Which reactor: BRS or TLF?

[Cammed_02]

I'm looking to add some GFO and possibly carbon to my 125 to assist with phosphates and water clarity. I have researched and found some different opinions about the dual setup. Some say it works great and some say to use 2 completely separate reactors to better control the flow for each media.

Which brand of reactor is best? Also, dual or separate reactors?

[rrasco]

I have the dual. It works, but if I could do it again, I'd probably get single reactors. I hate trying to change one media while the other is still good. The flow can also be tricky. Part of my problem is my reactors are hard to get to under my stand, which is precisely why I'm moving my filtration to an easily accessible area in the room behind it. Something to consider with single reactors, you need a pump for each or need a manifold to feed each.

[FireWater]

The brs ones are quality. I have one sitting here at the house unused if you want to check it out in person or I'm sure one of the local shops might have one in stock. I k ow I've seen brs stuff at Elegant.

As for running a dual or two singles. I would go two singles. With dual you don't have room to play with the flow like you said. You can probably run them off one pump with valves going to each reactor.

Just my opinion though and as a disclaimer, I don't even have a reactor set up on my tank right now.

[Cammed_02]

I have the dual. It works, but if I could do it again, I'd probably get single reactors. I hate trying to change one media while the other is still good. The flow can also be tricky. Part of my problem is my reactors are hard to get to under my stand, which is precisely why I'm moving my filtration to an easily accessible area in the room behind it. Something to consider with single reactors, you need a pump for each or need a manifold to feed each.

Those are the exact problems I was reading about when running dual reactors. What brand are you using? Where do you get your media from?


The brs ones are quality. I have one sitting here at the house unused if you want to check it out in person or I'm sure one of the local shops might have one in stock. I k ow I've seen brs stuff at Elegant.

As for running a dual or two singles. I would go two singles. With dual you don't have room to play with the flow like you said. You can probably run them off one pump with valves going to each reactor.

Just my opinion though and as a disclaimer, I don't even have a reactor set up on my tank right now.


Thanks for the offer, I was thinking the exact same thing about running one pump and "T"ing it off to both reactors. Hopefully one mj1200 will be sufficient in driving them both

[350gt]

I have the mr1 reactor that Louis carries, I bought the one with the pump to leave the guess work of sizing the right one.... It works and is quality IMO....

[Big_Pun]

next reef, I'm about to swap out my pm reactor for one

[350gt]

Ya Chris, couldn't think of the name..

next reef is nice.

[rrasco]

Those are the exact problems I was reading about when running dual reactors. What brand are you using? Where do you get your media from?

BRS. I also have BRS media, rox8 and I used the cheap GFO, not the HC. I might buy the HC GFO next time though.

[Cammed_02]

BRS. I also have BRS media, rox8 and I used the cheap GFO, not the HC. I might buy the HC GFO next time though.

I wonder how much more of a benefit the HC GFO would be over the standard stuff?

[SABOB]

From my observation, the HC GFO requires less and seems to tumble better than BRS GFO pellets,IMO


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[rrasco]

I wonder how much more of a benefit the HC GFO would be over the standard stuff?

I have not used anything else so I can't say. I will say, I overdosed this stuff the first go around and had to wait awhile for things to bounce back from that little incident. Now I run *very* little. Have not had any problems tumbling.

[Big_Pun]

I wonder how much more of a benefit the HC GFO would be over the standard stuff?


From my observation, the HC GFO requires less and seems to tumble better than BRS GFO pellets,IMO


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the high cap is the only way i go the low cap blows by my sponges, also high cap last longer as name implies.

[sergiotami]

What brand GFO do you go with & why? High Cap bigger granules?

[MadReefer]

http://www.aquacave.com/Spectra-Pure-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor-P4038.aspx this is the one im getting soon. independant controls. ive purchased a few grand from these guys and are top notch for customer service and price for years.

[SoLiD]

^^^ that appears to be a better design\adjustment if you ask me. Though I still prefer the individual reactors for ease of maintenance. I run 2 Nextreef SMR1 reactors. 1 for Rox Carbon and 1 for HC GFO.

[rrasco]

http://www.aquacave.com/Spectra-Pure-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor-P4038.aspx this is the one im getting soon. independant controls. ive purchased a few grand from these guys and are top notch for customer service and price for years.

Interesting setup.

[FireWater]

Madreefer, that set up is similar to what I was trying to explain. It would be easy to do with any brand. Looks uncomplicated and easy to adjust. Most of the original ones like the BRS dual unit fed one into the other and that is where problems came in.

