BP Reactor flow

[ramsey]

Can anyone link to a video of ideal biopellet flow in a reactor? I've looked at several videos on the web but I'm still worried I'm tumbling them too fast. To me, "gentle tumble" is a little vague.

[ErikH]

how about slow boil? That helped me.

[ramsey]

Yeah, that makes more sense. That's about what I have. In most areas of the reactor it a very slow tumble but in one area toward the bottom it's shoots them up pretty fast. I'm just worried it's knocking bacteria off the BP's when it does that.

[Big_Pun]

find my bio pellet thread I have a video of mine, after 3 weeks i slowed it a lil

[ErikH]

If one area is doing that, something isn't right. your getting an easier path for the flow to travel through, which is causing that.

[ramsey]

find my bio pellet thread I have a video of mine, after 3 weeks i slowed it a lil

Watched your video. It looks like the flow is heavier on the back side of the reactor. If that's the case, that's about what mine are at.

If one area is doing that, something isn't right. your getting an easier path for the flow to travel through, which is causing that.

I thought the same thing so I took out the pellets and cleaned both of the acrylic pieces to make sure they weren't clogged. It still flows the same way. What reactor are you using?

One other thing, I'm using the Vertex pellets and they seem a lot smaller than other brands. I may buy some Warner Marine pellets and swap them out. Some of the Vertex pellets are small enough to fit into the hole in the two acrylic pieces. I may also just put some screen over the acrylic pieces and just start using a different brand when I need to replenish them.

[neogenix]

Saltysupply had a video of the nextreef commercial one with bp's in it, and you can see how it flows. Check the videos on the Nextreef pages.

[ramsey]

Saltysupply had a video of the nextreef commercial one with bp's in it, and you can see how it flows. Check the videos on the Nextreef pages.

Yeah, there's no way to get that type of flow with these pellets. It's not too far off but if I slowed it that much, there'd be areas that aren't moving at all. I think this is due to the pellets more than anything. I'm going to try a different brand next time. I guess I can't complain too much though. My nitrates are 0 and phosphates are .5. Not bad considering I have no fuge. I had an algae bloom but it seems to be going away without much of an algae cleanup crew.

[Big_Pun]

I fixed that by tilting it and wedging it higher on one side. after a while they settled in and the flow was evenly spread

[txg8gxp]

I use a valve on the output side of the reactor (not recommended for all reactors) and the added back pressure helped keep everything flowing even in my reactor. Nextreef smr1 xl