Gfo & carbon
 

Can I mix GFO and carbon in the same reactor or do i need two seperate ones? If they can go in the same reactor would i mix them up, or put a layer of carbon then a layer of GFO?

thanks

cory

i put them in the same reactor and since carbon is heavier i put it on top

I do the same thing, I also mix my GFO and carbon in same reactor. Never have had any problems except GFO will outlast carbon.


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i wouldnt mix the two since carbon gets exhausted faster then GFO. also they both need 2 completely different flow rates. save your self the time and money and run two separate reactors which will perform better.

if you buy two reactors i also suggest using bio pellets instead of GFO. BP last 8 X's longer then gfo and in my experience works better as well since they eliminate nitrates and PO4.

i wouldnt mix the two since carbon gets exhausted faster then GFO. also they both need 2 completely different flow rates. save your self the time and money and run two separate reactors which will perform better.

if you buy two reactors i also suggest using bio pellets instead of GFO. BP last 8 X's longer then gfo and in my experience works better as well since they eliminate nitrates and PO4.

I think GFO is heavier I got both from brs and the carbon container is much bigger than the gfo container for about the same weight.

I only have 1 reactor now, should i put carbon in a mesh bag in the filter sock, or just in the sump, or something else?

GFO is definitely heavier. I mix them in my nextreef with no problems. About separating, don't worry, the heavier will sink to the bottom on it's own after a few minutes.

I mix the two in my BRS reactor. I use one of the sponges to separate the two media. my ROX carbon goes on top and my HC GFO goes on the bottom and still has a few inches to allow for tumbling. When it comes time to change the carbon I just open the top and spoon it out and leave the GFO underneath the sponge. It works great.

I asked this exact question a few weeks back and you are getting the same answers, what I got from all the responces and research I did was it was better to run them seperate and if you can get 2 reactors run the carbon in a mesh bag. The 2 biggest problems are that they require to seperate flow rates, if you tumble carbon like the gfo needs then the carbon starts to break apart and either clog the reactor or get out of the reactor into your sump. The second is that carbon wears out faster so if you dont change it out it is in there doing nothing but being broken apart or if you do change everything out you are not getting the full use of the gfo. This is just the conclusion I came to, I am not trying to declare it to be Law.

i recommend buying another reactor down the line if you want the most out of your media. in the mean time i would rinse the carbon and put in in your filter sock since it channels the water into it kind of like a reactor. just make sure the carbon doesnt get shookin up since carbon is very brittle. then i would run the GFO in the reactor by itself since it needs that light tumble.

but running 2 reactors will be the BEST way to run the two medias effectively.