Bubble Magus BP-200 reactor

[Fowler freak]

Does anyone have any experience using this reactor as a bio-pellet phosphate bead reactor? I’ve used this in this fashion for many months now and I think I give up. It becomes a mess due to the turbulent tumble breaking theses beads down too quickly. There’s a bacteria slug byproduct that’s clogs the foam media on the top of the unit slowing it down to a stop. I have to clean it out a few times a week for it to run properly and then on top of that there’s sludge in my sump that I have to shopvac out every few months. Sometimes it even goes through the return pump and then I have to clean my glass way more often than I should. Pretty sure this is not normal but would like a unit to keep phosphates down almost nonexistent for minimal algae growth. Anyways if anybody has any pointers or experience with this unit I am all ears. Thank you

 

[ndrwater]

Have you/can you turn the flow down within the reactor?
Bio pellet reactors need a slow to moderate flow. The pellets should tumble, but slowly. To much flow will cause issues

 

[Fowler freak]

Ducks fan huh? Nice I’m a mile from the stadium in the circle. You can not control the flow so I put some poly around the inlet to slow it down but still ran Into issues. I wish there was a dc powered pump to slow it down without having to to what I did. Was thinking of ditching the beads and filling it up with matrix and just stepping up my bio-filter game. Not sure yet but thanks for the reply

 

[ndrwater]

A gate or ball valve would work. Home Depot has any of the parts needed... Or.. call Bubble Maggus. They are local to us..

 

[Fowler freak]

A gate or ball valve would work. Home Depot has any of the parts needed... Or.. call Bubble Maggus. They are local to us..

You can’t put a valve on it because the outlet goes directly into the cylinder like the unit sits right on the outlet which threads right in. I did call them and they said to put media around the intake, which I did, but then that media would just get clogged with junk and is have to clean that or replace it. Super pain in the butt to get to the bottom of that while it’s in the sump. Guess I just have to figure it out or have a different media in there.