Carbon and GFO flow

[tidus10]

So right now, i have a separate pump for my GFO and Carbon canister (2 pumps) plus my return pump (Mag7)...

Is there any way to consolidate this into something more manageable for my 40B?

[wnehez]

I'm not sure what kind of flow rate your Mag7 return pump does, but you can T off the return line and feed the GFO and carbon reactor with it. I have the BRS Dual GFO & Carbon reactor and I T'd off my return line and feed with that. You can put a ball valve on the reactor feed line to control the flow you want.

[Hodge1995]

I use the dual reactor as well. 1 pump. Remember to put gfo first as you want it to tumble a bit to keep it from forming a brick, then I pack carbon tight so it will not tumble.

[D-Nak]

While both scenarios stated are correct, i personally think the best option is to tee off two lines from the return -- one to feed the carbon canister and the other for the carbon canister. Use gate valves (better control than ball valve) to control the flow. Both will empty back into the sump. If you have other devices in your tank for flow, this set-up won't negatively impact the system.

The reason I prefer separate lines is because with the dual reactor you only have one way to control the flow through both reactors. The problem with this is that they essentially work against each other -- you need precise control for GFO to keep it tumbling at a rate that keeps it in suspension but not so hard that the pieces grind on each other (which creates a GFO dust that can possibly get into the tank). On the other hand, you want strong flow to keep water flowing through packed carbon. It's really hard to balance the two, and as soon as the carbon begins to get clogged, then the flow through the GFO is affected, which slows down the tumbling. It's extremely rare to have to replace both at the same time too.

I have two separate reactors that I originally had daisy-chained to essentially create a dual reactor and I hated it. I have since created two separate reactors on two different tanks (both running carbon as I no longer use GFO regularly).

[spkennyva]

I have a Mag 9 return pump on my 40B and it drives the return and a 2 canister GFO/carbon reactor. Works great.

[jacksonpt]

I run both carbon and GFO in a single NextReef reactor which is T-ed off my return pump. It's not ideal, but space is a limiting factor for me, so it works better than not running them.

[tidus10]

So maybe I will wait till i upgrade to my 93C and T off my return...

On my new setup I was thinking a Jebao 12000: Once I Tee off from my return (twice, one per canister, because i wanted two singles and not the double) can i have the "Exit"" side of the canister go into my fuge? would that be enough flow through my fuge or would i need another T to get more flow in the fuge?

[Hodge1995]

The main reason I went with a dual is I have heard you can get particulate from the tumbling gfo. I didn't want to deal with that.

[D-Nak]

So maybe I will wait till i upgrade to my 93C and T off my return...

On my new setup I was thinking a Jebao 12000: Once I Tee off from my return (twice, one per canister, because i wanted two singles and not the double) can i have the "Exit"" side of the canister go into my fuge? would that be enough flow through my fuge or would i need another T to get more flow in the fuge?

This sounds like a good plan. I have a dedicated tee going to my fuge. I like the ability to adjust flow when needed, independent of the reactors I'm using which may flow back into the fuge.

The main reason I went with a dual is I have heard you can get particulate from the tumbling gfo. I didn't want to deal with that.

If you tumble the GFO too hard, you can get particulates because the granules rub against each other. A gentle tumble is really all you need to keep it from clumping, though I've turned off my GFO reactor for a few days and it never clumped up (I used BRS high cap GFO).