How do phosban reactors work

[Reefer head]

I am trying to save a dime and convert an extra biocube skimmer into a phosban reactor and it would help if I know how one functions in the first place, will someone please school me, thanks ahead of time

[CoryDude]

Basically water is pumped into the reaction chamber down a pipe inside the reactor. The water exits at the bottom of the reactor and leaves the reactor through an outlet at the top. That way water "upflows" through the reaction chamber. You place the gfo in the reactor and the upflow ensures that the water is passes through most of the media.

[CoryDude]

I'm not to familiar with those skimmers but it could work as long as you have upflow or downflow through the reaction chamber and provided your flow is slow enough. That's one of the keys to a gfo reactor, the turn over rate needs to be slow.

[Reefer head]

So if I just place the media in the inner tube inside the skimmer how do I get water to pump from top, or will the whole thing be submerged

[CoryDude]

If you want to save money, just buy some gfo, a small micron mesh bag and place the bag in an area that gets adequate water flow.

I'm looking at a pic of the skimmer you're talking about. I don't think it would work because it's a passive skimmer that doesn't have a water pump inlet or outlet. I'm lookink at the 14 or 29 biocube model that uses an airstone so let me know if I'm wrong.

[Reefer head]

I was just gonna put a weak power head against the bottom of it, but I didn't think of that but how can I ensure it passing through it and not just pushing it around

[allan]

The bag is the cheapest method. And it's effective I'm told.

You could rig a basket inline with your water flow in your sump an put the bag in the basket, that way most of the turn over water will come into contact with the media.

The reactors from 2fish are about $20 and the pump is a small one as well.

I picked one up from here for ten dollars. They really aren't that much.

[alton]

I would recommend bite the bullit and buy a phosban reactor. The money you are going to spend for GFO or phosban will far out way the cost of a reactor in time.

[Reefer head]

I like the basket idea, makes sense thanks dude

[Reefer head]

I'm really not even positive I need one, my diatoms have faded a lot since the cycle. That's why I don't want to spend that much