phosphate/fluidized bed reactor Q.

[Anonymous]

I just got a Kent phosphate reactor, and some Power Phos to try and deal with my phosphate issues. Now the instructions say a pump between 40 & 100 gph is what should be needed. It also says for power phos and other fluidized media the goal should be to suspend the media 3/4 the way up the chamber (via adjustment for a ball valve). After inserting the recommended dosage (150g, and damn this crap is expensive!) and using an older pump (75gph capacity) I noticed some swirling of the lighter particles but the heavier stuff still didn't make it up 3/4 of the way. So I switched to a beefier pump (Rio 600, which is 200gph) and I noticed the media still isn't going 3/4 up, although the top of it is "dancing" around like it's fluidized, it just isn't being completely suspended 3/4 up the chamber as it mentions.

So is there something wrong I should worry about? Or is this sufficient? Anything that can prevent this from getting airborne in the chamber? Perhaps time?

 

[Anonymous]

I run a MJ 1200 on my kent reactor and it is rated at way more 100 gph. My MJ400 wouldn't even push all of the water through.

Though I would leary starting the reactor with a full chamber of media. I can't imagine a rapid drop in phosphate levels is really healthy. I started with just about 2 tablespoons in mine, for about 250 gallons of water volume. I'll increase slowly if I need to, but generally nothing good happens quickly.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm how much is the MJ1200 rated at? close to 300gph? *sigh*

Well the chamber isn't FULL of media, but perhaps that's the issue and I should remove a bunch of media, and do like you and only put in about 2 Tbs. I have about 200 gallons of water. But I mostly want to get that recommended 3/4 fluid flow (although if it gets halfway up and dances around I'll be equially happy ) oh well, back to the drawing board! (and maybe I can use the Rio600 back on the bakpak for my zoo tank )

 

[Ben1]

Most people using GFO use it in small portions. There was a lot of reports from people with SPS of bleaching if not starting out slow with this stuff.

I change mine every two weeks and am using 1-2 teaspoons in each change. Too high of a flow in the reactor can cause the stuff to break up and leak small particles into the tank, which can also be damaging to SPS. Suspention to three quarters in the chamber isnt really ideal at all with this stuff. I aim to just see a slight tumbling of the small amount of media.

It isnt so expensive if you use small portions changed bi-weekly, and should help you always have 0 P04.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok what's the deal with particles in the tank? Are the dangerous when something eats them or it lands on them? Because when I first ran it up the finest of fine particles made their way up past the "filter" that's supposed to catch them! and into the tank, luckily I hooked it up in in the refugium which doesn't have much flow at all in it so it just spat it out and into the sand (I see little black specks) so removing them is possible if they potentially are damaging down the road.

 

[Ben1]

From what I understand they can land on the SPS and burn the tissue and cause general stress to the coral.

 

[Anonymous]

I cut a piece of poly-filter to fit in the top of the reactor to (hopefully) catch any particles that come loose.

 

[Anonymous]

Well no sps corals in my 'fuge so no prob there

 

[WRASSER]

Hey sfsuphysics,
How is the phosphates going. I think i have a lot of them and i need to test then if needed buy a reactor.
Did you figure it out or what :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Yah I figured out the "suspended 3/4 up the chamber" is a fricking lie

I used a little more powerful bump and the surface of the media looks like it's the surface of water just oscillating around, haven't tested phosphates quite yet, mostly because it's only been a week and a half, that and I really don't like the test kit, but I guess I can test it later today.