reactors and such

[buddy08]

been looking at adding more gizmos to the tank and here recently have been looking at gfo and carbon reactor, also looked at bio pellter reactors and phosban reactors. can anyone explain to me the benefit of each? the maintenance required for them i.e. swapping out media, cleaning and so forth. If you use them, which types are you using? Im about to take the plunge and add LED's so i figured i might as well purchase the rest of the stuff needed to better my tank.. All of this equipment will be going under my stand so im limited to space. the stand is 48"x 28"x19" and currently houses a 20g long sump, considering replacing this with a 30 gallon.

 

[Northstar24]

GFO reactor - Lets you run granular ferric oxide, this is for pulling phosphates out of the water

Carbon Reactor- pretty obvious, allows you to run carbon

Phosban Reactor - Also pulls phosphate out of the water, but uses different media than the GFO reactor (I believe the GFO media is cheaper than phosban, but not sure)

Bio Pellets - These are polymer beads that grow bacteria which supposedly pull nitrate and phosphate out of the water. Some people have had luck with them, others have not

Milage on the media for all of these reactors will vary. Carbon needs to be changed out VERY frequently (like every few days) GFO and Phosban need to be replaced less often, and bio pellets even less often than that

Bulk Aquarium Supplies - Reef Aquarium Supplies | BulkReefSupply.com sells pretty much any kind of reactor you need

 

[buddy08]

carbon isnt cheap! so 2 times a week i imagine will get rather costly. If i were to get a GFO and carbon reactor, would that eliminate the need for a phosban reactor? i think i read somewhere that bio pellets were to be replaced every 6 months? are there any negative side effects of using any of these?

 

[fastrd400]

Gfo and phosban are the same thing. Bio pellets you don't replace, you replace what is used. In other wards, you mark the reactor at the time you start, 6 months later refill to your original mark.