phosban reactor

[Amstar]

what are they good for?? I saw one at joel's for 30 bucks.  it has peaked my interest.

[cbell]

rowa phos or cardon. in my opinion, everyone should be using rowaphos if you keep sps coral or have any algae

[MechanicalEngineer]

You put a pump on one end, which pumps water slowly through a phosphate media like Rowaphos, Phosban, etc.  The water then empties back into the tank just from the pressure. 

If you have any algae, you'll notice a HUGE difference with one.  My tank tells me whenever I need to change the media because my rocks go from gray colored (where there isn't coralline yet) to green. 

I think they're one of the cheapest modifications to your system for the result they give.

[Amstar]

can you hang it on a sump?  what type of pump do you need for it

[MechanicalEngineer]

Most phosphate reactors hang on the side of a sump or sit next to the sump (made to do either option). 

Generally you want as small as a pump as possible.  If you put too big of a pump on it, the flow will grind the media to very fine particles...which can kill fish.  Just get one of those tiny pumps...like 30-150gph type.  You'll probably only need a head loss of about 12" capability on it. 

I think my pump is a Via Aqua or something like that.  I have it set on the lowest flow setting too.  It's a tiny little pump.