The Reef Toys P2O reactor is a brand new product category that strays far from the extremely thoughtful accessories and reactors that they’ve been making to date. It’s not too often something comes along which is completely new to the aquarium hobby, but Reef Toys P2O reactor is really unlike anything that’s ever been made for our reef tanks.
The P2O reactor is essentially just a couple PVC parts that are designed to mix a mixture of water and air, and directs this froth into a filter sock. The air is provided by an aspirator valve on a feed pump but this is not a needle wheel design, Reef Toys is looking for sheer air intake and not trying to make very fine bubbles.
The real action of the P2O reactor happens inside, where a special ‘valve’ directs the air water mixture to pass over an even more special piece of silver-metal alloy. The movement of the air water mixture over this particular alloy generates an electrostatic charge which greatly helps to discharge carbon dioxide from the aquarium water.
For most aquarium scenarios Reef Toys claims that the use of a single P2O reactor can raise pH by a degree of 0.1 which may not sound like much, but the benefits of “charged” water further extend to increased ORP, accelerated biology and increased protein skimming. At this point we’re just taking Reef Toys’ word that the P2O reactor does what it claims, and it’s not voodoo, it’s physics, albeit a type of chemical reaction that we are not used to employing on our reef tanks.
Let’s be clear, you do not need a P2O reactor, or many of the gizmos and doodads for our reef tanks for that matter, but we are intrigued about Reef Toys exploring exotic processes to create a generally healthier condition of the aquarium water. We will be testing out the P2O reactor to see if we can back up Reef Toys’ claims with empirical evidence, and in the meantime check out the more lengthy explanation of how the P2O reactor works on their website. [Reef Toys]
