Phosban reactor question.

[deynon09]

Has anyone used activated carbon in one of these along with the GFO? I just got a Two Little Fishies reactor yesterday and the packaging said you can use both at the same time, just don't fill it all the way.

What experience has anyone had and did it work well if you did?

 

[jbishop]

If you are going to do this you want your GFO to "tumble" a little and you want your carbon to be tight.

 

[deynon09]

Hmmm. Should I separate the two media with a foam disk or something like that? Or should the carbon be on bottom and the GFO on top so it can "tumble"?

 

[jbishop]

Separate with a disk. I will get back to you with a video and order

 

[MikeG]

The problem with this method is most people want to replace carbon way more frequently than phosban. Carbon should really be replaced at least every other week. Most people will replace GFO every month or two because they don't monitor phosphate levels acurately and frquently enough and because of cost. If you want to do this, I would use 2 reactors.

 

[jbishop]

Looks like its GFO first then Carbon.

Not you reactor but the same idea applies:

[youtube]cwfuo7OIosQ[/youtube]

 

[jbishop]

I agree with Mike but if you put the carbon in a media bag inside of the reactor you would be able to change it easily.

 

[deynon09]

Should carbon be a staple, or could I use it every once in a while? I haven't gotten to that section in the book (Contentious Marine)

 

[RayD]

For the low cost of TLF reactor, I'd get a second one. Takes the guess work out of it.

 

[deynon09]

yeah that's what I figured. Can I daisy chain them and get away with it? I mean they both need slow flow, so I wouldn't imagine it'd be a problem.

 

[pillowfish]

Yes you can plumb them together. Put the GFO into the first chamber with the pump feeding in, the return from the 1st reactor plumbed into the intake on the 2nd reactor and the return from the 2nd reactor going into your sump(or wherever you choose). Make sure the flow is slow going into teh GFO or you will pulverize it causing it to leach into your DT(slow tumble) and pack the other reactor with carbon. Also, make sure you are using pure GFO and not a phosphate sponge it is not very effective since it is aluminum oxide.

 

[deynon09]

I thought so. How important is carbon? I have nothing except some zoas and a couple of really small sps (orange digi, and a single "y" of birds nest) and some hermits and snails.

 

[pillowfish]

I do not run carbon 24/7, I find it is not worth it to me. If you have a low bio-load then I say skip it. Run carbon as needed, I try not to rely on chemical filtration due to many inconsistencies in either the product or human error(forgetting to change, wrong type of media, etc..) Just my .02