New reactor question ?

I just set up two TLF reactors, one for GFO and one for carbon and I just want to be sure I have them running correctly with the right flow.

The top layer of the GFO is not quite boiling but appears to pop randomly, consistently and evenly over the entire surface area.

The carbon which is BRS ROX seems to gently tumble in one specific spot as the water is pushed up from the bottom, I tried to turn down the flow which results in absolutely no movement and if I give it more flow I can get a slow tumble across the entire area.

Any comment or suggestions.

 

Sounds like you have your GFO about right, as far as carbon goes i do believe it can handle a higher flow, so tumbling it should be perfect.

 

Its the carbon that's frustrating me, and with the ROX it is a very fine type.

 

You never want carbon to tumble at all! Sandwich it between 2 sponges and stop its movement immediately. Make sure you run the reactor into a bucket until it runs clear and discard that bucket water. Carbon dust is bad for your tank. The flow through rate after that is taken care of is less important. You want a pretty slow flow though in order to get maximum contact time for the carbon to do it's job.

The GFO should have just enough flow to keep it from solidifying. A random pop sounds about right.

 

Fully agree! the carbon will rub against each other and small fines will be released into your tank. NOT GOOD, and there has been suggestions/studies that this can cause lateral line disease.

 

Thank you for clarifying!

 

The issue is with the flow so low as to not have the carbon tumble, the output back into the sump is a trickle,which means very little turnover.

 

That's fine. But if it's really just a drip drip. You should have some sponges that came with the reactor. You put one above and one below so that the carbon is locked between them. Then the flow won't matter. (you still want slow flow/turnover because contact time is more important than turnover)