Placement of Phosban Reactors

[SueAndHerZoo]

I just ordered and received two and am wondering the best place to put them. Do I want to put them in my sump, outside my sump, hanging off the back of the tank? It's a 92 gallon corner tank with a 14 gallon sump which already has a lot of stuff in it... not a whole lot of extra room.

Do I want the reactors (one for Phosban and one for carbon) to be before or after the skimmer or doesn't it matter? Never used these before so I'm very green - any suggestions appreciated.

Sue

 

[dsmooth]

Hang them outside of the sump w/ the tubing n pump inside of it. gl

 

[icycoral]

I have mine hanging on the outside of my sump and their pump is in with my return pump cycling water before it returns to my tank after my skimmer and fuge.

 

[ctparamedic1520]

I have mine on hanging on the outside of my sump. Much cleaner and easier to change the media when it is time. My supply and return both come from the middle section (return) on my sump

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

K, so far pretty unanimous. Reactor unit on the outside of sump with water source and output from the chambers after the skimmer.

Thanks.
Sue

 

[epstein]

outside and in .....My pump is before skimmer.....but return is in return box

 

[jackbendawn]

Can someone explain why the reactor should be placed before/after the skimmer? and the reasons thanks Gary.

 

[cccharliecc]

I have two and both are hanging on the outside of my sump. One has carbon and the other has Rowa Phos in it. I use a little MJ powerhead and split it to run both and then further control the flow with the valves on the top. you want the media to just gurgle a little bit, not full force flow in the reactors.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

K, thanks. I did buy one pump to run both (as per suggestion of Epstein) so now I have to find some 1/2" ID tubing and splitter stuff....not sure if that's an LFS item or not but I'll hopefully find out soon.
Sue

 

[cccharliecc]

You can get all that stuff at home depot actually. They have the tubing and the barb fittings. Get some plastic hose clamps too just in case, I always like to use them on all connections at an extra level of backup.

 

[FroMan]

I run both of my reactors above the water level in my sump. In the past I had them hanging off the side of my sump. I would periodically have salt creep along the ridge the cap fits on.

If you are going to run them externally, put two layers or three layers of teflon tape along the threads to ensure that you have a leak resistant seal.

Also make sure that you use some sort of a clamp on the OD of the tubing to make sure it holds onto the barb on the end of the connectors.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

Thanks - I knew it would be wise to ask before doing...... these are all things I wouldn't have thought of on my own. 3-day weekend coming up and hopefully at least part of it will be devoted to catching up on tank maintenance and upgrades - I've been very negligent for two weeks.

(damned job!)

Sue