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Old 01-13-2014, 10:42 PM
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Default Carbon and GFO Together?

I'm getting a muck bigger reactor than the 2 TLF reactors I use now. So can I combine both the carbon and GFO together in one reactor and is there anything that I may be encountering while doing this? Thanks
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Old 01-13-2014, 10:53 PM
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Yes and no. For example. Boyd's Chemipure Elite has both GFO and carbon but it is in the mesh bag so the GFO never churns.

You can but you will not get maximum effeciency from the GFO. GFO should be slightly churning or boiling. GFO is much harder than carbon. If your GFO is churning/boiling then it will grind the carbon to dust.
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Old 01-14-2014, 12:09 AM
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But is anybody running a reactor with the 2 together and have you found a way to make it work?
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Old 01-14-2014, 12:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Madreefer View Post
But is anybody running a reactor with the 2 together and have you found a way to make it work?
you can run in a daisy chain fasion , and you can mix them you just dont maximize the use out of each , as stated the tumbling speed of each is diff , with gfo your looking to pass as little water through while keeping a gentle boil , carbon can handle much more flow than gfo can as gfo is very soft

mixing the two works fine but isnt ideal
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Old 01-14-2014, 02:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Madreefer View Post
I'm getting a muck bigger reactor than the 2 TLF reactors I use now. So can I combine both the carbon and GFO together in one reactor and is there anything that I may be encountering while doing this? Thanks
Hey Bill have look at the BRS site they got good video's on running both together, pro's & con's
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Old 01-14-2014, 02:48 AM
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Originally Posted by reefwars View Post
carbon can handle much more flow than gfo can as gfo is very soft
You have that backwards. GFO is denser and harder than carbon. GFO can be tumbled at a slow boil. If you tumble carbon it will disintegrate in a short time.
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Old 01-14-2014, 02:57 AM
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In addition to the harder material crushing the softer material they have different refresh rates.

Not sure about everyone else but my GFO gets replaced at the 2-3 month mark while my carbon is monthly.

You will be throwing out a ton of GFO which happens to be more expensive than the carbon so In my opinion I would keep it to 2 reactors.
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Old 01-14-2014, 04:27 AM
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In addition to the harder material crushing the softer material they have different refresh rates.

Not sure about everyone else but my GFO gets replaced at the 2-3 month mark while my carbon is monthly.

You will be throwing out a ton of GFO which happens to be more expensive than the carbon so In my opinion I would keep it to 2 reactors.
+1 I run 2 reactors as well.
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Old 01-14-2014, 04:44 AM
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I would daisy chain one of the Phosban reactors to the new bigger reactor. Keep them separate and so you can change out the carbon monthly and the GFO every 3 months or so.
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Old 01-14-2014, 10:31 AM
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Well thanks guys! Looks like I'll have to buy another reactor to match the new one.
Change GFO every 2-3 months? I change both of them at the same time which is monthly, just a schedule i've put myself on. I've had a Hanna Phosphate checker since September, it's still in the box. I guess it's time I should start using it.
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