Tlf 550
Love the reactor! Just hooked one up this past weekend for my PO4 X4 phosphate remover. I dumped my BRS reactor because of flow issues as well. I still use a BRS reactor for my carbon, because the media does not need to tumble.
So let me tell you what I had to do with the TLF reactor. Okay PO4 X4 is a little smaller than your typical GFO, but it still needs to be fluidized. I am using a maxijet 1200, but with a ball valve on the input side of the TLF dialed way down. Also, I had to figure out a way to "tie down" the sponge on the bottom of the reactor. I was finding that the media tends to "channel" but that the flow changes and you can get "bursts" in the media for no reason at all at any time. Well if your sponge is not tied down, the medial goes all over the place and mine ended up in the sump. So, i ended just threading some super small fishing line through the bottom plate on the TLF and through the inner hole on the sponge. I made like 4-6 passes, not to tight, but enough so that when there are those channel bursts of water through the media, the sponge does not move and the media stays in place. USE the BALL VALVE!!! when you plug in the pump, make sure your valve is in the off position, and VERY SLOWLY open so you can see how it is fluidizing. If you use a maxijet 1200 its too powerful so you must use the ball valve judiciously. You can of course get a less powerful pump Maxi600 or something else, but then you have to deal with head differential etc...depending on your run...
So after a few days, my phosphates are .00 - .03 with hanna checker. For weeks I was kicking myself because I could not get it below .05 - .08, and then I realized that a) i was not using enough media, and b) my reactor had poor flow.
