flow through reactor question

[slojmn]

The recommended flow rate through the zeo reactor is 50-100gph. So what happens in the tank, coral issues etc. if the flow is much higher... say 200-300 gph? What might happen if the flow is less, say 25gph, Furthermore, how do I figure the head loss? I tried using the head loss calculator over at ReefCentral and I am getting really weird numbers. Any tricks to figure my pumps actual gph flow through my reactor?

[darksilenttype]

I took a watch and filled a container for 30 seconds and calculated it from there .I am at 103.......a hr I put a ball valve on the front of my reactor so I could adjust the flow in there for the flow out . hope this helps

[Aged Salt]

Hi Alicia, to determine your flow rate, take the # sec. in an hour, divided by your net vol, ie. 3600, divided by 50[if your net vol. is 50g]=72 sec. it should take to fill a 1g container from your zeo-reactor. A little more or less is fine. Too fast a flow rate through the zeolites results in extreme lightening to TN of our corals, plus the zeolites are exhausted much more quickly I run my flow slower now as I use less zeolites than when I was in Phase 1 & 2. Bob

[slojmn]

I ended up doing it a little differently. Does this make sense??? I measured the volume of my reactor and timed how long it took the pump to fill the reactor and begin to overflow. It was about 28 seconds to fill 11" of a 4" diameter cylander. Then I did the math V= Pi x r(squared)x H...all this came out to 138 cubic inches filled in about 28 seconds. a US gallon is about 231 cubic inches so I rounded my numbers a bit and came up with a flow rate of 60-65gph with the mini-jet 404. I have been running the maxi jet 1200, then switched to the maxi 900 but felt with my continued TN issues flow could be contributing so I dropped to the mini and the flow is slowed down considerably...maybe this will help mu situation along with stabilizing my alk.

[Aged Salt]

Alicia, no question that will help[correct flow rate] once the alk. is stable. Thnx. for the update, Bob

[Diesel3443]

Too much flow will result in TN of you corals, period. It happened to me as well as others when I started a little over a year ago. Theres a thread I posted about it a while back here:

http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322

[slojmn]

Thanks for the link, interesting reading. I figure I have been overshooting my flow rate by 4x's the first few months and by 2-3x's this past few months...not good. So now I am running it in the range it should be. We shall see if things settle down a bit in the tank. So the big question is why??? Why does high flow cause TN problems and low flow cause algae build up. I really do want to understand the science behind this at least a little bit.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All!

... So the big question is why??? Why does high flow cause TN problems and low flow cause algae build up. I really do want to understand the science behind this at least a little bit.

Keeping in mind that correlation does NOT imply causality ... and that deductive logic does NOT generate the same truth table as inductive logic ...

Too fast a flow rate through the zeolites results in extreme lightening to TN of our corals, plus the zeolites are exhausted much more quickly

Indeed ... I've seen the same thing. Correct "dialing in" of the flow immediately solved the problem.


As to, "Why does high flow cause TN problems" ... something is being released from the ZEOvit media too rapidly into our systems with adverse effect (at least, that's where my inductive reasoning takes me). My favorite candidate is iron ... but since we're talking about what might be coming out of an alumino-silicate, I suppose the list needs to include aluminum as well (although I'm reluctant to do so because my review of zeo-users' experiences doesn't support this inclusion .. JMO). A too rapid release of Fe into our systems might explain the reported lightening and TN. The "exhaustion" behavior of the media ... particularly when viewed from the perspective of what might be going on after the formation of a rich, healthy biofilm which includes iron-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) ... might also tend to suggest Fe. JMO.

As to, "... and low flow cause algae build up" ... I tend to believe that this is a function of the behavior of the biofilm, as opposed to the ZEOvit media and/or zeoreactor, per se. I view the emergence of microalgal and macroalgal biomass as a function of nutrient excess. Too low of a flow doesn't give the biofilm the opportunity to remove excess N and PO4 compounds (... among other things ...) fast enough to prevent algae from having access to them. Also, bacterial settlement can be influenced by flow ... so either too high, or too low, of a flowrate through the zeoreactor could be inhibiting the formation and/or development of the biofilm.

Just trying to fill in the data set ...

JMO
...

[slojmn]

Indeed ... I've seen the same thing. Correct "dialing in" of the flow immediately solved the problem.

I hope to have this result myself .

Thank you for your thoughts...makes good sense to me and helps me to better understand what might be happening in my system. Now that flow is slowed down I hope to see some improvements in a few corals in the coming weeks.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Thank you for your thoughts...makes good sense to me and helps me to better understand what might be happening in my system.

There's a serious caveat that goes with anything I post about ZEOvit media: I don't know either what it is, or what exactly it's doing ... this is worth repeating ... I don't know either what it is, or what exactly it's doing. JMO means just that ... just my opinion. The data set that I've accumulated is FAR from complete ... maybe so incomplete as to be misleading.

Please do not presume that what I'm suggesting is actually what's happening. Plausible? ... sure. Fits some of the available data? ... sure. Is that the same thing as an accurate description of the phenomenon? ... NOPE.

And there's a flipside ... ...

If, in fact, either Fe or Al were being released ... and if, in fact, this was the cause of the TN ... wouldn't I expect to be seeing some other phenomena as well? ... things like long-term sequestration of PO4 in our systems? I would expect so ... if, in fact, all those FeOOH and/or Al2O3 molecules were colliding around in the water column. The thing is, I'm NOT seeing that. If I'm going to do "good science", then I've got to account for ALL the data. I'm currently swimming no where near the "good science" end of the ZEOvit pool ...

... but I do enjoy "shaking the black box" ... ... and reading what others think ...


BTW, there's at least one other "logic flow" for the Fe. It's not being released ... it's being consumed. Plausible? ... sure. Fits some of the available data? ... sure. Is that the same thing as an accurate description of the phenomenon? ... well ...

... ... ...

... isn't inductive inquiry in the absence of a complete data set fun? ... ...


JMO