Canister filter vs reactor? (What is a reactor?)

[Robertellis30]

been using a large canister as a media reactor on my nano for a while. Just throw it in a large mesh bag to guarantee it doesn’t move through the pump.

 

[blasterman]

I just came across it as well, and it has me laughing. The OP clearly is ahead of the bell curve and needs a high five.

Back some years ago we had these things called fluidized bed biological filters. Basically a bunch of plastic beads in "reactor" with the same logic as a wet dry or biowheel. Totally stupid, but they sold like crazy. Fast forward today the same apparatus is used for biopellets. I use biooellets time to time...I put them in media bags and toss them in my sump. Bacteria are none the wiser they arent bouncing around in a plastic cylinder. They would work just as well in a cannister.