What size Reactor?

[Bosco83]

I have a 210 gallon tank and I would like to add a reactor to run gfo. I was thinking about going with the TLF reactor since they are cheap and seem to work well for most people. They only have two sizes one good up to 150 gallons and the next one good up 550 which seems a little over kill. If I ran the 150 would the gfo just get used up too fast? Right now I have $80 to get a reactor and some gfo in my saltwater allowance lol.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[DTECH07]

Overkill isnt bad, you can always adjust your amount of GFO your using for the your tanks needs and as your tank Bioload increase then you can make the needed adjustments or increase in GFO. doing a 150 seems like your putting yourself behind from the start IMHO.

 

[Bosco83]

I have been reading about running gfo and a lot of people say to start out with small amounts and work your way up. So I was thinking it isn't like a skimmer that needs to be way oversized. I guess maybe would depend on how much phosphates you need to remove from your system.

 

[DTECH07]

Your right on the nose about starting with a low amount, the reason why you want to gradually reduce the NO3/PO4 in your tank not just strip theme out your corals and fish are use to what's in there at current but need to acclumate to lower levels slowly. As time goes by and testing you see the NO3/PO4 gradually drop and see that your corals are probably growing fast, getting more colorful and your live stock are looking better. But it's not over now that everything is doing better they'll want more food and will release more waste due to growth so youll feed alittle more and naturerlly NO3/PO4 will start to rise again so you'll increase the amount of GFO in the reactor. BRS has a nice calculator and process on there website that also explains this.

 

[Bosco83]

I have been looking at the BRS reactor because it looks like the easiest one to change out the media in. Do you know if you can run GFO in both canisters on the dual reactor? One says GFO and the other says carbon. Otherwise it's too small too.

 

[eww]

For GFO you want a gentle up-flow of water to keep the media slightly fluidized so it doesn't lock together as a large clump. For carbon a down-flow works best as you do not want any movement from the media as carbon is generally soft and will break up if tumbled, even if it is done gently. Our dual reactor does both of these things with one pump and is plenty lager enough for your system. You can also just purchase one if that's all you need/want and the second one can be added later if wanted.

 

[Bosco83]

Thanks for the input guys I ended up just getting the TLF 150. It says it's rated for 150 but it can hold 200 grams of gfo and that is how much I need to run for 200 gallons of water. I also am not a huge fan of having a lot of equipment it makes me feel wasteful so I wanted a reactor that I could use the flow from my return pump. I'll let you guys know how this goes. I'm hoping it will be the final step in helping me rid this really annoying hair algae problem!

 

[DTECH07]

Bosco83 keep us updates and hope it works out you you have a very nice setup that deserves seen. Take care

 

[Bosco83]

I got it all hooked up this morning and it looks like it's going to work nicely running off my return pump. My GFO should be here today so I'll get it filled to half the recommended amount for the first month and see what happens. I'll post some pictures in a month or so if my algae clears up.

Brian

 

[DTECH07]

Cool Brian i'll be looking for the post.
Darryl

 

[Bosco83]

Ok GFO is online I started with half a cup does that sound ok?

 

[senji]

aww a cute little reactor. u will love and see the results almost overnight but give it a week to see the full benefits. all i run is gfo, bio pellets, skimmer(modded with co2 scrubber) and uv.

 

[Bosco83]

Time for an update no more hair algae!!!! I can't believe I didn't start running GFO like a year ago it would have saved me such a headache lol. Here are some pics I know my tank is boring I lost all my corals and didn't want to get more until I got this algae under control. Before my rocks and power heads basically everything was covered in hair algae. I'm getting a little cyanobacteria but I'm pretty happy with my tank right now.

Sorry cell phone pics

 

[DTECH07]

The Cyno can be a trade off for the others nuisance algaes but watching feeding amounts and good Husbandtry and you'll be good to go. I think I have "Tank Warming Gift" for you. Let me know when all is stable and we'll meet up. You'll have to do some driving but not all the way:bounce:.

 

[senji]

when i had my cyano outbreak mojo said its the best nutrient exporter out ther. if we could isolate it and propagate cyano we could have living filters. hmm some1 should desighn 1 ill gadly test it out lol

 

[Bosco83]

Thanks guys I think the Cyano could be because I bought 200 snails and my freaking wrasse keeps killing them all and leaving them to rot.

Darryl that would be cool maybe we could plan on one of the next few Sundays.