Taking the plunge...

[ldzielak]

Sorry Dez for not posting. I have been thinking of this too much. I built a PM copy with 6" x 18" tower. Got the Eheim pump and all. It worked great for 8 months, then I have had nothing but problems.

Reason my system stoped working is the media pluged up with fine sediment. I had filter floss above my screen at the bottom to keep the sediment out of the pump. Well this stoped my flow and I had no reaction going on. The only reaction I was getting is a single pass through my second chamber.

Things I have learned (IMO):

Second Chamber does not raise pH off effluent in my case (reason I used it)

Pump supplying the reactor require frequent adjustment.

You need to have good flow through the media, not filter / hold the sediment. Up flow would solve this problem, but then keep the media from the pump!!

Bubble size means more than number of bubble per min. (it all depends on what size the orifice is that the bubbles come out)

You should make the pump removable without draining the entire reactor. (valves and unions)

You should have a drain to draing the reactor.

I also use ARM, but my next reactor will most likely be an up flow. But simply removing the old media and putting in new and loosing the sponge solved my problem. But I did go to a MAG7 (huge overkill) before I got to that point.

I'll send you pics of my original and current on the weekend if you like.

Lee