Anyone using a bashsea bio reactor?
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JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
What is going on with yours? I have the 8-30 also.
cleon1990
New Member
Hello I currently bought a 8-30 bio reactor from Bashsea but I can’t seem to get the reactor to spin the media… I have upgraded the air pump and using vectra m1 for water pump but the media seems to stay at the top and not spin. Also reactor keeps making this loud gurgling noise. And if I adjust the flow it shoots water from the top. Got many advise how to fix?
JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
I had the same problem. Your flow is too strong. I went through 3 different pumps and landed on the following. It is the smallest pump I ever seen but it works.
Jebao/Jecod DCS-1200 DC Water Pump 320GPH 4.9ft for Marine Reef Tanks Sump Skimmer Protein https://a.co/d/j0SH3B3
Also, is your discharge pipe fully submerged? If so then angle it so the pipe pours out into the water. If submerged I found it creates a siphon.
Also, you need strong air flow to tumble the media. If it's still not tumbling then I would look at upgrading the air pump. This is the pump I have.
EcoPlus ECOair 5 Commercial Grade Air Pump 1300 GPH - 80 Watt Single Outlet with 8 Valve Manifold https://a.co/d/ceIHevt
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cleon1990
New Member
Perfect gonna try out the pump and see, I have upgraded my air pump to the same one but it 1750gph and still not tumbling. I also tried connecting the reactor straight to my manifold so I can regulate the flow coming in and still the beads are at the top lol gonna order the pump u recommended and see if that works thank you so much for all this info, I’ll keep you updated once I install that jabeo pump
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JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
I think it will work well for you. I was frustrated at first and Steve told me that the flow was too strong. Seems to be good now. Let me know how it works out.
cleon1990
New Member
Hey, so I connect to my manifold which I’m able to regulate the flow and still nothing. I have contacted Steve At Bashsea and was advised “ it can take up to a few days for the media to start tumbling if it’s brand new, just make sure the air is running and the water is running and their water level is about 2 - 3 inches from the very top - after that’s all set do not make any adjustments just give it time when the buyer reactor is brand new all the media will just float to the top it takes a little bit to absorb some water and start tumbling it will take longer if the tank water is brand new as well and it will take less time if the aquarium is established”. The only thing I find weird is that people who have this system never had to wait and it was plug and play for them? I have tried three different air pumps and regulate it from high to low I have also tried two different methods return pump and manifold would still not beads tumbling lol.
Scottiemac
Active Member
This is a while ago so maybe it was resolved. I had the same problems. First there was too much flow, and second the air pump wasn't strong enough.
It needs a good deepwater air pump with a flow valve on it. Notice that if you disconnect the air line from the pump, that line will fill with water. When connected, that air needs to make it through the base of the reactor to the air outlet in the chamber. That's a lot of water to push through. If the water pump is too strong it won't make it. If the pump is too weak it also won't make it.
There needs to be a good balance between the two. I took a couple of weeks to figure this out. After switching to the pump recommended on the Bashsea website it started working better immediately. After a few days it works great.
I'm not sure why Bashsea doesn't run a line from the air input to the output in the chamber. This would eliminate the need for a very strong air pump. Perhaps it would be a point of failure making the reactor useless if that line broke.
Scottiemac
Active Member
Supposedly, the tumbling action cause by the air and the rotation from the bio-plate forces old, dead bacteria to fall off of the media so that healthy bacteria can develop.
Of course, this could all be marketing weasel words. If it's no different than any other bio media reactor then at least it looks a lot nicer at 5X the price.
From their website:
1 Friction created by the interaction causes any old dead bacteria on the surface of the Bio-Mass media to be gently removed.
2 This makes space for new heavier feeding bacteria to rapidly colonize - instantly removing toxic ammonia and nitrite from the water column.
GARRIGA
2500 Club Member
That’s exactly how fluidized bed filters work. Seems like just a copy of what’s used for pond filtration using K1 media.
Hello,
Having a similar like everyone else using the 8-30 bio-reactor and getting proper flow and tumbling. I purchased a sicce 3.0 pump for it but it makes a gurgle sound so used a spare sicce 1.5. What air pump is everyone using which can be used in a living room. The one posted above, I used before and is powerful but super loud. In another thread they posted about an Alita air pump. Any suggestions?
Having a similar like everyone else using the 8-30 bio-reactor and getting proper flow and tumbling. I purchased a sicce 3.0 pump for it but it makes a gurgle sound so used a spare sicce 1.5. What air pump is everyone using which can be used in a living room. The one posted above, I used before and is powerful but super loud. In another thread they posted about an Alita air pump. Any suggestions?
