REACTORS- Filtration for stingrays

[DB junkie]

Think K1 has traffic jams, add a fresh bag of chips to exstablished K1...... Lol. I ended up just tossing most of them in the sump for now. Will try them again in the reactors in a few days.

Another thing I've noticed is how much the bottom drains get overlooked. A huge advantage of a reactor is to crack a valve stir it up and it's clean.

I'm gonna try going from round to rectangle (old glass tank). I'd rather see what's going on inside......

I just finished hacking up a 55 for my first attempt at a non round one. Put a pair of 9" bubble disks in it. Will probably be a few weeks before it's up and going though. Still have several tanks to move and a sump to build. Also not sure a little luft pumps going to be enough for those bubble dinner plates.

 

[DIDYSIS]

Well I just started playing yesterday with my setup, I decided because I have the room in my sump I would setup a double strainer near my pump to make sure nothing got to my pump, but put all my media in that area I setup. I know the media will change as time goes on and it gets setup but already I am amazed at home much air or pump flow.it takes to get the media moving and boiling a bit in my setup so far. But on a side note I am fighting with about 4000 gph flowing through the sump. I have a pump that is about 550 gph that I have moving media around pointed towards wall but almost into the corner plus a small power head and small air pump on the bottom pushing up to the surface behind that pump water jet. This is just a trial and using some of the stuff I have around. I will probably buy a larger air pump and some nice air disks to really make it good and hope I can cut out the pumps later on. Ohh well its fun to tinker.

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[Miguel]

They do move but create patterns and really get stuck in jams.....

Also i find they accumulate on the pumps intake.....

 

[eklikewhoa]

This is the way I started mine with a section of sump

You look to have the same 2" ball air stones I started with to

It looks like its boiling from the front but chances are the whole section is not boiling like that

I had 6 x ball air stones like that in a 30x12 section but it stopped moving as well after a few days

What will work better is the 9" disk air stones it will move more evenly


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It's boiling through out the whole section. I had a vid with a side shot as well but it didn't load.

 

[eklikewhoa]

How efficient are these? Do you have any info on them? Sounds interesting and I have read some but never in depth.

They all require a great length of time to fully mature and do it's job but with the amount of time it takes to start I think large water changes would be best.
Nothing beats a good water change.

 

[eklikewhoa]

That looks great Eklikewhoa!

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Thank you!

I can't find any video of the first way I started mine but I have found this pic

As you can see its the same as the above

And I still say the sump space can be used better than wasting it on moving bed

View attachment 887421


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I agree but at the same time it's worth it to try.

I have the other section loaded with Seachem pond matrix, think like 12L of the stuff and above the 75g sump has about 5g of bioballs that trickle down to feed the sump.

This is alongside 3x FX5 which have been gutted and stuffed with a mix of bio-balls and Pond Matrix.


Filtering my 180g growout tank.

When the new tank arrives either a 200g sump will be made or the 180g will be turned into a sump itself.


I've used several methods of natural filters like mangrove filters, moss filters, fast growing plant filters, floating plant filters, algae scrubbers and they all suck in comparison to a good water change but it's the little extra things we do that gives us a peace of mind.

 

[wmkr]

They all require a great length of time to fully mature and do it's job but with the amount of time it takes to start I think large water changes would be best.
Nothing beats a good water change.

agreed wit u here... i also have k1 media for my tank... but i still do the large WC for my tank

 

[DB junkie]

To you guys out there using chips - What ratio are you using them at? I know it's recommended to use 4:1. I remember Reed saying he runs "some", and I know Diggin runs them, can either of you guys elaborate on ratios?

I added a bag of chips to my pair of reactors and they just floated, but began tumbling within a few hours. Readjusted water dumping in this morning and it looks like these things are boiling better with the chips then before the chips?!? Assuming it's cause I probably don't have as much media in each reactor as what's typically packed into a 55 gallon container.

Wish I would have known about reactors back when I was blowing money on lava lamps..... LMAO. I could watch media boil for hours under the right conditions......

 

[Reedmaster16]

Wish I would have known about reactors back when I was blowing money on lava lamps..... LMAO. I could watch media boil for hours under the right conditions......

Haha thats pretty funny. I purchased a .9 ft3 bag of chips back when I was building the first one (55g cylindrical container). I removed some of the k1 and bio chips a little while back to help seed a new tank but I am probably around 2.5-3ft3 k1 and .6 ft3 bio chips currently. So I am pretty close to the 4:1 or 5:1 ratio in the 55g and other reactors as well.

My best suggestion would be to start at around 1/2 the recommended amount of kaldnes for the container size you are using and let that media cycle properly (you can always add more). It takes time, just because its boiling and rolling well doesn't mean you filter is cycled. Anyone adding one to your system that's already stocked and running wont see any type of change in water quality until the media begins developing the thin film (unless they're using K1 as a type of static bed for trapping fines). So anyone posting "my fish seem so much more active and happy immediately after adding the reactor to my tank" is just some experiencing some type of strange filtration placebo effect in their mind haha.

Around 3 ft3 of properly cycled k1 can handle around 1lb of feed added to the tank per day as a general guideline. Feed type and nutritional content can be factored in to get a more precise number but for purposes in this thread its not necessary.

I am sure many have already read this but for everyone with basic questions regarding function, design, sizing, media volume, etc. Read (not just skim over) this article. http://www.raingarden.us/kaldnes_bio.pdf

Here are two calculators to help people struggling with media volume. These offer a good starting point but should be taken with a grain of salt. You may be able to use less media as I said, it is all based on feeding rates of your individual tank.

Square tank http://koicarp.net/filtration/media/a_calculator.html

Cylindrical tank http://koicarp.net/filtration/media/b_calculator.html

Ideally, the best way to ensure a reactor is cycled properly is to cycle a new tank and the whole system the old fashioned way with ammonia. Not an option for the majority of participants in this thread unless they are upgrading tanks. This way you are able to take more precise measurements, figure out a good estimate on the amount of TAN your filter is able to process daily etc. Not the type of things most aquarium owners are interested in but it helps to diagnose issues when you have solid numbers you can point to if a problem does arise. All of this has been implemented in aquaculture and koi ponds for some time.

Reed

 

[DIDYSIS]

Agreed some of the reactors are well built and fun to watch. I was thinking about making a large one out of some acrylic and putting it on the side of my tank to enjoy. But for now i will use what I have and play with that.

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