Phosphate reactor question

r33fertank · Feb 3, 2017

Hey guys, so i have another newb question. I was given this phosphate reactor when i bought a heap of stuff from a tank shutdown and was wondering if i should be running one in my current system or is it more for when you have alot of corals and fish? I have a 4ft tank with 2ft sump, 30-40 kilo of LR, run protein skimmer and have a fairly small bioload atm consisting of-

Fish:

2 occelaris clowns
1 blue tang
1 pj
A small CUC

Corals:

Christmas tree rock( about the size of 2 fists)
Small torch coral
Small pineapple favia
Small fungia plate coral? (Not sure of the name)

Thats it for the moment but plan on adding more fish and corals.

Whipples · Feb 3, 2017

If you plan on adding corals in the future, you will definitely want to get your phosphates down and a reactor is one of the preferred methods! Some folks run GFO only, some do a blend of GFO and granulated active carbon, or carbon only depending on their needs. If you run it as a GFO only reactor, you want enough flow for the GFO to gently tumble, but not enough where it grinds itself to dust. If doing a GFO/carbon blend, mix the two together and then lock it down in the reactor using a filter pad to prevent it from moving, carbon will turn to dust if it is allowed to tumble.

Test your phosphate level and start there.