Building a bio reactor, couple questions...

[vamptrev]

Here is my design. The sump container is the best in my opinion because of the super hard plastic, flats for cheap bulkheads, and the lid is inside the container so all condensation falls back into the container. Make sure airstones are on the very bottom, i use 4 stones spread out a little so no dead spots. You will never need to clean or drain. Make sure your incomming water is higher then drain level so when you turn off media dosnt get sucked into pump


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[DB junkie]

What I've experienced is it depends how "hard" you're using it as to how much "gunk" accumulates.... All you can do is set it up and see what happens.

I prefer using tanks cause I like watching it boil.... lol. Does make it super easy to see how well it's working in there and how dirty it is with a 2 second glance though. I had problems with drains when I ran 55 gallon plastic drums. Seemed hard to get enough surface area on the drain for the media not to just sit there stuck to it.

The first few tank reactors I built I used the big 10" diameter rubber diffusers then plumed them through the bottom of the tank. Used 2 on a 55 gallon and 3 on a 90 gallon (both acrylic tanks) Valved them all individually to adjust boil. Was a lot of work to plum them though. Last one I build was just a 20 gallon glass and just used (2) 8" diameter sintered glass stones in there and think they seem to bubble more (finer bubbles) then the rubber diffusers.

Seems diffusers have a pretty big effect on these things, seems the nicer the diffuser the better it works. The sintered glass diffusers are supposed to be easy to clean and last a long time. I'm much happier using a few larger diffusers then the cheap lil disks, as they were always moving around, piling up and changing the boil not to mention clogging really fast.

 

[davenmandy]

Here is my design. The sump container is the best in my opinion because of the super hard plastic, flats for cheap bulkheads, and the lid is inside the container so all condensation falls back into the container. Make sure airstones are on the very bottom, i use 4 stones spread out a little so no dead spots. You will never need to clean or drain. Make sure your incomming water is higher then drain level so when you turn off media dosnt get sucked into pump


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I spent some time thinking about this, originally I wanted the water to fall right in the top through the lid. However with my setup it would work a lot smoother if the input was in the bottom. If there is any backsiphon in case of a poweroutage I feel like any media will be stopped at the ball valve, is it safe to assume in a 1.5" pipe when the power turns back on it will push the K1 back into the reactor? I guess the big question to me is, if the k1 floats, and the input is at the bottom, wouldn't it suck only water or is there not as much room as I am thinking? Thanks for the pics.

What I've experienced is it depends how "hard" you're using it as to how much "gunk" accumulates.... All you can do is set it up and see what happens.

I prefer using tanks cause I like watching it boil.... lol. Does make it super easy to see how well it's working in there and how dirty it is with a 2 second glance though. I had problems with drains when I ran 55 gallon plastic drums. Seemed hard to get enough surface area on the drain for the media not to just sit there stuck to it.

The first few tank reactors I built I used the big 10" diameter rubber diffusers then plumed them through the bottom of the tank. Used 2 on a 55 gallon and 3 on a 90 gallon (both acrylic tanks) Valved them all individually to adjust boil. Was a lot of work to plum them though. Last one I build was just a 20 gallon glass and just used (2) 8" diameter sintered glass stones in there and think they seem to bubble more (finer bubbles) then the rubber diffusers.

Seems diffusers have a pretty big effect on these things, seems the nicer the diffuser the better it works. The sintered glass diffusers are supposed to be easy to clean and last a long time. I'm much happier using a few larger diffusers then the cheap lil disks, as they were always moving around, piling up and changing the boil not to mention clogging really fast.

Wonder if I should use a sock on the input just in case. Or possibly the drain back into the sump? Which of the two would be more efficient? Probably before it hits the reactor. Thanks for the input.