Can you overdose GFO?

[finaddict]

My pump is too strong so I want to add a bunch of media to my new reactor to slow the flow through the reactor a bit.  Is there such a thing as too much media? Seems to me once you get to zero phosphates it should just stay there?

 

I should mention that I have a ball valve in line with the intake but the pump gets very loud when I closet the valve. I am using a Cobalt Maxijet 600 on a phosban 150 reactor.

Edited October 1, 2017 by finaddict

[WheresTheReef]

You want stability so it's typically good practice to add media slowly and build to the recommended levels for your sized tank. You can have too much flow through the media. You want gfo to tumble a little. Too much flow will cause it to grind itself to dust.

[pizzaguy]

Yes. You can use to much and completely strip the water. I ended up having to dose po4 for almost a year to get my tank balanced out.

[zygote2k]

never restrict the intake side of a pump. only restrict going out.

[finaddict]

never restrict the intake side of a pump. only restrict going out.

I put a ball valve beTween the output of the pump and then input to the reactor. The problem is that when I start to close the ball valve to slow the flow into the reactor my pump gets very loud. Too loud to be in the room with it. When I open it up to not be loud the media gets way too much flow. I removed the phosban media which seems soft and replaced it with pura gfo that seem bigger and claims to not turn to mush if tumbled harder. I will turn that on to,or row and see.

[WheresTheReef]

Looked online and the recommended flow rate is 20 - 30 gal/hr. You can probably get away with a little higher flow rate based on the media. Why not get a smaller pump?

[Origami]

I put a ball valve beTween the output of the pump and then input to the reactor. The problem is that when I start to close the ball valve to slow the flow into the reactor my pump gets very loud. Too loud to be in the room with it. When I open it up to not be loud the media gets way too much flow. I removed the phosban media which seems soft and replaced it with pura gfo that seem bigger and claims to not turn to mush if tumbled harder. I will turn that on to,or row and see.

 

 

Looked online and the recommended flow rate is 20 - 30 gal/hr. You can probably get away with a little higher flow rate based on the media. Why not get a smaller pump?

+1. From your description, it does seem that a smaller pump is in order. However, I'll say that I've never had a Maxijet get noisy because of head-pressure issues (that's what you're doing when you close the ball valve down - you're increasing head pressure to decrease the flow). Even when testing max head pressure (zero flow), they've not become any noisier. Have you opened it up to make sure that the axle isn't broken or that there isn't a problem with the impeller (like a broken vane)? Is the noisiness coming from the pump itself or is the pump vibrating and knocking against something?

 

As for overdosing GFO: Yes, if you use too much in a tank with high phosphates at the start, it can change things too quickly causing unhappy corals. It's better to start out with less and add more as  needed if you're going to use GFO.