Reactor Plumbing

Current I feed my gac & gfo reactors from a pump in the sump right next to my protein skimmer. The effluent goes to the return section of the sump.

I'm building a new basement sump which will utilize an external pump and I'm thinking about how to plumb the reactors. Do I set it up the same way or can I feed the reactors using the external pump maybe off the return line. This would eliminate the need for the additional pump.

Any thoughts ?

 

you can do it off the return line, but you will lose flow going back into the tank. And I think certain reactors like the BRS ones, the flow actually slows down as the carbon gets filled up with junk. And on the contrary, using the return pump might be a little too strong of a flow for the reactors to work efficiently.

 

The flow would only slow because of the supplied foam pads getting clogged not the carbon itself.

 

now that makes more sense now lol. never thought about the foam pads.

 

I power 2 BRS reactors with the return pump using a PVC manifold with valves to control flow through the reactors. Works better than having two more pumps in my sump.

 

ditto