flow through carbon reactor

i just set up a BFS reactor. i am little confused (even after the good video on BFS) .
i have the carbon (ROX .8) sandwiched between two foam discs in the upper part of the reactor. is that right???


how high should i set the flow??? as high as i can without it tumbling???

 

You want to have the water flow through the carbon rather slow. I use a canister filter for carbon and I have the flow adjusted so that about a gallon every 4-5 minutes flows through it.

 

The foam pads will keep it from tumbling. What pump do you have on it. 200-300 GPH will be fine. And that does not look like a lot. Carbon does not require low flow. GFO has the flow reqirements. ROX is pretty small and it will clog up anyway. Mine won't make it past two weeks. So if you are thinking of loading up the reactor to make it last longer, it won't.

 

i have MJ 1200 as the pump, but its also got like a foot of head pressure

yeah , i got the flow set on the GFO reactor very low just enough for it to tumble.

i guess if the ROX clogs, a higher flow might be better

 

Just run the MJ wide open. Throttle it down if yo ufeel lik it, but keep opening it to have flow through it. ROX is the best carbon available, but it does clog easy. I've tried washing it out, but more hassle than it's worth.

I just got another one and added it in series. I put a Mag 5 on mine to run through both. Still limited by what the GFO needs though.

 

huh, never thought about running pumps like that, pretty cool. ill see how long this carbon last. i used .75 of a cup. how much do you use????

 

Well BRS gives you those measuring cups. On my 90g it's 150 ml I think. I have just been running 100 ml and I'll change it out every two weeks. Alternate between GFO and GAC every week.

 

yeah about the same i think a cup is like 210 ml or close to that. i dint even think about alternating media.

 

Well I meant change out my GFO every two weeks. I run a littl eless GFO too. So change out my carbon one week and the gfo out the next week. Just maintenance timing.

 

Ah, ok gotcha.

Thanks again.