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Phosban 150 users pls advise

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I picked up BRS high capacity GFO today (thanks @jonmos75) and added to my reactor, layered on top of my matrix carbon.

So its base > foam > carbon > foam > GFO > open space to tumble > foam on top...

I know GFO has to tumble and I can only get it to tumble on 2 opposite sides of the reactor, even with high flow it tumbles like hell but only on 2 opposite sides. Reactor is leveled well.

Check out this video and let me know your thoughts... Thx

 
Maybe its the way the carbon is packed in.

When I was running carbon and GFO on my phosban 150, I had foam > gfo/carbon mixed > open space to tumble > foam on top.

I never had an issue with carbon breaking up into tiny particles into my tank. Carbon I used is the BRS Premium Rox and GFO was the regular GFO from BRS. It tumbled perfectly. I didnt even have to use the supplied ball valve.

Pump I used was a small hydor 150 gph
 
The BRS recommendation for one reactor is to mix GFO and carbon. GFO only needs to tumble to keep it from clumping (or turning into a brick :D ). When they are mixed the carbon separates the GFO particles and prevents clumping. No need to tumble. Might even work better with longer contact time (my theory).

@muhli. I don't know how you'd know the carbon wasn't being ground down without measuring the dry weight before and after.
 
@aqua-nut I'm pretty sure it wasnt ground down. My tank was only a 10 gallon so I didnt use as much carbon or gfo as those people with bigger tanks. When I replace gfo and carbon I would look at it and see the carbon still has that tubular shape to it.
 
I would be careful using the BRS fine-grained GFO. When I used this in a Phosban 150 reactor with the default mesh sponges, a lot of fine grained GFO came out and went everywhere.

You may want to buy finer mesh screens if you're going to use that there. The Phosban and Phosguard products had much larger granule sizes than the fine grained GFO from BRS. Your mileage may vary, but I would be concerned about media escaping.
 
Id say its not fluidizing well due to the carbon underneath as well. Not sure if you have the room but I would suggest running 2 reactors. 1 for GFO and the other Carbon. That way you can adjust the desired amount of flow to each individual media and when you have to change 1 you don't have to change them both and waste media. You may also want to take one off line some day or run them only a few hours a day depending on your systems needs. As for media escaping, just double up the sponges on top, don't over fill it and you only want enough flow thru the reactor so that the media looks like it at a low boil.
 
Thanks guys. As mentioned in my OP, I brought up the flow just for the video... Its currently very very slightly tumbling/boiling. Also added the 4th foam so there are 2 pads on top before water exits.

I agree with @Finnaddict that it could be the carbon blocking upflow and making dead spots for the GFO. As @aqua-nut mentioned, the next batch I'm going to either mix up GFO & carbon or just run GFO in the reactor and carbon in a media bag.
 
@wpeterson I haven't heard BRS GFO escaping the reactor but so far I don't see any brown dust/water. Maybe I'll try adding a 100 micron pad before water leaves the reactor?
 
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