Media tumbling

[Gregcoyote]

Sounds like you have to much water flow through reactor if its grinding up

I had it dialed down so you just saw a few particles bouncing on top. Much slower and it would have been shut off. The problem was it started to bind together within a few days from reacting to calcium. Then no amount of pressure would budge it.

It was the phosguard that ground up. But the GFO is messy for sure.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Good call on the bio beads Greg. Hopefully there'll be some good news in the future. Let us know how they turn out.

As for the premium GFO, i noticed it was a bit harder than the regular version. I haven't really kept tabs on the stuff since it works just fine for me. I'll take a look next time I swap out the stuff.

Does your bind up? Mine turns into a dense block within days.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Bio Beads will not really lower PO4 that much. They are more for NO3 and remove some PO4 by over working the skimmer.

It takes about 4 parts carbon, 4 parts nitrogen and 1 part phosphate (and various other stuff at small levels) to create biological biomass, at least I think thats the formula I remember from biology class. The beads are the carbon source, so you deplete phosphate before the nitrogen as the bacteria multiplies. So they should work on both. But I am still skeptical. It does look like a controllable carbon source for beneficial bacteria that might be more dependable than vodka.

 

[AquaRick]

Does your bind up? Mine turns into a dense block within days.

Nope. Not all. Although it does get clogged from time to time. But that's mostly because I have no baffles in my sump or good mechanical filtration. It clogs with detritus not the premium GFO

 

[Gregcoyote]

Nope. Not all. Although it does get clogged from time to time. But that's mostly because I have no baffles in my sump or good mechanical filtration. It clogs with detritus not the premium GFO

May have to try some of that. It's just kind of expensive.

 

[Sniperhank]

Nope. Not all. Although it does get clogged from time to time. But that's mostly because I have no baffles in my sump or good mechanical filtration. It clogs with detritus not the premium GFO

I use cheap panty hose as cheap filters and it works wonders. Might help.

 

[AquaRick]

May have to try some of that. It's just kind of expensive.

It is a bit more expensive but I was able to use less and have it last longer than the regular stuff.

 

[Gregcoyote]

If it doesn't pack up, it is certainly worth it.

 

[AquaRick]

If it doesn't pack up, it is certainly worth it.

The regular grade didn't pack up for me either. I just switched to the High Capacity grade since I was running a large system with a small/regular size reactor. I wish there was a way to try samples and see what works best....

 

[bavass]

The HC GFO actually costs about the same as the other since you only use half as much. I did have trouble with the GFO clogging or clumping when i was carbon dosing.

 

[Sniperhank]

I was just fiddling with my dual reactor. Cranked the pump the entire way up. The GFO in the first chamber doesn't tumble at all...but the purigen in the second one will. Almost isn't even physically possible.

 

[bavass]

How often have been changing it out? Should be changed out every 2-3 weeks

 

[Sniperhank]

Correct. Though my change out is soon.

 

[Gregcoyote]

It takes a lot more pressure to tumble GFO than Purigen. And in my system, even a lot of pressure isn't enough for the GFO to not pack solid.

 

[AquaRick]

I was just fiddling with my dual reactor. Cranked the pump the entire way up. The GFO in the first chamber doesn't tumble at all...but the purigen in the second one will. Almost isn't even physically possible.

Weird. Is a line clogged?

 

[Sniperhank]

Nope. If it was the second chamber wouldn't be tumbling.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I read that those of us that run high calcium levels to grow hard corals are having the GFO packing up problem. I guess there is a calcium precipitate that causes the GFO grains to get a bit sticky. That and the actual weight of the grains (GFO is heavy) can cause this problem.