Blog Comments

IIRC
Pros. Can hide outlet's within rockwork, can have infinite number of outlets
Cons. Lots of piping and drilling, can be noisey, cannot change flow as easily as with power heads

I have only known the second one as a "fan worm".... do not know the scientific names for them, they arefilter feeders -

What you need is a critter id page. That's something we are still working on for this site, but for now, this will get you by:
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Thanks, looking in the tank daily for critters and see what I see to make sure I dont see something bad. But hard to tell what is bad if I do not know what is good.

The first is a Spaghetti Worm, a detrivore and thus good guy. Butterfly fish will eat it, as will some wrasses.

The second is a type of tube worm akin to a smaller feather duster. Filter feeder and good guy. Butterfly fish would eat it.

Fresh "saltwater" tank, right? There's no reason to run PO4 remover or carbon. Add those after the livestock is in.

What about on a fresh tank that has not had livestock added yet?

Craig

I found they are both very usefull. So I'd say a definite YES.
Carbon:
Due to clarity a nicer look. and healthier corals because of the better spectrum from the bulbs thus better growth thus better nutrient uptake.
Phospate:
The end of (hair) algea. Remove them once never to come back again. Less time cleaning, now more time enjoying the view.
Another benefit is that you can feed your tank more, resulting in lots of happy thankfull fish.
Be carefull though, if you're using it for the first time. Rinse every thing gently but thorough, start with small amounts of media and low flow through the reactor and ramp it up slowly as to not shocking your animals. ( bleeching )

Why would you get in trouble? I think they are needed if you have a certain amount of bioload. For me, I liked a lot of fish and a mixed reef. Those two things make it hard to keep the water quality where it should be without lots of water changes. By running carbon and phosphate material through my own little version of a HOB filter type "reactor" it help me keep my livestock happier longer. And I stopped running carbon for a while. Once I started up again, I noticed a difference in water color and clarity immediately. It's an obvious difference

What size is your tank ? I own a REEF OCTOPUS Extreme 160 with a mesh wheel. It has performed flawlessly for about two years now. The Extreme 160 and MSX200 or great skimmers for the money.

Hi Craig,

I wrote up an article about how they work that is pretty easy to grasp. I'm still using a Lifereef reactor, which I like a lot. The Knop reactor on the other hand I do not, nor the Korallin.

http://www.melevsreef.com/calcium_reactor.html

I would spend an extra hundred on the Super Reef Octopus XP2000. The bubble blaster pump is exceptional from what I hear. Most people are basically waiting to see how it holds out over time; however, It comes with a three year warranty. That and you get a sweet FOTM cone skimmer.

My two cents.