So, to combat my ever rising Phosphates and Silicates I installed a pair of Two Little Fishes Phosban 150 reactors this afternoon. Each is filled with 200g of media. They are hooked up in line together, being fed from a maxijet 1200 in the sump, flow dialed down with value before first reactor. Phosphates were 0.25ppm and Silica 2.5ppm from AWT tests a week or so ago. Will give it a couple of weeks, send in next AWT test, and see how the figures are affected.

The Reactors, ready to go ! though not ready for DK'one's tender installation mercy!

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd269/dkone2007/100_1068.jpg

The Reactors installed and running.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd269/dkone2007/100_1069.jpg

(yes, that's black cable ties being used as cable clamps, just please, don't ask, I am the Dark One, just hooking something up without destroying it was a major achievement!)

Warm Regards,

Cable ties, duct tape, its all good!

Wow, that is a LOT of phosban! Mine have been working great for me. I have 2 on my 120 and 2 on my nano as well. Both are set up to run GAC in the first chamber and GFO in the second.

Be sure to keep an eye on your alk. Phosban has a tenancy to drop it, especially if you start running a lot at once.

Phurst, great information. My alk used to be 3.37 meq/L on 12/28 and tested today, <24 hrs after mass Phosban, it has collapsed down to 2.29 meq/L. On 12/28 calcium was at 433, now down to 400, so doubt the calclum loss would account for the sudden alk decrease. Now, I *wish* i had tested for these right before I turned on the reactor, just didn't think it could have an affect on alk. Time to increase buffering I suppose! More to follow as my experience with Phosban continues. I also got some feedback from peers in SCMAS that even though a single Phosban 150 is rated at max 150 gallon tank, and so I stuck two of them together with max media in both, i've kinda gone over-kill ! recommendation was to shutdown one reactor, remove the GFO and simply replace it with GAC. Now that's what I get for following the "manufacturer recommendations!" -- I should know better !

Warm Regards,

I replaced the media in the first reactor chamber with GAC so am now running GAC in the first, GFO in the second, lets hope things work better now - flow dialed back to approx 100 gph existing 2nd chamber.

Warm Regards,

Sounds like a good setup to me :up:

hmmmm...never heard the alk drop thing and I just replaced 150g of media yesterday! I might have to dig out the test kit and the 'ol B-Ionic tomorrow morning.

Poppin, sadly I wish I had tested my alk before i fired up the Phosban, so cannot say 100% for sure that it was the cause for my alk's drop - it is suspicious though! If I ever sort out my phosphate and silicate issues I may be able to run a more controlled test to determine if Phosban GFO can be demonstrated to lower, or have no effect, on alkalinity. I look forwards to your test results though in the meanwhile.

Warm Regards,

I'd be interested in a test as well. I know my alk dropped when I started using it on both of my tanks, and a number of people in my local club have reported the same. I just automatically add some buffer when I change my phosban now.

whoa, did you rinse the excess residue before you pumped it into your system?? that second pic looks kinda scary. i have the same reactor and i put the media in a micron sock (1 tbs per 20gal) and rinse before i let it go into my sump.

I *forgot* to rinse out the first few gallons, when I first turned it on. I soon realised my error, seeing an orange jet of water streaming into my tank, that I should have drained off the first few gallons until it ran clear. The output to the sump looks pretty clear now, the flow is dialed back and the reactors have been running for a few days. I do not use micron socks for the media, especially for the GFO, as I thought the idea was to keep it in suspension. The above picture is not a representation of what's running now, the reactor on the left side is now packed with GAC, the one on the right, still running GFO.

hey what are GFO, GAC?

GAC
Granular Activated Carbon

A good write up can be found at About Using Granular Activated Carbon in Saltwater Aquarium Systems - What GAC Is - What It Does - How Much To Use - How Often to Change and More (http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filtration/a/aa061098.htm)

GFO
Iron Oxide Hydroxide

A great write up on GFO can be found at [urlhttp://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php[/url]

In my instance I am using both the GFO and GAC to remove phosphates, silicates, yellowing compounds and other pollutants from my water in ongoing endeavors to assist in control of nuisance algae and bacteria.

Hey all. I got my TwoLittleFishies reactor running yesterday. I rinsed the Phosban well before putting the reactor into my sump. Ran a couple gallons of water through it until the water ran nice and clear. The skimmer hasn't produced any bubbles at all since I turned on the reactor 12 hours ago. Is this normal? How long does it take the skimmer to start producing bubbles again?

Thanks!
Pam

My skimmer doesn't seem to react when I change media. If I had to guess, it's probably reacting to the reactors themselves, and residue on the acrylic left over from manufacturing. I'd bet once they get broken in in a day or two, your skimmer will return to normal.

Ahhh....hadn't thought about that. Guess I should have rinsed the reactor first. Thanks!
Pam

My skimmer doesn't seem to react when I change media. If I had to guess, it's probably reacting to the reactors themselves, and residue on the acrylic left over from manufacturing. I'd bet once they get broken in in a day or two, your skimmer will return to normal.

My skimmer did react when I put my phosban reactors in there - but that was more because I didn't rinse the media enough first and turned my water somewhat orange for a day !!! <note to self: always rinse media first!>. Your skimmer should return to normal operation in a day or two Pammy, let us know how you get on. That reminds me, I must change out my media again soon ! <arg!>

Warm Regards,

Hi John. My skimmer started working normally early this morning. So it took about 36 hours.
Thanks!
Pam

My skimmer did react when I put my phosban reactors in there - but that was more because I didn't rinse the media enough first and turned my water somewhat orange for a day !!! <note to self: always rinse media first!>. Your skimmer should return to normal operation in a day or two Pammy, let us know how you get on. That reminds me, I must change out my media again soon ! <arg!>

Warm Regards,

Im looking into increasing the water quality of my tank, my Aquasafe RO/DI is on its way now, should I be running a phosban reactor? I dont have a test kit, will the RO/DI unit remove phosphate? It seems like a good addition but I just want to make sure its worth the hassle

It's really not a hassle at all, and even if it were, IMO it would be worth it.

Realy though, they are so very easy to setup and maintain. As Ron Poppiel would say, "set it and forget it".