If I wasn't so lazy I could pull up all the plumbing parts and reactors at, say BRS, and do a cost comparison.

[Gseclipse02]

the high cap is the only way i go the low cap blows by my sponges, also high cap last longer as name implies.
never had it blow by my sponges on the tlf

[rrasco]

never had it blow by my sponges on the tlf

Me neither. In fact, I'm kind of curious why it was blowing by any sponges? It's supposed to tumble, not be crammed between sponges like GAC.

[Big_Pun]

I use pm rs-35 pro reactor so sponges may be diff .......

[Big_Pun]

Me neither. In fact, I'm kind of curious why it was blowing by any sponges? It's supposed to tumble, not be crammed between sponges like GAC.

I never said I cram it like carbon , it just slowly floats up and past the the upper sponge and eventually clogs the bottom filter to the point it starts to rise off the plate. the low cap is almost like a powder compared the bigger granules of high cap. for the amount I need to use my reactor isn't tall enough I guess to tumble it and keep it from going past second filter.

[Cammed_02]

never had it blow by my sponges on the tlf

How do you like your tlf reactor?

[rrasco]

I never said I cram it like carbon , it just slowly floats up and past the the upper sponge and eventually clogs the bottom filter to the point it starts to rise off the plate. the low cap is almost like a powder compared the bigger granules of high cap. for the amount I need to use my reactor isn't tall enough I guess to tumble it and keep it from going past second filter.

I didn't mean to imply you did, just creating a visual. My GFO doesn't float at all, but I use like 1/4 - 1/2 inch of low cap. The first time I used it I put half of the recommended amount, which was like 1 1/2 - 2" and it severely ticked off pretty much everything in my tank. Took me forever to get them happy again. I just keep it at a mild tumble where only the surface layer bounces around.

[350gt]

where does it mention to measure by the inch? On my tank... BRS recommended a little over a cup, I did a cup. On ROWAPHOS, what Im using now, it said 100 ML for 100 gallons, so thats what I used even though my tank is bigger with sump and all...

[rrasco]

It doesn't, I was using it for a reference relative to the size of the reactor. I don't remember what they recommended or how much the measurement was, so I just took a stab at how much I thought was in there. When I started back up, I just put very little because at that point I was throwing their recommendation out the window. I doubled it after a few weeks, and I'll up it a little more next time too. Just easing things on.

[350gt]

ahh okay...lol


man I bought this ROWA stuff from louis, he got it on a special order that wasnt picked up..... I am really liking it, my phosphates dropped drastically overnight almost...... and no ill effects..

I hope he carries it, I will buy....

[rrasco]

I've heard of that, but not looked into it. Are they like bio pellets? Carbon dosing?

I just looked it up, seems to be a phosphate and silicate remover? What improvements have you noted?

[350gt]

no improvements visually.... My tank has always been algae free for the most part. But I tested I want to say monday night with a cheap API test kit and it was a teal color. I checked today and it was clear with just a tiny hint of yellow, barely noticeable.....

I know, no numbers.... But API SUCK but are great for reference... I will probably scoop up a better phosphate test soon.

[rrasco]

Everything is relative; based on your test you can determine there was a reduction in po4. I personally don't believe a phosphate test can be accurate in most situations, just because if you have algae, you will still get a low reading. My tank was reading 0.03 on a Hanna, which is where most people would say is ideal, but you could clearly look at it and determine there was more in there, or there would not have been GHA all over the place. Finally getting that back under control though.

[350gt]

What do you think was attributing to the GHA?.....


This tank has been up for over 2 years now and never had a issue with GHA or any other forms of algae.. Besides my little stint with cyano not to long ago, which was because my reduction in water chamges(trying to be lazy).... Lol

[350gt]

But I did get back on track with the changes and its all gone now...

[rrasco]

What do you think was attributing to the GHA?.....


This tank has been up for over 2 years now and never had a issue with GHA or any other forms of algae.. Besides my little stint with cyano not to long ago, which was because my reduction in water chamges(trying to be lazy).... Lol

Long story short, old bulbs on the ATS and no GFO plus I was feeding heavily trying to dirty the tank up a little thinking I stripped the water of nutrients too quickly. I had pulled the GFO to run my ATS, but with the CFL bulbs you need to change them every 3 months. Now I have a few boxes of bulbs on stand-by. I didn't like the ATS design I was running so I converted it back to a fuge and started back on GFO. I never had GHA in this tank until that point, but it was pretty bad at one point so I had to do something about it.