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phosban reactor?

Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
mfisher2112 said:
My understanding of the carbon was that it isn't supposed to be packed tightly, and that the flow should be just enough to cause the top to appear to "percolate". i think there were some posts about that from boomer a short time back.
Click to expand...

What I've read is not to let it move as it will grind on itself and create fine particles that will enter the aquarium. When I say packed, I do not mean like pressed in, I just fill completely or use the extra foam disj in the cartridge to keep it from moving. You will naturally get voids in between the carbon for the water to get around.

Could you be mistaking the carbon for the GFO that IS supposed to percolate? Gfo can and will bind together in time if it does not move. Carbon will not.

This is my understanding, I'd like to hear what boomer says, as I may be incorrect!
 
J

jonnyd91

I use the BRS dual reactor and it works great. It also keeps the granuals from entering the tank. a proble i had with the TLF reactor.
 
Nickjr000

Nickjr000

Tazmaniancowboy said:
mfisher2112 said:
My understanding of the carbon was that it isn't supposed to be packed tightly, and that the flow should be just enough to cause the top to appear to "percolate". i think there were some posts about that from boomer a short time back.
Click to expand...

What I've read is not to let it move as it will grind on itself and create fine particles that will enter the aquarium. When I say packed, I do not mean like pressed in, I just fill completely or use the extra foam disj in the cartridge to keep it from moving. You will naturally get voids in between the carbon for the water to get around.

Could you be mistaking the carbon for the GFO that IS supposed to percolate? Gfo can and will bind together in time if it does not move. Carbon will not.


This is my understanding, I'd like to hear what boomer says, as I may be incorrect!
Click to expand...


I called brf today and ordered 2 reactors. Talked to someone in tec to ask some ?'s and he was very nice and helpful. He said flow in gfo should make it slightly tumble a very little bit, and carbon should be tight and not move. I ordered 2 singles so i can adjust flow on each seperately. The dual would of been cheaper but i like the option of adjustable flow
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Couple of quick questions about this unit: Do you need to have a sump to run it or can I just run it off the back of my tank? I know it would not be pretty, but this unit looks awesome. Secondly, do you run the reactor constantly, or 2 weeks on 2 weeks off as a hypothetical?
 
D

Dave

mnat said:
Couple of quick questions about this unit: Do you need to have a sump to run it or can I just run it off the back of my tank? I know it would not be pretty, but this unit looks awesome. Secondly, do you run the reactor constantly, or 2 weeks on 2 weeks off as a hypothetical?
Click to expand...

I would think you could run this off of a closed loop style system.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Essentially, I have a shelf behind my 30g (which is in an alcove so out of viewing) which I would just rest it on. Have the MJ1200 on one side of the tank and the return hose going into the other side or into my refugium to flow back into the display. Any reason this would not work?
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
mnat said:
Essentially, I have a shelf behind my 30g (which is in an alcove so out of viewing) which I would just rest it on. Have the MJ1200 on one side of the tank and the return hose going into the other side or into my refugium to flow back into the display. Any reason this would not work?
Click to expand...

I was going to post that you will need to rest it on something as these units do not hang from tanks. the bracket could be screwed to the wall if you wish, right now Mine are just sitting on a shelf over the sump until I mount them. That sounds like it would be no problem at all. You will be happy with it.

Taz
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
He sold me too, Taz do I put your name in as a coupon code or something?
 
Y

ynotme4886

Wow these look like top quality units.

Quick question. What type of media does everyone run in theirs beside carbon and GFO (not sure what exactly gfo is but am looking it up now)

Could you run a phos guard type product in it or what would be the effect if you packed it full of say crushed coral?

Just looking for ideas that are a bit outside the box.

I do need a way to run carbon, but to buy the replacement parts for my canister (needs all new seals) would cost as much as a new reactor. I am hoping a reactor would last longer and hold up better then the seals that are always back ordered from the manufacturer of the canister filter.
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
GFO stands for Granular ferric oxide which is the phosban media.

The flow is adjustable, so if it fits in the cartridge I'd say you could run it.

Taz
 
Y

ynotme4886

What would be the effects of running a unit full of crushed coral?

Would it help stabilize a small tanks ph? Help sustain calcium levels as the crushed coral breaks down. Just be a waste of time and would see no difference in anything?

Thanks for the info
 
D

Dave

My understanding is the flow for Carbon and GFO are conceptually the same.

The slowest possible flow applies to both media. This ensures the most contact time as the water passes through the media.

The difference in flow for GFO is a result of a GFO property, whereby GFO clumps together if it is not slowly tumbled.

So the increase in flow for GFO is intended as an anti-clumping agent, and nothing else.

By eliminating clumping, this ensures the maximum surface area available for the water to contact, and most probably extends the lifespan of the media.

Both GFO and Carbon will break down if tumbled, thus you want to keep the increased GFO flow to a minimum.

Carbon does not have this clumping property, so you would not want to tumble carbon, limiting any opportunity for particulate cast off.

Lastly, if you are running a dual chamber, you would want to run carbon second.

Since GFO is tumbling, it will release particles, which can then be caught in the carbon chamber before making it back into your aquarium.

Running two individual chambers allows you to slow the flow on carbon increasing contact time, but it also means you will reduce the opportunity for the carbon to filter out the GFO particulate.
 
Nickjr000

Nickjr000

Your not suppose to tumble it so it breaks down. Just the top of media might move a bit. Nothing violent. I believe there is a foam filter in most reactors to catch debris like that
 
D

Dave

Nickjr000 said:
Your not suppose to tumble it so it breaks down. Just the top of media might move a bit. Nothing violent. I believe there is a foam filter in most reactors to catch debris like that
Click to expand...

Any tumbling will cause some break down, but if you keep the tumble slow it will be kept to a minimum.

Foam filters will prevent the media from leaving in general, but depending on the filter, it will not catch all of the smaller particles.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Dave said:
My understanding is the flow for Carbon and GFO are conceptually the same.

The slowest possible flow applies to both media. This ensures the most contact time as the water passes through the media.

The difference in flow for GFO is a result of a GFO property, whereby GFO clumps together if it is not slowly tumbled.

So the increase in flow for GFO is intended as an anti-clumping agent, and nothing else.

By eliminating clumping, this ensures the maximum surface area available for the water to contact, and most probably extends the lifespan of the media.

Both GFO and Carbon will break down if tumbled, thus you want to keep the increased GFO flow to a minimum.

Carbon does not have this clumping property, so you would not want to tumble carbon, limiting any opportunity for particulate cast off.

Lastly, if you are running a dual chamber, you would want to run carbon second.

Since GFO is tumbling, it will release particles, which can then be caught in the carbon chamber before making it back into your aquarium.

Running two individual chambers allows you to slow the flow on carbon increasing contact time, but it also means you will reduce the opportunity for the carbon to filter out the GFO particulate.
Click to expand...

Good info. Thanks Dave.

Question though. What if you linked the two reactors together, but "ball valved" the connection to slow the flow between the GFO and carbon? Just thinking out loud. I try to limit the amount of pumps running in my water as much as possible. Fewer plugs = better IMHO.
 
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