Help with Fusion 10 and Reactor

[lboud39]

Yesterday I purchased a IM reactor and have a question on where to place it. I'm not sure if it would go in the middle chamber or the return chamber. I'm running the IM 18W light so it gets in the way of the middle. If it goes in the return chamber I would have to bring my water up high enough to meet it. I tried looking for pictures and looked through a few members tank builds to see examples but couldn't find any.

[Island]

What model reactor-Desktop? What media are you going to run? I have a 30L tank and run a desktop reactor in the 2nd chamber. It is advised to run the reactor or other pump away from the return. that being said, if space is limited, you have to work with what you got. Good luck with the reactor.

 

I just installed mine last week running GFO due to a GHA problem, and it was utter HELL getting the reactor/GFO dialed in. You have to fill the GFO in my tank in the display as you can't see it in the rear chamber. Every time I turned the pump on GFO was blowing everywhere in my display. My plate corals were eating the grains. I had to vacuum that crap out like 5 times before Igot the tumbling right.It definitely sucked...Ranting finished....=)

[lboud39]

I have the nano size. The second chamber would make sense but my heater is in there and the clamp for the lights would get it in way of the clamp for the reactor.

 

The reactor is currently in the third chamber and just like yours blown a lot of finer GFO out. I have a teaspoon of carbon a sponge then a table spoon of GFO and sponge on top.

[kwsjimmy]

The original sponge is too porus, try double foam on top and bottom, I added a piece of 180 grain media bag, cut to a circle to sandwich between the foam sponge, solved that issue. When I had the 10 I put it in the 3rd chamber

 

Water level in the 3rd chamber only need to suerge the pump at the bottom of the reactor,

[Livewreck]

I have IM's MiniMax Reactor and I like the way it looks - inside of its original box.

 

In the 10g nano fusion, efficient use of GFO does not require a reactor. I use an InTank Media Basket for my Fusion 10g and use that for my GFO. This is how I have the 3 compartments of my media basket set up: Filter floss x 2 | mixture of PhosBan & Purigen | Carbon.

 

I mix 1 rounded teaspoon of Phosban with 2 level teaspoons of Purigen. I used 4 Tablespoons of carbon. But you do not have to use Purigen if your only concern is lowering phosphates.

 

To trap the small particles of GFO, I place it inside the 180 micron filter bag sold by Seachem - called "The Bag." And since I don't plan on re-charging the Purigen when it gets used up, I mix Purigen and Phosban together in the same filter bag and place "The Bag" in the middle compartment of my media basket.

 

Two squares of poly filter floss (also sold by InTank) is in the top compartment of my media basket, and Carbon (in a conventional cheap filter bag) is in the bottom compartment. I replace carbon about once a month and replace the Purigen & GFO mix about once every three months.

 

A word of caution using GFO. As explained here, you need to monitor your alkalinity, especially if you use high doses of GFOs or you use a reactor to speed up phosphate trapping. GFOs can lower alkalinity at a faster rate than usual. Even with the slightly less-than-recommend dose of GFO that I use for my 10g nano (which actually contains just under 8 gallons of water), I noticed a drop in alkalinity and had to adjust by adding Kent Pro Buffer to my tank.