Carbon rinsing

[kenghmoob]

When rinsing carbon, how long is everyone rinsing it for? Is it 15 seconds, one minute, or till most of the dust is off (which can take up to 5 minutes)?

[bushnell]

I rinse it in the reactor. I hook up a MJ1200 and run a full 5G pail of RO water thru it. I could probably use another pail as the skimate in my skimmer is pretty dark after I change the carbon out.

[Allmost]

boil RO Water.

put GAC in a canister, and fill up with bioling RO water.

leave over nght for it to cool, it would be a layer of organics and ash on top by morning.

remove that, fill up the canister with ro, and empty it again and ure good to go.

[reeftivo]

agree with heating the carbon.

I fill a 16 oz glass 1/2 way up and then fill the glass with RO/DI and put it in the micro for a minute and a half. It just starts to boil for me and any dust is brought to the top and can easily be discarded down the drain. I also let mine sit over night to cool down before it switch it out in my reactor. even though the carbons are labeled as "activated", the heating brings out all air pockets within the pores and makes the carbon more efficient.

ROX carbon has the lowest dust (almost none) but is super tiny pellets and for me I have to place mine in a media bag or it gets everywhere.

Tivo

[Playa-1]

I just stick the reject water line from my RO/DI filter into the reactor and run it until it runs clear.

[Stolireef]

I just put it in a media bag and rinse it until it runs clear. never thought of boiling it but not a half bad idea.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used to rinse Marineland Black diamond with tap water until it had no dust, but now I use ROX GAC from BRS and it needs no rinsing. :)

[Lynnmw1208]

I rinse with warm tap water until it runs clear.

[kenghmoob]

I used to rinse Marineland Black diamond with tap water until it had no dust, but now I use ROX GAC from BRS and it needs no rinsing. :)

I hear that the ROX is really small. Do you run it in a reactor or do you put it in a bag? If I have a reactor with the (2) foam screens, will the ROX fall into the gaps of the foam when filling up the reactor?

[Larz_1]

I run ROX 0.8 GAC from BRS in a TLF 150 reactor using a maxi-jet pump.

What I did to keep it under control was to order an extra set of the foam filters.
I use a total of 3 filters in the reactor:
1 foam filter on the bottom of the reactor (on top of the plastic grid)
Then I fill with the appropriate amount of GAC.
Add 1 foam filter at the top (Under the plastic grid)
And Finally, I add 1 more foam filter on top of the plastic grid.
That keeps the small ROX pellets under contol.

As for rinsing.
I just hook the reactor back into my system and use the pump in the sump to run about 1 gallon of system water through it into a jug until the water runs clear. Then replace the water with new salt water.

[Larz_1]

Also ... the ROX 0.8 seems to float to the top of the reactor, so I have to shake it around a bit to get it to fall to the bottom. And check on it for a day or two ... then it calms down.

[kenghmoob]

I run ROX 0.8 GAC from BRS in a TLF 150 reactor using a maxi-jet pump.

What I did to keep it under control was to order an extra set of the foam filters.
I use a total of 3 filters in the reactor:
1 foam filter on the bottom of the reactor (on top of the plastic grid)
Then I fill with the appropriate amount of GAC.
Add 1 foam filter at the top (Under the plastic grid)
And Finally, I add 1 more foam filter on top of the plastic grid.
That keeps the small ROX pellets under contol.

As for rinsing.
I just hook the reactor back into my system and use the pump in the sump to run about 1 gallon of system water through it into a jug until the water runs clear. Then replace the water with new salt water.

Thanks Larz. That's a great idea. How about the bottom foam piece? Does the ROX ever fall below the bottom foam piece when you initially fill the reactor?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I hear that the ROX is really small. Do you run it in a reactor or do you put it in a bag? If I have a reactor with the (2) foam screens, will the ROX fall into the gaps of the foam when filling up the reactor?

My Magnum has a media holder which holds it fine. No bag.

The ROX is bigger than normal GFO. :)

[Larz_1]

Thanks Larz. That's a great idea. How about the bottom foam piece? Does the ROX ever fall below the bottom foam piece when you initially fill the reactor?

No, not really. It works really well.

[aleonn]

I place BRS ROX 0.8 in a media bag, and rinse for maybe a minute. As mentioned, I don't notice too much dust.

[Buzz1329]

What's the theory behind heating the GAC?