Phosphate Reactor Change

How often do you change the material for the reactor? Or how do u tell when it's ready. I just put in a Two little fishes reactor and would like some Input on it!
Thanks

 

changing it is gonna depend on water quality, the cleaner the water, the longer the media lasts..

to tell when to change it, requires you to test your water before the new media goes in, then a day or so later check your phosphates to see if they have started to drop, once your phosphates drop, again depending how clean the water is, go a week or so and test phosphates again, if your still reading low numbers, the media is still working, if your numbers have climbed, its a good indication that the media has started exhausting and needs to be changed.. i just set up my 150, but i only have 3 fish in it and my media is 2 1/2 weeks old.. really depends on how stocked the tank is and feeding amounts

 

+1 on above

also another method, providing you have got your reactor with minimal flow to get a good tumble, but enough contact time for the media to do its job is


test the tank water
test the water coming out of the reactor
if the water coming from the reactor gives you a lower PO4 level, then the media is still absorbing
if the water coming from the reactor gives same reading on test kit , then the media is exhausted and needs changing

if both read zero, then you can continue to use the media, until the point where your glass seems to get dirtier quicker after a clean
thats another good indicator that the media needs changing IME

Steve