to lower my phosphates too & put in more GFO than I should've once. A few corals were unhappy & when I tested Alk it dropped below 5.

[starionesir]

My alk tested on both the red sea and hanna checker at 9.6 but I'll check again tonight and see if its changed. I thought the same thing that if something like alk dropped that low to cause the issue all the corals would have responded the same way. With the exception of the xenia and duncan everything else is just fine. And oddly enough I have found small pieces of what appears to be xenia far from where the main colony is and it is open and pulsing fine. Just the main colony is looking rough.

[tilo]

How's the tumble in the reactor?

Also where it the outlet hose water from the reactor going? (usually set mine to fall back into a filter sock or near skimmer) Although it's rinsed properly, it could still be letting off small pieces of GFO.

[starionesir]

Both my biopellet and gfo dump back into my sump right near my protein skimmer intake. I also rinse my gfo for a couple minutes before putting into service.

Reactor tumble is barely noticeable.

[rjallen]

Just to cover all the bases. Are you using the top sponge in the reactor? Be sure to do so. Even with just a ripple in the GFO, the media can eject almost invisible fines that can cause real problems within your tank.

[starionesir]

Yes I'm using the top sponge. I know some people say you don't need to but I'm ocd about that kind of stuff. I did both my red sea and hanna test for alk and it has gone from 9.8 last month to 8.6. I'm sure the drop was not liked but still odd that it's only the Duncan that really was affected. The xenia is even starting to open up a little more everyday but the Duncan seems to look worse everyday.

[starionesir]

I checked all the parameters again and all are about the same with the exception of the dkh and the phosphate. The phosphate with my hanna checker says 0. Is that possible in a week it went from .19 to 0 in a week?

[rcmania]

how does you duncan look now? Im having the same problem with my duncan and not sure whats wrong. I to run GFO in a reactor but have replaced it with PhosGuard. Im still trying to dial in my LED's and not sure if its my lights or the phosphate thing.

[coralsnaked]

I checked all the parameters again and all are about the same with the exception of the dkh and the phosphate. The phosphate with my hanna checker says 0. Is that possible in a week it went from .19 to 0 in a week?

Most likely one of those reading is incorrect, either the starting or ending point. However if Hanna = 0 is correct turn down the reactor and then eliminate it.