If my phosphates are high, can I use GFO?

[we4wieners]

As some of you may know, I am switching back to fresh water from a 2 year stint in a reef setup. My question is, in my fresh tank, I have some algae growin. (Blackbeard algae, maybe) Anyway, can I run GFO to remove phosphates like you would with saltwater?

 

[Kujiraya]

If ever experiment this in freshwater, recommend monitor pH.

 

[eklikewhoa]

I would find the culprit of the problem or process of elimination before jumping into GFO or the like.

What are you feeding and how often?
How many fish or what is the stocking level?
What size tank?
How frequent are water changes?
Have you tested the water source?
Lighting?
Length of photoperiod?

 

[MonsterMinis]

Ide try an algae scrubber, idk much about GFO but alot of people are having success with simple algae scrubber set-ups in FW for control.. personally the algae does't bother me and I keep algae eating species in all my tanks to some degree, I just run a mag over the front panel. btw I found rosy barbs to do excellent work on beard algae after struggleing with it for monthes.