Questions about Phosban Reactor

[Blazer88]

I was going to post this into the equipment forum, but figured it'll get more visibility here. Any ways, I just ordered one from ebay. Can I use phosguard in this? I have a fairly large container of it left and would like to use it in the reactor if possible. I was also wondering how/if I can run carbon in this as well. Thanks for any other help or suggestions.

 

[Krish]

Which phosban reactor did you get? I have the two little Fishies phosban reactor and the amount of phosban media I have to use in it for saltwater application doesn't leave much room for carbon. Plus, the water flow in mine, which is suggested (a 90 gph pump with a valve to minimize flow to a little aggitation on the surface of the media) isn't much at all. It would take forever for the carbon to come in contact with all of the water. I'm not sure, but I think you'd want a little higher flow rate running through your carbon than that and besides carbon is reccommended to be changed atleast every 3-4 weeks where as the phosban media can go for atleast 3 months. With that you'd have to keep tearing it down to change carbon which in turn may get mixed up with you phosphate media etc. That's my 2 cents on the subject that is, if you have a Two little fishies phosban reactor...I'm not to sure about the others.
Hope it helps.

 

[Blazer88]

Yep, that's the reactor I got, the 150. I can probably just use the carbon in my sump in a sack and keep the reactor for phosguard or whichever media. I didn't realize the media can go for 3 months though! I guess that's a good thing. And I have a few extra powerhead laying around that I can use. One is about 100 gph and the other is a MJ1200 which is about 275 or so. Which one should I use?

 

[wrightme43]

Use the smaller powerhead, the reactor comes with a valve to tune the flow. Rowa phos and phos ban were both well rated in testing on reef sanctuary I think it was. If your talking about the kent white phos absorber its only supposed to stay in for 8-24 hours. Rowa and Phosban supposedly dont release what they have captured.

 

[Krish]

I didn't realize the media can go for 3 months though! I guess that's a good thing

Yes it is. The thing with it is once it has exhausted itself it will not leach back into the water like carbon does. That's why you have to change your carbon out before it leaches back into the water. Some say to change the carbon every 4-6 weeks, but I change mine usually about every 3 weeks just to be safe.

 

[Blazer88]

Do you run carbon all the time? I thought most people ran it maybe two weeks a month or something similar. I just got back from my LFS and got some activated carbon and baggies for it. I'm going to add that into my sump now and try to get it in a high-flow area. Do you have a pic of how you have your reactor setup? I'm still curious to see how this will plumb into my sump as it has to sit next to it. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Krish]

Yes, I run carbon all the time. Some people prefer not to, but I like to absorb all of the nasties once they get in the tank. I have no problem changing it out regularly so the carbon becoming exhausted is never an issue. I'll run dowstairs real quick and take a picture of it for you. It's just a basic setup. I use it at the end of my sump so that not much junk gets into the reactor and it drains back into the sump on top of the filter pad. The only sort of issue I had with this is having some of the same water running through the reactor twice, but if my sump is pumping 800 gph and the phosban probably about 10-20 gph, I think it may be highly unlikely.

 

[Krish]

Alright here are the pictures:

The first one shows pretty much the whole Phosban set up. If you look good you can see how much the valve is closed and it's only a 90gph pump

The second picture shows the actual flow coming out of it. As you can see it is not much at all, but that is all you need. You only want the top layer of the media showing disturbance.

The last one shows where it sits in relation to all of the other equipment. The canister filter you see all the way to the right is where I use my carbon. It's a magnum 350 which flows 350 gph and If you are familiar with the filter you will notice I'm not using the sleeve over the carbon. The reason why is because I don't want any junk to get in there and beak down before I change the carbon. I rather it be shot back into the tank where my skimmer or filter pad will pick it up which will be changed daily once I get some load in my tank. Hope it helps.

 

[wrightme43]

And krish has the old school phosban reactor the new one has a screw on top with a gasket.

 

[Krish]

Mine has 10 screws and a gasket...So blaah. LOL. They have them with one screw now? Shucks I need one. I hate undoing all those screws. Thanks Steve.

 

[Blazer88]

Thanks for the pics. I was pretty sure it could easily be run on the outside of the sump pretty easily.

 

[Krish]

Yeah, I have it hanging on my sump (as you can see) and there is a screw and nut which comes with it to level it.

 

[DlBerlin]

Yep the ones I got in have a screw on top.And they have flexible elbows on the top too.
I've heard of people using the Phosban reactors for carbon but they run the carbon in a seperate reactor so it can be changed more often.
Deb

 

[Krish]

Thanks Deb...Just rub it in with the one screw (LOL) You'll making feel like im living in the stoneage JK.

 

[wrightme43]

Oh yeah Krish your living in the Bahamas, Its just like the stone age......... LOL
the whole top just screws off, its not one screw, you just twist the bottom containor off the top part and change the media. lol

 

[Krish]

Cool, then it's like my skimmer. I think I can deal with my phosban anyway though. I only have to change the media every 3 months.

 

[Blazer88]

Well, I got the reactor in today. Thankfully it is the new design with a twist top Now how much Phosguard do I put in? I don't want to put in too much and remove PO4 too quickly, or not enough to be effective. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Blazer88]

I put just a little bit of Phosguard in and I'm not sure if it's doing anything or not. Aren't these things supposed to tumble around and stuff? Maybe I should use Phosban since that stuff seems like smaller gains and would probably work better. Any insight?

 

[Krish]

I will look on my container and see how much you need...One sec.

 

[Krish]

O.k I've got the phosban media in my hand and it's the stuff advertised on the site I showed you earlier in the thread (reef exotics) and it says 50g per 50 gal of saltwater. It also says that you can use up to 5 times the reccommended usage quantity. I've never used the phosguard so I'm not sure how it will work. Is the media moving at all? If not,what length hose did you use for the runs and what size pump? If the hose is too long and the pump is too small your problem might be not enough flow...Let me know.