Rowa phos and carbon
 

Hi there. I have read that its okay to run gfo and carbon in the same reactor. I'm wondering if rowa phos would be fine. I want to have both in a TLF 150 reactor and is it carbon first then rowa phos or the other way around. If anyone has any info on this. it would be appreciated thanks Luke.

I'd put them both in a sock if you want to do that. Or at least the carbon and make sure the rowa is only just boiling. You don't want the carbon to tumble at all and the rowa should just be bubbling but not tumbling.

+1

They should both have different flow through them to optimize their potential. Slower flow through carbon (no tumbling), and higher flow (tumbling) for rowa.

You could use the reactor for the rowa, and then a sock/bag for the carbon and place it in your sump.

Its fine the way you have it. Just make sure the rowa is on top at a slight tumble. Only thing I dont like about that is the carbon generally depletes itself before the rowa and you end up throwing perfectly good rowa out to change out the carbon. I would place the carbon in a sock.

I have heard this said many times, and maybe it is ideal to have them separate. But I can say, too, that it definitely works just fine to have both on the same flow.

I use a DIY reactor (using three old RO canisters), with a prefilter in the 1st, carbon in the 2nd, and HC GFO in the 3rd. I have a line T'ed off my return pump and control the flow with a ball valve. I have it set to have the GFO just at the edge of a tumble, while the carbon does not tumble.

Here is a link and pic of my set-up. Works great for me, and very quick and easy to change the media. I had to also modify the internal refillable media cartridges to remove their fine filters.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...=102101&page=2

Don't get me wrong, you can certainly do it. There won't be a chemical reaction or anything, and I have done this as well. However, with a single reactor, its just plain annoying. Your design incorperates two different reactor chambers for each media, so changing media is a lot easier, and can be done at different times.

The big thing here is that they will deplete at different times, and could be more costly if put in the same reactor when loose (Rowa is not cheap! and will deplete slower than carbon). If you were to seperate them (or one) media into a bag, it might work better, so that you can change them at different times if need be.

Can it be done? YES

Is it the most cost efficient, convenient, and optimum use of the media? NO

Yes, I change my media at different times. And I agree there could be some wastage if you have them both in the same reactor and change them together.

It just saves the hassle if you have the carbon in a media bag. Take your bag out, rinse it off change the carbon and toss it back in. Or like was said just toss the bag into your sump and not have to deal with it at all.

Thanks for the info. If I'm just going to burn thru rowa on every change of the carbon, then I be better off with another TLF.

I run 2 separate reactor's for carbon & Rowa phos. I change out the carbon once a month, Rowa phos every 6-8 weeks depending on my level of phosphates.