Filtration Question

[marleesan]

I currently have an aquaclear 30 HOB filter on my 37g fowlr along with a protein skimmer and live rock. I have been using carbon and a filter pad, but I was wondering if this is good or if there is something I can put in the chamber for better filtration.

Also, I have been looking into reactors, what do they do and do I need one?

[CafeReef]

if you wanted to upgrade, you could pick up an Aquaclear 70. if it is to much flow for your liking, you can trip back the blades a bit on the impeller, then you have more volume for one (even if just a little) and more room for media.

You could make a small media rack out of egg crate and have a dedicated slot for mechanical filter media, carbon and another for purigen

[cloak]

What you have is fine. That little foam pad you have in there doesn't even compare to the filtration capabilities of your rock. As long as you can keep your nitrates relatively low then your doing something right. You could add some GFO to your HOB filter if you want, but being that this is a FOWLR tank it's not really needed. GL.

[cougareyes]

Are you having any issues, if not, then what you have going on is fine. If you wanted to add a reactor, the simple ones from brs are inexpensive and work good. You could do a gfo/carbon mix or just gfo and keep carbon in your hob. Why I like my media in a reactor vs the sump or hob is because you are able to force more water to flow through the media. Brs has a video that shows how much more effective a reactor is vs media in a bag. I use purigen in the seachem bag and a gfo/carbon mix in a brs reactor.

[marleesan]

I wanted to add a reactor or change my filter setup because I have diatoms and wanted a source of phosphate removal