What pump is best for a phosban reactor?

[hopper]

I am going to order a phosban reactor and was wondering which pump seems to have the best results with reactors. They say to use one in the 80-90 pgh range. Do I use a ball valve to adjust the flow rate?

[Ironsheikh]

any 100 g pump will do --just need something to puch the water thru

[wiley]

i've heard the mj 400 ? is good for phosban reactors...I don't have one myself, so you'll want to check elsewhere....

[DMK]

yes the MJ400 is fine, does 106gph. i just got 1 yesterday, but i'm running zeo through mine.

[CH]

The phosban reactor will come with a small ball valve (if it's the one from Two Little Fishes)
An MJ400 or 600 is plenty for the pump.

[sjm817]

I use a MJ400 which is enough to push though (2) TLF 150 in series, one with carbon and one with Rowaphos. Even then, it is dialed back a little.

[hopper]

Looks like MJ400 is the popular one. Thanks CH about the ball valve. I didn't know they came with one.

[gil716]

I use a Mini-jet 404 - adjustable from 18-108gph. Even so, I use the ball valve cause it's easier.

[Kinetic]

I got a ViaAqua 80gph pump. It's real small, quiet, and doesn't draw a lot of power.

[hopper]

That minijet is about the size I am looking for because of lack of space in my sump. Thanks gil716. I wish the online vendors would state how much wattage these smaller pumps use. I know its not that much, but I want to keep power bills and water temps down as much as possible. They kind of go hand in hand together. If one goes up, so does the other.

[GregM779]

I'm using a minijet 404, you want extremely low flow where the media does not move, if it tumbles ot moves it will break apart and leach into the tank

[Ti]

maxijet

[hopper]

I was thinking that you are supposed to allow the media in the reactor to tumble just a little at the top. Or do you let it just begin to tumble and then turn the flow back down just a notch for the media to settle back down and leave it there. I presume this would give you the most flow in the reactor without moving the media if you did this.

[GregM779]

correct allow it to tumble and then turn it back until it does not move.

[CH]

I should mention, in my post, by MJ I meant minijet!
I put a minijet 606 on mine. I have it turned all the way up, and I just adjust the ball valve to get the flow right.

[JeffCA]

The Maxi-Jet 400 uses a whopping 5 watts.

[clkwrk]

My phosban tumbles slightly otherwise it will clump. MJ400

I have no problems and I have a 120 chalk full of sps

[hopper]

I have heard both sides on the tumbling issue. Some people say let it slightly tumble and others say not to do this. On another forum that I was doing research on, Julian Sprung has said about once a week to open the valve all the way and let a rush of water come in and toss the media around real good to keep it from becoming compacted. This lets the water continue to flow through the media instead of just going around it. This may be a topic of debate much like "which salt is best." I guess as long as you don't have any leaching going on, then all will work regardless.

[Kinetic]

do you think adding something like SeaChem SeaGel is ok in a phosphate reactor? It is basically phosphate absorbing media with activated carbon.

I thought these reactors were basically like a filter carteridge but a fancy one?

[bureau13]

If I want to run one of these with Phosban and one with activated carbon, can I use the same pump and T the line so its feeding each? I can't think of a reason why this wouldn't work, unless maybe you wanted to turn one of them off periodically...maybe 2 T's, one going back into the sump prior to the one splitting towards the two reactors?

jds

[hopper]

koden, I can't think of any reason why the seagel couldn't be used in a reactor. You can basically put anything in there that you want to as long as it isn't something that will upset the tank. All the reactor does is channel water through the media that you place in it. It's just a holding chamber of sorts.

bureau13, reactors can be daisy chained together and have one pump operating all of the reactors together. I saw either on this forum or on dfwmas.org where someone posted pics of doing exactly this same thing. If I ever get the need for two or three reactors this is exactly what I will do. Just make sure the pump can handle two or three reactors. Most pumps will be able to do this though. I'm glad you brought this up though as I think I will get the minijet 606 instead of the 404 in case I want to do this later.

[Kinetic]

if it is just a channel, what does it matter about tumbling? does too much tumbling create leaching?

[hopper]

Basically, yes too much tumbling will cause leaching as for what I have been told. The media makes a dust when tumbling occurs and this can be released into your tank.

[TCU Reefer]

bureau13, reactors can be daisy chained together and have one pump operating all of the reactors together. I saw either on this forum or on dfwmas.org where someone posted pics of doing exactly this same thing. If I ever get the need for two or three reactors this is exactly what I will do. Just make sure the pump can handle two or three reactors. Most pumps will be able to do this though. I'm glad you brought this up though as I think I will get the minijet 606 instead of the 404 in case I want to do this later.

Here's the link to Keith's thread that shows how he daisy chained his reactors together.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=6

[Kinetic]

oooh i see. sounds good =) thank you