Which Reactor for 180gallon Reef?

[Kole Tang]

Which reactor do you reccomend for a 180 reef? I am going to run GFO granules and Carbon. None of the reactors have a tank size reccomendation so I thought I'd ask here.

 

[Dholmblad]

What about two BRS oversized media reactors, or what ever they call the larger version. The normal size is working well for my 90.

 

[Kole Tang]

Thanks Dholmblad.

Anyone know if you can run the BRS Jumbo reactor with both carbon and GFO granules in the same reactor?

 

[tkeracer619]

You can but for them to be most effective they need different flow rates. I would get two reactors. The new BRS models are pretty legit.

 

[dlp211]

Get two BRS deluxe reactors. I used the Marineland MJ pumps and they are kinda loud, but I will be redoing my return plumbing and running them off of the return in the future.

 

[Deepblu]

I just got the NextReef MR1 for my 180. Very nice unit and it comes with everything you need pump included to get it up and running with the exception of the media. It says on the box that it is rated for up to a 250 gallon marine tank.

 

[Kole Tang]

Thank you Deepblu, I forgot all about NextReef. I met them down at MACNA and they were awesome. I will go with them.

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If anyone was wondering, I talked to BRS and they said the Jumbos can only run one media at a time. Also that the standard BRS carbon reactors (with carbon alone) are big enough for a 180g. So they recommended one jumbo reactor for GFO and one standard for carbon on a 180g.

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Thanks everyone!

 

[tkeracer619]

I have a nextreef biopellet reactor, a vertex media reactor for carbon, two BRS media reactors for GFO, and two TLF 150.

The vertex is IME the higher quality reactor but it costs more. The O-ring seal is kinda awkward and needs a little more attention.

For the money the NextReef gets you a really good reactor. The flanges are a little thin but the welds are perfect and they seal up nice and tight. I wish they would make the barb connection stronger. They simply thread into the thin acrylic. Get some O-rings to seal the barbs as a backup to the teflon taped threads.

The BRS is super easy to change out but is limited on capacity.

The TLF is a great all around cheap media reactor but is also limited on capacity and channels more then the others.

 

[James77]

TLF makes the 550 phosban reactor as well, built better and larger than their 150. I use 2 of tehm, they hold about 6 cups of media to the label. They are alot more flexible than the 150s as dar as configuring the outlet, they are much easier.

The BRS reactors are terrible IMO. I found the canisters difficult to unscrew like typical RO equipment and the media was difficult to see "boiling" becuase of the slight opacity of the inner cartridges. It just was so obvious that it was an attempt to turn RO filtration into GFO/Carbon filtration. I wish they had come up with something a little more crative, as I love BRS as a company. I would never even use the reactors though even if they were given to me.

 

[James77]

http://www.marinedepot.com/Two_Litt...rs-Two_Little_Fishies-TL4311-FIFRISPR-vi.html

You can select the 550 off the drop down if it does not link right.

 

[tkeracer619]

The BRS reactors are terrible IMO. I found the canisters difficult to unscrew like typical RO equipment and the media was difficult to see "boiling" becuase of the slight opacity of the inner cartridges. It just was so obvious that it was an attempt to turn RO filtration into GFO/Carbon filtration. I wish they had come up with something a little more crative, as I love BRS as a company. I would never even use the reactors though even if they were given to me.

The new cartridges are 1000x better then the old ones. I'm actually using the Biopellet cartridges. No issues so far with HC GFO and no foam :bum:.

I use some O-ring lube on the containers. Super easy to unscrew.

 

[scarface70706]

dont go with gfo. go the bio pellet route. cheaper, WAY more efficient, and lasts 6X's longer then GFO. i use to run gfo and after 3-4 months of using i was sick of it. po4 was still up and cyano didnt even fade a tad bit. within 3 weeks of running bio pellets i already saw a dent in my po4 tests and my cyano faded about 15% after week 3.

as for reactors i would go with the brs jumbo reactor for carbon and the reef octopus bio pellet reactor. good luck.

 

[scarface70706]

TLF makes the 550 phosban reactor as well, built better and larger than their 150. I use 2 of tehm, they hold about 6 cups of media to the label. They are alot more flexible than the 150s as dar as configuring the outlet, they are much easier.

The BRS reactors are terrible IMO. I found the canisters difficult to unscrew like typical RO equipment and the media was difficult to see "boiling" becuase of the slight opacity of the inner cartridges. It just was so obvious that it was an attempt to turn RO filtration into GFO/Carbon filtration. I wish they had come up with something a little more crative, as I love BRS as a company. I would never even use the reactors though even if they were given to me.

i would have to disagree with you. TLF reactor are built so poorly. brs's reactors are way better then TLF. if you cant unscrew the brs reactors then you might want to consider going to the gym. :worried: they even give you a wrench to unscrew the container. even my girlfriend can unscrew it and she isnt even the strongest woman out there.

 

[James77]

The new cartridges are 1000x better then the old ones. I'm actually using the Biopellet cartridges. No issues so far with HC GFO and no foam :bum:.

I use some O-ring lube on the containers. Super easy to unscrew.

Was not aware they were now using "clear" ones, just checked their site. That would definitely help....I recall needing a flashlight to try and see the GFO boiling with the older ones.

Yeah, the O-ring or even silicone grease is a good idea for the RO canisters. Works great on unions, dont know why I did not connect it to RO stuff . Beats using a rubber mallet on the plastic wrench i guess.....

Alright....I take back what I said ....I'd consider using the BRS ones again.

 

[James77]

i would have to disagree with you. TLF reactor are built so poorly. brs's reactors are way better then TLF. if you cant unscrew the brs reactors then you might want to consider going to the gym. :worried: they even give you a wrench to unscrew the container. even my girlfriend can unscrew it and she isnt even the strongest woman out there.

Easy there buddy. Trust me,I am strong enough . It is more the awkwardness of getting some decent leverage on them. Plus I am OCD with leaking things so I put them on super tight.

The TLF 150s are awful I agree, but have you owned the 550's? They are 10 times better than thee 150s.

 

[tkeracer619]

GFO pulls phosphates out of your tank way faster then bio pellets. A lot of people are under the impression that the initial treatment with GFO will get them somewhere when in reality it probably exhausted in the first day. If you never saw a dent in your phosphates it is because you didn't use enough GFO. If you start with a problem it can take a lot of GFO to solve it. Once levels are close to zero GFO lasts a lot longer.

I like biopellets but they are nitrate limited and a lot of time to get really low phosphates you have to run GFO or dose nitrate.