Media Reactor Question

[jd371]

I use Phosguard in my reactor. I've found that sometimes the PO4 will drop to were I like it before the Phosguard has been exhausted and is still able to be used. Is it okay to leave the media in the reactor turned off for a weeks at a time until its needed again?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

The issue with doing that is the water will stagnate and could develop algae as well as allow for potential bacterial blooms or other toxins to build up in it. Then when you turn the flow back on to it, all that nastiness gets dumped back into the tank environment. With Phosguard being relatively inexpensive, I'd just dump it and start with fresh the next time you need it.

 

[cjd]

personally , If you shut if off completely at the very least before I put it back on line I would flush about a gallon into a bucket to get the stale stagnant water out of the reactor. Easily done at time of water change . I would probably have it on slow trickle constantly rather than off and on. Finding that happy point where you not stripping too much or too little is the tricky part , but with testing every couple of days to dial it in than you should be good to go.