phosphate reactors

[hampsterblade]

4 months running my tank now and I have algae growing like crazy. My chaeto is hardly growing at all, but I've noticed small patches of coralline around, but I also have a dark green looking film growing all up the back of my tank. Some cyano growing on a rock at the top, some lime green algae growing all over another rock. The cyano and dark green stuff are covered in air bubbles.
This has me looking into getting a phosphate reactor. I'm looking at the phoban reactor 150 on Drs Foster & Smith which comes with a pump for 60. Not sure if its the best route. I'm also trying to decide whether I want to go with phosban or NPX bioplastics. I've read the plastics work a little slower, but are more stable. Which would be better?

 

[hampsterblade]

Here are some of the algaes in question

 

[hampsterblade]

 

[whosurcaddie]

Its a good idea to get a GFO reactor I would look at nextreef instead though. They have much better quality units at a great price. As for Bio Pellets a lot of people run both but bio pellets on they're own aren't going to give you the phosphate reduction your looking for.

Just know that a young tank will go through many changes, algae is a normal thing for new tanks.

By the way the lime green looks like green coraline to me and I cant really tell what is on the back glass. I think I might know what it is but I don't want to make assumptions.

 

[explorer07]

Why not try BRS dual reactor? I just got mine in today and im very impressed with the quality. I will have it up and running soon and will let you know more of what I think about it. I paid $63 with shipping and got it in about a week.

 

[whosurcaddie]

Why not try BRS dual reactor? I just got mine in today and im very impressed with the quality. I will have it up and running soon and will let you know more of what I think about it. I paid $63 with shipping and got it in about a week.

I have a BRS reactor and while it is good for carbon using it with GFO or bio pellets it really starts to show its weakness. The way the media chambers are built it gets clogged way too easily. The reason it does poorly is because the flow for GFO has to be exact you need that perfect tumble and the flow rate is constantly changing due to it getting clogged. Its great if dedicated for carbon though and very cheap so that's a plus.

OP if you decide on a bio pellet reactor as well, take a look at the Hydra aquatics line built specifically for them. Its the perfect design for a pellet reactor.


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[explorer07]

Well I remember reading that BRS was infact aware of that problem and addressed it. I could be wrong though but I guess I will find out soon enough.

 

[whosurcaddie]

Maybe so I bought mine about a year ago. It's a quality piece of equipment and for the price it's hard to pass up.

 

[hampsterblade]

Thanks. I will look at the BRS and run carbon and phosban and look at another reactor for pellets if necessary down the line. What is the deal with carbon in saltwater. I see it thrown around a lot, and coming from freshwater carbon is pretty much taboo unless medicating.

 

[explorer07]

Just use premium carbon and not to much and you should be fine. Rinse well so that not to leach all the chemicals into the tank.

 

[MondoBongo]

i have a phosban 150 that i run sometimes when the need arises. it is driven by a small danner mag drive pump (very small).

i've been very happy with it so far. there may or may not be better models/designs/brands out there, but i have no complaints to date.

 

[hampsterblade]

I cleaned the back glass with a mag float (really tricky yl get between the rocks and reach through PVC back there), rubbed most of the cyano off with my finger and immediately drained 20 gallons getting as much ditritus as I could out. Overall about a 30% water change. After I tested the phosphates with an API test kit I forgot I had. (I once worried about phosphates in freshwater and then learned to love the algae on my slate). I'm messuring somewhere between .25 and .5. Is that high?