Nitrate and phosphate reactors

[woody390]

I have my new tank running and although I do not have corals at the moment I plan on adding some soft corals. I have been looking at nitrate reactors and phosphate reactors. My questions are do people run these all the time or just when they have high nitrates or phosphates? Would it be bad for the soft corals as they like some nitrates as far as I understand? Anything else to bare in mind with these?

 

[Sniperhank]

I run my reactor all the time. Turning it on and off depending on your levels would create too much fluctuation in parameters and stress everything out, even the most hardy of creatures IMO. As far as soft coral liking some nitrates...not really true. They can survive and do well in these conditions, but the more pristine the parameters the better they will do.

 

[woody390]

Anything specific to look for in them or the media?

 

[Sniperhank]

Depends what exactly you're looking for. There are several types of reactors that are geared towards phosphates. There are zeolite, which I know nothing about, phosban, GFO... I personally run a BRS reactor with Phosguard to lower phosphates and carbon.

 

[woody390]

Do you not bother with a nitrate one then? Looks good though

 

[Sniperhank]

Every tank is different. I don't have any nitrate issues, mine are all phosphate. Any detectable nitrates that might be produced are consumed by the algae that grows from the phosphates I haven't been able to maintain due to water source. I've never looked into nitrate reduction for this reason, though I have seen some things here or there...just don't know much about it. I just believe making sure nothing is rotting in your tank and having proper flow is the key to not having nitrate issues. If poop or extra food can't settle at the bottom of the tank, it can easily be picked up by filtration and then won't be an issue as it decays.

 

[woody390]

Yeah it's not that I'm having issues just want to set the tank up right as still new. Is this something to cross when you have issues or can you deal with it right off?

 

[carey]

I have been running a biopellet reactor for nitrate reduction, I looked into the zeolite and the "nitrate" reactors and figured the biopellets would be a cheaper and easier solution. However, I set up the pellets in a new tank so I dont really have much in the way of trates right now. I installed it in anticipation of possible issues though as its a 180g and is actually quite stocked so it seemed like a good idea. Its only been a few weeks so i cant attest to how well it will work. I did run pellets once before and it helped with phosphates and nitrates to a degree, it kept clogging so I took it down.