wet/dry use and phoshate reactors

[Mt. Dreamer]

I have a few of questions:

I have a 360 gallon aquarium. Its mainly a fish only tank, with a few soft corals. It does have quite a bit of live rock (not sure lbs). Curretly using a wet/dry filter (yes... it has balls!). I know its "old school". Have read that these filters are no longer being used with most reef tanks. Is this the case with fish only tanks? If so, for the same reasons? I would prefer not to set up a refugium. I heard that its possible to just use a empty sump type set-up with about the same success...comments please. I remeber when wet/dry filter were the craze. Now refugium. What next?

Would like any information on Phosphate Reactors: Worth having? Effective at removing phosphates? Easy to use? About how often should media be replaced? Should they run all the time? What brand is good/bad? Cost?

Thanks

 

[Reefdaddy1]

2 Little fishes makes a good reactor and about 25 bucks. As far worth having depends on how your tank tests out. If you have an algae problem due to phosphates then yes it would be worth it. running them easy enough. they have a rcommended flow rate , so buy a small pump to feed it and reduce them phosphates. As far as running all the time goes, there are many that do. however some of us run it only when Phosphates rise. Replacing media isdependant on use, if its every day and it starts looking mushy replace it. But mostly your testing will tell you when to replace it. Hope that helps.

 

[Krish]

I agree with Bob on the phosphate reactor...As for the wet/dry, depending on how heavy of a bio-load you have, some people will still run a wet/dry as it is very efficient at converting ammonia into nitrite and then into nitrate in a short amount of time. The only problem is it stops there and you end up with an accumilation of nitrates over time. That's the reason why people ditched the wet/dry as an accumilation of nitrates aren't good for corals and inverts, too high and it poses a problem for fish and also, promotes nuicance algae growth...I guess depending on hwta problem you are experiencing (if any) will determine which direction you should go in