Running Phos Ban without reactor?

[Anonymous]

Anyone running phos ban without a reactor? I'd like try this product, but I'm not too keen on adding another pump in my sump (heat and space issues).

Any suggestions?

 

[Len]

It's possible, but it's difficult. Phosban has a narrow range of acceptable water pass-through. It requires very little water (like 20gph); Too much and you'll pulverize the granules, and too little and you'll get stagnant, anoxic water. Just putting it in the sump might work though.

Can you tap off another pump? Again, it requires virtually no flow, so it doesn't take much to run a phosban reactor.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Len.

I could try to tap off my Iwaki return pump from my sump with a gated valve on the line. I'm not sure this would actually work.

The only other pump in the sump is for my skimmer. I'm reluctant to lose any output there.

Shame I can't tap into the return flow into my sump. Right now I have some in a filter bag in my filter sock beneath the return. I am concerned about the pulverising effect of this arrangement.

 

[Anonymous]

I could try to tap off my Iwaki return pump from my sump with a gated valve on the line. I'm not sure this would actually work.

It should. You won't need much pressure at all, so you can put a tee in the line and then step down to 1/4" tubing like we use for RO/DI systems.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/pro ... actor.html

These are great, my only gripe with them is that they come with 1/2" fittings. The tubing is cumbersome and unnecessarily big IMHO, so I just step it down to 1/4" with reducers.

 

[Petsolutions]

Matt is right, they definitely don't take much pressure, that should do the job I would think. Running it without a reactor, at the very best, will be considerably less efficient.

 

[Lars]

What about running water from the tank through the media then into the sump (gravity feed)? This doesn't require a pump and will not pulverize the media. You could T off a line and ball valve it to control flow.

 

[Anonymous]

What about running water from the tank through the media then into the sump (gravity feed)? This doesn't require a pump and will not pulverize the media. You could T off a line and ball valve it to control flow.

Not sure how I could plumb this to work with gravity feed into my sump. Wouldn't the water just take the path of least resistance into the sump and not into the reactor? I wouldn't want to dampen the flow too much into the sump. This would affect my overflow.

 

[Lars]

If you T above the phosban outlet your flow to the sump would remain the same and you could regulate the flow out the bottom of the pipe with a ball valve. The water would back up on the phosban side and then flow unrestricted to the sump. The water to the phosban would flow slowly out the ball valve. This of course is pure speculation.

 

[Anonymous]

I think that running off of the drain would be problematic because you'd potentially get air bubbles into the reactor. Not a big deal every once in a while, but continuously fluidizing the GFO would be bad.

Anyway, running raw tank water into the GFO reactor would not be the most efficient way to use it. Ideally you'd run it with water post calcium reactor, if you have one, and if not after a protein skimmer, mechanical filtration, or refugium. It will have a longer lifespan if it is used with water that is sediment free (to prevent clogging) and low pH (to prevent calcium carbonate precipitation on the GFO granules). If you do use activated carbon, water should go through GFO first and then the carbon.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't run calcium reactor. I dose b-ionic daily.

I'm going to try and drop a line off my return pump into a reactor chamber. It doesn't make sense to me to put the carbon in the reactor with the GFO. I change my carbon frequently and the GFO supposedly will last 6 months. I'd have to disassemble the reactor just to change the carbon monthly. Is there a way to keep them separated in the chamber?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't run calcium reactor. I dose b-ionic daily.

I'm going to try and drop a line off my return pump into a reactor chamber. It doesn't make sense to me to put the carbon in the reactor with the GFO. I change my carbon frequently and the GFO supposedly will last 6 months. I'd have to disassemble the reactor just to change the carbon monthly. Is there a way to keep them separated in the chamber?

Not simply. I mean, you can place a sponge in there, but it will generally be a mess trying to get the wet carbon out but leave the wet GFO in.

The link I provided above also sells dual reactors, so you just put each media in its own chamber. Remember to do GFO first and then carbon.

GFO's lifespan is variable depending on how much orthophosphate you have floating around in your tank. It could last 6 months, and it could last 3 weeks. The only way to know for sure is regular phosphate testing.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/pro ... actor.html

 

[Anonymous]

I use my BRS GFO in a nylon bag placed up against my return pump screen.