Edit: Best product to use in Phosphate reactor?

+1

I would personally stay away from phosban. It is known for creating alkalinity swings. GFO is a tried and true way to lower phosphates. Make sure you rinse the media well before adding it to the tank. There is a type of cyanobacteria that metabolizes the Fe and will take off in your tank if you use enough GFO. It happened to my 30 gallon atleast when I was running a decent amount of GFO and didnt rinse it well enough.

 

+2 BRS GFO

Rinse in RO water, then add to reactor. It took mine a little while to start working, but when it did, it was terrific. I got a bulk 1 gallon of the standard GFO and I just replaced it once every month or so.

 

As far as the pump goes, I think you could use it as an external pump and just have a line (J tube) going into your tank to draw the water to the pump, through flexible tubing, then through the reactor and back to the tank through another tube.

 

I looked into doing that, but the inlet for the pump that I have won't support any type of hose going to it, unfortunately.

Pump: LifeTech Jebo Aquarium PowerHead 290 GPH - AP1500

 

So BRS GFO seems like the popular choice. Thoughts on chemi pure?

 

I like it- I have Chemipure Elite combined with Purigen in the back of my 12g nanocube right now, though I've never run it in a reactor. It does a nice job of keeping my water clean.

 

I mean you could always just get a new pump if it bothers you having it in the tank, but that's really your call. They have maxijet 400's for $12.

 

Maxijets are crap. Look for cobalt MJ pumps. They are the same manufacturer of the old maxijets before marineland ruined them!

 

I think I would have the same problems with it as I do with my current one. The inlet is isn't long enough to attach a tube.

 

Yea- my bad, I thought they had a conversion for external, but they don't.