Reactor or No Reactor?

First temperate tank here so I want to do it correctly of course....on my 8g should i run a phosphate or nitrate reactor if I am going to be doing weekly 2g water changes?

Keep it simple... I wouldn't put a nitrate reactor unless you really need one.
The more equipment there is, the bigger the possibility of something failing on you. Would you feed CO2 to the nitrate reactor?

I have phosphate remover in my HOB filter with activated carbon in my 10 gallon nano. I think that is the easiest way. 
In my Atlantic tank I have only carbon in a reactor, no phos. remover cause I have macro algaes growing in the tank.

Are you planning to feed a lot?
If you only have NPS organisms then you probably don't have a lot of light. Then the phosphate isn't really a problem...

I would assume the 25% water change weekly does the job, but you never know... Only time will tell, really

What kind of phosphate remover do you use? I've always used phosban in reef tanks.

yeah, im planning on at least feeding cyclops and mysis every other day

Hmm... Good question! I think it's Aqua Medic at the moment...

Think about what these reactors are used for in Tropical marine and why .
The best filter I have is my Algae Scrubbers and a massive Bio filter in the sump and a skimmer 1/2 size bigger than required.

That's true, but fitting an ATS in a 8 gallon sumpless tank might be a real trick!

Please dont comment to my posts Rapide! Your insults about my english abilities, grammer, education, and experiance have not been appreciated.. unless you would like to apologise .
Not everyone in this world has had a private school education ..

I am commenting on Thherste post not yours .

Come again? 

To be more pacific Reactors are a band aid solution to a larger issue ( Tropical) IMO and if you have Phosphate issue in a Temperate Tank you have big issues that requires more than just a reactor , weekly 50% water changes and filtering your sand beds, replacing half the bio filter with new media is a good start.
The problem with small tanks, is everything goes wrong so much faster than larger tanks, which makes them harder to keep not easier .
Filtration needs for Temperate is differant to tropical ,the Bio needed has to be twice the size due to the slower nature of temperate, Deep sand beds work well in temperate, partical filtration is important and so is Skimmers. And I use a lot of Charcoal bags and mat  I also think twice the flow of water is also important compared to tropical. I only use UV filtered NSW or marine salt and filtered water . As for Scrubbers I know its a hard option to add but wow do they work..
HTH's

Rapide wrote:Come again? 

What ??? Do you think I was going to be insulted over my Spelling , english, education, grammer in your other post and let it go ..as I said Bridge burnt .
You miss understood my post and then insulted me over it ..A Sorry mate goes a long way in my book, if not have a nice life..

I would advice one to keep such comments away from others topics.
If you, dear Snapperhead, have a personal problem with me, then we will just have to live with it, don't we?
But please keep your opinion to yourself. We others don't really want to hear about it.

I appreciate you guys sharing your experience in this hobby with me.  I guess the more i think about it, if i just do a 20% water change once a week on the tank and have a bag of phsoban in the tank with a lot of flow, there really shouldn't be any issues?

Correct

I ran a 60 gallon temperate (55-63 F) aquarium for several years.  It was primarily for a two-spot octopus (O. Bimaculoides) but I also had a lot of Corynactis californica, and gorgonians.  My filtration was 5 gallons of bio balls in a wet/dry trickle filter, with a frequently changed floss pre-filter, and a 6” deep-sand-bed in the tank.  I took the tank down when I moved to a new house, and when I set it up again, I’m going to add a nitrate filter (reactor).  I found that when I kept only the bimac, and fed him sparingly, I had no problem with nitrate buildup, (i.e.: the DSB and water changes could handle the rate of nitrate buildup) but when I kept the tank with all the other animals, and fed them a lot, I fast nitrate buildup.   Most of the food I put into the tank will eventually be broken down in to nitrate, and I need a way to get it out.  The DSB in the tank can only handle a little of it.  Large frequent water changes could work, but that was not convenient for me, so I want to build a nitrate reactor (alcohol fed) for my next tank, which will probably be a 180.  With just an 8 gallon tank, weekly 50% water changes are easy, so I would just do that (or more often if needed, or 70%).  Remember, if you have local tidepool animals, they deal with 100% water changes every time the tide goes out and comes back in, with potentially massive and quick changes in at least temperature and salinity, i.e.: they are tough, so don’t worry about the water changes.