Reef Octopus appears to be releasing a biopellet reactor sometime soon and we were surprised to see an innovative feature on these reactors. These images of the Reef Octopus BP Reactor show a nifty acrylic inverted cone at the bottom with the aquarium water being fed directly into the center of the cone allowing a consistent turnover of the bio pellet media within the chamber. As the water is fed down to the cone, the pellets are able to dance from the flow. Coupled with the constant movement of the pellets and gravity forcing the pellets down the cone towards the water inlet, your biopellets will be in constant motion eliminating inconsistent areas of flow.
The Reef Octopus BP reactors have acrylic knurled thumb screws to allow easy access to change or add media or get in there to clean out the reaction chamber. As we mentioned before, the water inlet comes through the top-center of the reactor and features a barbed hose fitting and union connection which should make cleanup and connection a snap. The effluent outlet is high on the body with a similar barbed hose fitting and union connector. One thing these reactors don’t appear to have is some sort of screen or plenum at the top to prevent errant pellets from exiting with the effluent. While this may not be a deal breaker, sometimes pellets can float when first introduced inside the reactor. This could probably be remedied by soaking your pellets for a few days prior to dumping them into the reactor.
The Reef Octopus BP reactors are shown in three different sizes and while we weren’t able to dig up any stats on these, they should fit in a variety of applications to suit you needs from nano and smaller aquariums, to even the larger tanks of some hobbyists. Most likely you will have to supply a small, low-flow pump to feed the reactor. No word yet on availability or pricing, but Reef Octopus is known to have pretty decent pricing making it a good deal for reefers on a tight budget that are looking to add biopellets to their system.
