Not sure if to spend money on a reactor.

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by Dman, Sep 8, 2014.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Dman

    Dman Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2013
    Messages:
    69
    Location:
    TX
    My work takes me away from home for up to a month at a time. I usually do 10% water changes weekly. So I get way behind when I'm gone. I have a hair algae outbreak bad. I've added some snails which have helped. My Nitrates had climbed to 70 after I got back. My phosphates read 0. I know these could be worse because I don't know how much is being used by the algae. My mag was 1200 now up to 1260 as i'm dosing w/ kent tech m. Alk was 7.7 and up to 8.5 with dosing. I was told by LFS that a reactor with phosban or rowaphos would be a good idea and could help. I don't mind spending the money if it will help. This is my first sw tank so I'm learning as I go. Any opinions on yes or no to the reactor would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Reefbuilder

    Reefbuilder Scooter Blennie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,248
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    look into a good bio reactor like a reef dynamics - they have an "all in one" pellet that will work on the phos and the nitrates.
     
  4. Ballgame

    Ballgame Millepora

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2013
    Messages:
    946
    Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
    I just started to use the Two Fishes Phosphan reactor. I'm about to post a thread about it. It's slowly down algae but not stopping it. And I change 10% every week.
    I will say it can't hurt to get one
     
  5. Dman

    Dman Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2013
    Messages:
    69
    Location:
    TX
    Thanks for quick responses. I was looking at the MR1.
     
  6. Reefbuilder

    Reefbuilder Scooter Blennie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,248
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    just watch the tlf reactors - they have a tendency to leak - I upgraded the one that I had, I also had a BRS one that was ok but my avast was the best reactor as far as getting a good tumble on the GFO. Once I have used up my GFO (i just bought a large container of the premium) I am going to all in one pellets. I am happy with the results of my bio pellets.
     
  7. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    1,287
    Location:
    Bakersfield, Ca
    Looks like you may need something for both phosphates and nitrates? Maybe a dual reactor or two reactors for carbon and gfo?
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. Dman

    Dman Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2013
    Messages:
    69
    Location:
    TX
    I was looking at the nextreef MR1. Looks like you can put both in it.
     
  10. Reefbuilder

    Reefbuilder Scooter Blennie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,248
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
  11. Dman

    Dman Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2013
    Messages:
    69
    Location:
    TX
    Thats very intresting.
     
  12. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2013
    Messages:
    1,287
    Location:
    Bakersfield, Ca
    I understand that you can mix gfo and carbon in a reactor. From what I was told on this idea is that the carbon is much softer and gets chewed up and into the water column. Loose carbon in the water had been implicated in HLLE. Therefore it's recommended to run them in sperate chambers.