TLF 150 clogging

[BlueChip]

Am I the slow kid, or is it impossible to keep these unclogged with gfo.

I am running 2 , one with carbon and one with GFO.

Carbon runs for the month no issue, swap it out and good to go each month.

Gfo is cloged 3-5 days in and turns into a trickle and a pain in my <font size="4" color="#0000FF">profanity removed</font> to clean.

Bought new filters and rings and tried again.... Same results.. What's the trick?? Larger chunks of GFO?? Multiple pre filters??

Send help!! Haha

Chris

 

[Collinrb]

Have you tried less gfo maybe? I dont have any experience, but anything could possibly help right?

 

[suicideissleep]

I noticed mine cloggs in three weeks if I mix it very well with carbon and every 5 days I turn the flow up just a little but even if its coming out slow its still working IMO I think it works better when the flow is slow because more time with the Gfo as long as the flow dosnt stop IMO but I'm not a expert

 

[BlueChip]

Do you mix the carbon and gfo in one reactor??

 

[suicideissleep]

Yes I mix in a bowl then pour the two together but make sure you don't leave much room for tumbling and it won't clog ethere I found if you pack it sorta it stays in place and won't clogg that might help also I noticed when there mixed and you let tumble carbon gets sucked to the to and sorta cloggs it

 

[BlueChip]

The amount is based on gallons, what if I don't need enough to fill it to the top?

What brands of carbon and gfo are you running?

 

[suicideissleep]

Brs carbon and Gfo both cheap stuff I use a sponge to keep it to the top or maybe filter floss to keep it in one spot

 

[scar79]

Do you keep the sponge on top of or below the red ring? If you keep it above, the one little section of sponge that covers the actual outflow hole will clog up much quicker. Keep it below and you utilize the whole thing because the disk keeps it away from the top.

One thing that does bother me about reactors is that they do have sponges and they do trap detritus. We do all this work to keep detritus out of our systems yet we have these sponges sitting there for weeks/months between cleanings.

 

[seagull18]

From what I read you have to be carefull not to pack the GFO to tightly. There needs to be some tumbling action otherwise the GFO will cake together and the flow will get less and less.

 

[BubbaBoBobBrain]

I don't have have a tlf reactor but I do have a reactor and I mx my carbon and gfo together and keep the top sponge a few inches above the media and just keep the flow to where the top of the media will tumble a bit.

 

[suicideissleep]

If its just Gfo it will clog if you pack it but so far I have seen better flow out of mixing the two and tapping the container as I fill it

 

[seagull18]

From what I read you have to be carefull not to pack the GFO to tightly. There needs to be some tumbling action otherwise the GFO will cake together and the flow will get less and less.

I now remember where I found the info on carbon & GFO. It was on the BRS site when they were discussing their reactors. They indicate that carbon is much softer than GFO and when used alone in a reactor it should be packed tightly other wise it will grind itself to dust and obviously shorten its lifespan. When using GFO alone, it should be losely packed so it can tumble and not become packed and slow the reactor to a trickle. When combining the two, they recommend a ratio of 2/3 carbon to 1/3 GFO. They should be mixed together and packed so there is a little tumbling action. Not so much that the carbon grinds itself to dust but not packed to hard which will allow the GFO to tumble some so that it doesn't become packed and hinder the flow.

 

[suicideissleep]

There is even video on it

 

[DgenR8]

Am I the slow kid, or is it impossible to keep these unclogged with gfo.

I am running 2 , one with carbon and one with GFO.

Carbon runs for the month no issue, swap it out and good to go each month.

Gfo is cloged 3-5 days in and turns into a trickle and a pain in my <font size="4" color="#0000FF">profanity removed</font> to clean.

Bought new filters and rings and tried again.... Same results.. What's the trick?? Larger chunks of GFO?? Multiple pre filters??

Send help!! Haha

Chris

Please refrain from going out of your way to evade our censors. If you have to get creative with symbols or misspellings to get it to post, just accept that it's not welcome here.

 

[BlueChip]

Sorry Larry. I will use "Butt" next time.

Chris