Phosphate reactor and Protein Skimmer questions!

[67RedDonzi]

I currently have a 210 DT with a 75 Fuge. My filtration thus far is my LR and sock filter. I am looking into protein skimmers but am not sure what brand to get....The one I am interested in is this

AquaMaxx EcoMaxx In-Sump Protein Skimmer

Does anyone have thoughts on this particular brand? Is there a skimmer that you like better?

Also I am looking into a Two Little Fishies PhosBan reactor.....would I be better off getting two TLF 150's or one TLF 550 reactor?
can I fill these reactors with this

PhosGuard

Thank you in advance!

 

[nicodim55]

I currently have a 210 DT with a 75 Fuge. My filtration thus far is my LR and sock filter. I am looking into protein skimmers but am not sure what brand to get....The one I am interested in is this

AquaMaxx EcoMaxx In-Sump Protein Skimmer

Does anyone have thoughts on this particular brand? Is there a skimmer that you like better?

Also I am looking into a Two Little Fishies PhosBan reactor.....would I be better off getting two TLF 150's or one TLF 550 reactor?
can I fill these reactors with this

PhosGuard

Thank you in advance!

I'm looking at that same skimmer, which size are you going for?

 

[phillrodrigo]

Alot of people like those skimmers. The life reefs seem to be a big hit on bigger tanks or the Reef octopus skimmers. For the reactor if you wanna run gfo and carbon get the spectrapure. Gfo and carbon have different flow rates the spectrapure allows you to control each side. I use the brs reactor but it doesn't have a control for each side

 

[gtbarsi]

Alot of people like those skimmers. The life reefs seem to be a big hit on bigger tanks or the Reef octopus skimmers. For the reactor if you wanna run gfo and carbon get the spectrapure. Gfo and carbon have different flow rates the spectrapure allows you to control each side. I use the brs reactor but it doesn't have a control for each side

I just want to point out that if you wanted to I believe you could dissemble the BRS dual and set it up just like the Spectrapure. Additionally you could do something similar with two singles. The point being that there is nothing wrong with the BRS reactors, it is just a difference in the plumbing. Keep in mind that with the plumbing the way Spectrapure is setup you are dividing your water flow, so only a portion of the total flow goes to each reactor. With the BRS reactor setup all of the flow goes through both reactors.

I personally prefer the idea of running separate reactors as the flow of one is never impacted by the other (back pressure). Also I think that reactors should be driven by a manifold off of the return pump. That way you have fewer pumps to maintain, and as long as you size your return pump properly you should never have issues with flow rates.

 

[gtbarsi]

I can not comment on the skimmer. See my post above retarding reactors, I am not a fan of the TLF reactors, personally I like the BRS reactors. When you out grow them I think that Avast has really nice reactors that you can do just about anything with in our out of the sump.

As to PhosGuard, I would only use this for a short period to drop problem phosphate fast. You need to keep an eye on it and check your phosphate levels so you know when Phosphate levels have bottomed out or the PhosGuard is exhausted. You do not want to leave this sitting in a reactor once it has become saturated with phosphate. Note that you do not want PhosGuard tumbling.

If you use PhosGuard to initially address your high phosphate levels, you really should be looking at something like GFO to maintain and manage your Phosphate levels. While it works slower than PhosGuard is cheaper and if maintained properly should enable you to keep your phosphate levels very steady.

 

[67RedDonzi]

I was thinking of the EM200 for the aquamaxx skimmer.

I apologize, what does BRS and GFO stand for?

Also, would a calcium reactor be necessary?

 

[gtbarsi]

BRS = Bulk Reef Supply
GFO = Granular Ferric Oxide

Check out the BRS website there are some good videos on their reactors and GFO.

 

[gtbarsi]

Calcium reactor is nothing you need if you do not know much about them. Initially water changes should be able to address your CA & ALK needs. If your corals need more than that then there are several options the last of which is a calcium reactor. Kalkwasser, is probably the easiest but can only go so far, then you have two part dosing, which can scale up to as much as you need. Additionally some people use Kalkwasser and two part to address the CA & ALK requirements of their tanks.

Calcium reactors are cool but have a lot of extra requirements the others do not. I would say that until you have gotten to the level that you can maintain a reef tank for a substantial amount of time and fully understand the base requirements to do so, a Calcium reactor is out of the question.