High Tide Aquatics

SpectraPure Dual Media Reactor

jellygeee

jellygeee

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Hi All,
I am looking to add a carbon media reactor (and GFO in the future) and leaning towards SpectraPure's Dual Media Reactor over BRS's reactor (mostly due to the fact it has an independent flow control to each chamber).
http://www.aquacave.com/Spectra-Pure-Dual-Chamber-Media-Reactor-P4038.aspx

Has anyone have experience using this products? If you have, what are positives and negatives and what are the alternatives solution/product you will recommend?

Thank you in advance.
Rudy
 
Independent control = parallel flow = larger pump.
Single control = serial flow = smaller pump.
If that matters.
Some say it is good to run water through carbon before GFO as well. Not so sure on that.

I like the BRS one, but am only using a single one.
Note that the single BRS one is about 1/2 the price of spectrapure. You could get
two of those, which would each include valves, then connect it any way you want.
 
Avast Marine has some nice looking media reactors, multiple sizes too. You can even get "you build" versions for a significant discount (you basically use some acrylic glue and glue it all together)
 
I've used BRS 2 stage reactor & 2 separate Avast ones. The things I didn't like about the BRS one is it's harder to see the tumbling amount through the acrylic & holding container. I found it was sometimes hard to close tight enough to prevent leaks. Also it doesn't have separate flow controls which Spectrapture addressed but I imagine it'd also take a lot of effort to close to pevent a leak.
The Avast ones are nice, but if you don't want to make yourself there are plenty of other ones pre-made that are comparable. One big benefit is better visibility through the acrlic which is a nice feature.
 
I don't like the dual reactor design from BRS, Plus it doesn't have the Flow control.
I like the avast marine reactor, but I am trying to hide it inside the sump cabinet so that won't work considering its height. Do you have to buy all connector pipes (for pump to reactor and reactor to sump). Do you use a maxijet 1200 pump as well?

What are other pre-made reactors that are comparable?
Thanks.
 
I'm considering getting an AquaMaxx reactor for my GFO as I'm not really liking the amount of space my dual BRS reactor consumes. I'm only using the first chamber for GFO and the second chamber for LR.
 
I'd always reccomend using the return pump to power a gfo reactor by branching off of it with a manifold rather than adding a pump. Mj1200 is good flow rate for the application, but quite noisy. And a waste if power to add another pump IMO.
 
What are other pre-made reactors that are comparable?

I'm probably not the best one to ask but i've seen Nextreef & Atomic (yellow colored one). there are probably a # more if you look around. For lowest cost Avast is the way to go, you just have to put some assembly time into it, but it's not that hard.
 
Coral reefer said:
I'd always reccomend using the return pump to power a gfo reactor by branching off of it with a manifold rather than adding a pump. Mj1200 is good flow rate for the application, but quite noisy. And a waste if power to add another pump IMO.
Click to expand...
Never thought of that... I'll consider it.
 
Just 'Tee' off the return and add as many valves +1 as you think you need for different reactors. +1 for expansion - you know you'll want it down the road! :)
 
aqua-nut said:
Just 'Tee' off the return and add as many valves +1 as you think you need for different reactors. +1 for expansion - you know you'll want it down the road! :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, pretty much the same concept. I definitely want to build it so that maintenance is easy and still aesthetically pleasing. :)
 
Thank you for the comments about the types of reactor and branching it on a return line. I was trying to figure out what the manifold/ image looks like, course a pic speaks a thousand word.
Saw a pic of it at RC (pic on the last comment): http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2012120

That does make sense since it saves power w/o running a second pump. Plus for carbon, you don't really need to tumble them (not sure about GFO). Obivously, you will need to a stronger return pump as you keep teeing/creating additional T line, correct?
 
I am using a T on my return pump with a ball valve off to my BRS dual media reactor. It has worked quite well though the ball valve has a tendency to get stuck after long periods and is very finicky for fine adjustments needed for fluid bed GFO. I would be tempted to switch to a gate valve when I replumb.
 
Most media reactors come with a decent valve.
You can use that when tapping into return line. Just make sure to put it BEFORE the media reactor.
 
Sorry for the plumbing lingo, but what's the difference between a gate valve and ball valve? From most of the pics I have seen online in BAR and RC, it seems like we use ball valve (the one with the twist) on the plumbings. Is the gate valve the one with the wheel that you twist to open/close?

Also, what would you use to connect from your return line to the reactor? The reactors that I have seen has a very small tubing insert. If you have a T line in your return line, do you keep extending it until you get to the same diameter size as the reactor's tubing? (which means using those soft plastic tube). If that is the case, where do you buy all those items?

Thanks,
Rudy
 
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