Reactors

[Arce]

Continuing my build, looking into media reactors for carbon+GFO. Was looking online and stumbled upon a BRS video and they say you can actually do a mix of carbon and gfo in a single media reactor. With around 2/3rds carbon and the remaining GFO. Just looking to see if anyone does this or knows if this is doable, just trying to see if i need one or two reactors, would rather save a couple bucks on a second reactor.

 

[Rwc]

I bought their dual media reactor ,they are solid and sturdy with canisters inside. Brs does a great job with the videos to let you know what media you can and can't use with them

 

[Arce]

I bought their dual media reactor ,they are solid and sturdy with canisters inside. Brs does a great job with the videos to let you know what media you can and can't use with them

Ya they are usually pretty good, just checking if anyone actually does mix gfo and carbon in a single reactor to make sure it will work.

 

[Rwc]

I could be wrong but I do believe the gfo need to tumble in the canister so you wouldn't be able to mix the two

 

[Arce]

I could be wrong but I do believe the gfo need to tumble in the canister so you wouldn't be able to mix the two

Thats what i thought too, but then i saw the brs tv episode on reactors and they say that you can do a mixture. Since its a mixture with 2/3rds carbon to gfo, the gfo wont have a chance to clump up or solidify since the particles of gfo barely touch in the mixture.

 

[Mike S]

They generally require different flow rates so it it best to keep them in separate reactors. Carbon is run at a higher flow rate. You want gfo to just gently tumble.

 

[kschweer]

It is possible to do but can be a bit of a pain sometimes. I do it on my small frag tank. The carbon should be at the top of the reactor with a sponge pressed up against it and the gfo on bottom. This allows the gfo to tumble while the carbon is held in place by the sponge on top and on bottom.

 

[mrehfeld]

It is possible to do but can be a bit of a pain sometimes. I do it on my small frag tank. The carbon should be at the top of the reactor with a sponge pressed up against it and the gfo on bottom. This allows the gfo to tumble while the carbon is held in place by the sponge on top and on bottom.

+1 this is how I do it, I would recommend a second refillable cartridge, it's $10 and will make maintenance a little faster. Does a great job too.

 

[dppitone]

I think it may be the other way around 2/3 GFO and 1/3 Carbon. That's sort of how I've done it at least - but a little different, 3/4 GFO and 1/4 Carbon.

I think it's fine to do it that way, put the carbon on the top. As far as the tumbling the GFo goes, I don't think that it's in and of itself important that the GFO tumbles to absorb phosphate. Rather the "tumble" is an indicator that the flow is set correctly. So if it's gently tumbling, that means that the flow isn't too weak or too strong. So IMO you can put the top layer as carbon, but just be certain to set the flow gph right. But that said, I have one of our reactors layered like that as we speak.

 

[downbeach]

I guess the first question I have is, how big is your system? You can mix the media, as you described in a single reactor in order to keep the GFO from clumping/solidifying. I do believe dedicated reactor's would be best, since as mentioned they would require different flow rates, and replacement times. I would suggest you use the ROX 0.8 for GAC, and the High Capacity GFO, which ever way you decide is best for your system.

 

[jgraz]

The biggest downfall in mixing the media that I see is replacement time. Carbon generally needs to be replaced more often then GFO. That is if you phosphates are not unusually high. Mixing then will work, however splitting them as mentioned above will probably be your best bet. GFO on the bottom, give it a good rinse then carbon at the very top sandwiched between sponges.

Another thought is to just use the reactor to run GFO only. Just toss the carbon in a bag in high flow area and your good to go. This way you get the most out of the reactor and GFO.

 

[Arce]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Ill probably split them, just wanted to check if the brs episode saying you could combine them had any merit to it.

 

[dppitone]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Ill probably split them, just wanted to check if the brs episode saying you could combine them had any merit to it.

If you can fit two reactors in your space and split the media then that's good, so you can refresh either media at different times. We normally use a Little Fishies Phosban 550 for our GFO and a Phosban 150 for carbon. They're hooked in a series, GFO first and then carbon.

Reactors are simple instruments and all makers have good ones.

 

[Arce]

If you can fit two reactors in your space and split the media then that's good, so you can refresh either media at different times. We normally use a Little Fishies Phosban 550 for our GFO and a Phosban 150 for carbon. They're hooked in a series, GFO first and then carbon.

Reactors are simple instruments and all makers have good ones.

That's the problem, don't have much more room in my stand. I could probably fit maybe one reactor but two is going to be tight.

 

[dppitone]

Reactors can be converted into two stage. That way you can have both medias in one chamber and they're separated. Here's one that happens to be for sale. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2368090&highlight=reactor

If you have a small setup, the Little Fishies 150 can be converted easily as the parts, discs are readily available for sale and it's a smaller reactor. I don't know if the BRS can be modded easily as it has a different type cylinder. Someone who has one of those can probably chime in.

But otherwise stacking the media in one chamber works.

 

[downbeach]

Here is a potential solution. It's about as compact as you can make two reactors, runs on a single pump, and has individual flow control.

http://www.spectrapure.com/manuals/Media_Reactor_Manual.pdf

 

[dppitone]

that's pretty cool

 

[Cdiggy]

Awesome. Brilliant use of canisters and fairly easy to make if you have the extra parts lying around and could hook up to a manifold just as easy as a separate pump. Also hooking up Gfo backwards is a great idea!

 

[iTzJu]

agreed, I would say that the spectrapure design is more effective compared to the BRS design. If you already have the BRS dual reactor, a few fittings from Lowes or HD and a little elbow grease you can modify exactly like the spectra pure.