BR-140 Biopellet Reactor

[rinconmike]

I just set up a BR-140 Bio-pellet Reactor for my 150 tank. I am using BRS pellets and puit 3 cups in (1 cup for every 50 gallons).

I have it running off a Mag 5. On the Mag 5 I have a 1/2" barbed fitting to 5/8" vinyl tube to the reactor. Each line in an out of the reactor I also have a 1/2" union connected with 1/2" barbed fittings.

The pellets are only tumbling on 1/2" of the reactor. So the back half of the pellets in the tube are tumbling and the front half are not.

Is this normal? Should I have used 3/4" tube and 3/4" barbed fittings instead?

also, I have the output in my sump around 3" to 4" from my XP2000sss Skimmer. Skimmer is already going crazy. is this normal?

thanks,

Mike

 

[jimsplace]

Make sure your reactor is straight up and down, I was having that problem and found that the bottom was tilted towards the wall a little, shimed it and it worked perfect.

 

[rinconmike]

thanks. is there any negative to having it exposed to daylight? I read on coralvue site it should not be.

Also, The way I have it plumbed, there is around 12ft of 5/8" tube (6 in and 6 out) and three 1/2" unions. I am wondering if I should move it closer to the sump, under the tank in the cabinet, and use 3/4" tube and unions. I assume the flow is restricted with the 1/2" fittings since the barbed fittings are actually almost reduced to 3/8" ID instead of 1/2".

thanks again.

Mike

 

[jimsplace]

I have mine under my tank. I am using the MJ1200 recommended by BRS with 1/2" tubing, very simple. It sounds like you have a lot of fittings, but I don't know your set up, they my be required.

 

[rinconmike]

thanks.

Do you have a BR-140 or one of the smaller ones. BRS recommended a Mag 5 to me.

I changed it around and ran 3/4" tube with 3/4" barbed fittings instead of the 1/2" barbed fittings. The flow is much better and the pellets are tumbling great.

So I go from a mag 5, to a Union connected to a ball valve connected to a check valve then to the BR-140. Then from the 140 back to the sump with the output around 3-4" from the skimmer intake. Tube is 3/4" ID and is around 8ft from the skimmer so it is a total of 16ft of tube.

However, after the change, my skimmer is producing no foam at all.

When I first set up the reactor on Friday, the skimmer foam head increased. I then took it of line for around 3 hours yesterday to redo the plumbing. I left the pellets in the reactor. I then turned it all back on and no foam since turning it on.

I wonder if there is too much flow? Or if the new tubing has something in it that needs to be worked out of the system. Just in case, I changed out my ROX carbon yesterday too.

thanks,

Mike

 

[jimsplace]

Yea, I probably do have the small one. As BRS notes in their writeup, you may want to play with how fast the tumbling action is. I keep mine pretty slow, you can see movement but very slow action. I really didn't notice a lot of difference in foam production, but the color/texture of the skimate did change. Some times it just takes time for the skimmer to crank up again. How long have you been running the pellets, it may take several weeks to get the bacteria to get fully established.