Carbon, GFO reactor Return Piping

rob taft · Mar 12, 2021

I'm not new to Salt water of fresh water tanks but this is the first one I've had where I plan on using media reactors. I also will run UV on this tank.

I plan for using two return pumps, one will draw water from the return section of the sump and send it back to one side of my tank via its own separate return. The other will draw water from the return and send it to a manifold that will have taps for a carbon and GFO etc and the last tap will be for the Aqua UV.

My question:

I done a fair amount of web searching and most if not all of the return from the media reactors dump into the sump chamber. Some in the refugium section, and some others in the skimmer section. Again, my inexperience showing but why would I want it dumping back into the sump. It would seem that this way I'm just re filtering the same water i.e. not all of the tank water.

I have considered running a separate return line to the other side of the tank (60" long) where the path would be from one dedicated return pump located in the return section of the sump, going to the manifold with the returns from the media reactors going back to the dedicated return line passing through the UV and back to the display. (1) Am I over complicating this i.e. the re-filtering isn't a problem or (2) will running a dedicated return line back to the display cause problems with the Herbie overflow i.e. media reactor getting clogged and causing flow issues. Any help, guidance is appreciated.

P-Dub · Mar 12, 2021

rob taft said:
I'm not new to Salt water of fresh water tanks but this is the first one I've had where I plan on using media reactors. I also will run UV on this tank.

I plan for using two return pumps, one will draw water from the return section of the sump and send it back to one side of my tank via its own separate return. The other will draw water from the return and send it to a manifold that will have taps for a carbon and GFO etc and the last tap will be for the Aqua UV.

My question:

I done a fair amount of web searching and most if not all of the return from the media reactors dump into the sump chamber. Some in the refugium section, and some others in the skimmer section. Again, my inexperience showing but why would I want it dumping back into the sump. It would seem that this way I'm just re filtering the same water i.e. not all of the tank water.

I have considered running a separate return line to the other side of the tank (60" long) where the path would be from one dedicated return pump located in the return section of the sump, going to the manifold with the returns from the media reactors going back to the dedicated return line passing through the UV and back to the display. (1) Am I over complicating this i.e. the re-filtering isn't a problem or (2) will running a dedicated return line back to the display cause problems with the Herbie overflow i.e. media reactor getting clogged and causing flow issues. Any help, guidance is appreciated.

The concentration of refiltered water is so negligible, it does not matter. Additionally, no media is so efficient as to strip all that it is supposed to on the first, second or, even the third pass. Don't overthink things. The most important thing is to just get reactors like this up and running.

Firthy13 · Mar 12, 2021

P-dub is right. Will make no difference. But if it does bother you that you may be refiltering a few percent of the water already passed though the filters, run the returns from the reactors and UV right Infront of the inlet of the return pump that sends water back up to the tank. That way you are ensuring most, if not all, the filtered water is not entering the manifold pump again.