All this talk has gotten me worried.  I just ordered the Two Little Fishies phosban reactor and the expensive (15$/bottle) iron hydroxide media, and no I am thinking perhaps it is not such a good idea....hmmm.

Why would running this phosban reactor constantly be a bad idea?

Recently, I had a high phosphate problem that was taken care of quickly and easily with Kents PO3 sponge.  Of course this was only a 20 gallon tank but it still worked well. 
Mark, why not run it continuosly?  I have on my 20g without any apparent ill effects.  In fact, after water change, new sponge and carbon the acro polyp extension is wonderful.

My warning from Jon Finch was not to decrease too quickly as it may harm the corals which is a good rule of thumb when changing any parameter.

Personally, I would add some sponge now (take it out after a day or two then replace with fresh a couple of days after that and leave in tank) and depending on your need to overfeed you can decide if you need the reactor or if the sponge will take care of the extra phosphate.

John

There may be only one AA producer in the US.

There are at least three fairly large ones that I know of:  Almatis (used to be Alcoa), UOP (used to be LaRoche) and Poracell .  I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more.

coolwheels wrote: mark, what brand of AA are good Thanks

There may be only one AA producer in the US. The other producer had an inferior product and may have gone out of business.

I heard from a certain source that I can get 50 pounds of AA for $50 (can I use your name, Mark?)   50 pounds of AA can go a very long way for me.  Actually, I think I would be happy with maybe 10 pounds.  

I am also going to check into getting a large order of Activated Carbon and CaCO2 (is that right?) from the same wholesale dealer.  Once I get the details, I will start a new post and hope to be able to have everything ready for the next meeting.

So, is anyone else interested in splitting any of these with me?

The reactors are for the granulated iron hydroxide media.  This is the brown "coffee grain" looking media, not the white activated alumina media.  Iron hydroxide has shown a tendency to clump if not fluidized.  The clumping causes channeling through the bed and poor utilization of said media.  The reactor keeps the media fluidized allowing full utilization of the media.