Phosphate and Carbon media, is it necessary to use a reactor?

[whosjohnny]

I remember, back in the old freshwater days, if you want to add carbon, you just put carbon in a bag and dump it in the the path of the flowing output from your filter.

Now, in saltwater, wouldn't that same idea applies? The $45 reactor is cheap http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...3~isKit~0.html

But for all intents and purposes, what's the reason behind using a reactor and it looks cool... than just putting the phosphate media and carbon media inside a bag and just dump them in the sump where the water flows over?

If you wish to restrict flow rate, cutting the pump back just seems counter-intuitive... wouldn't it be better if you create a special media reactor chamber inside your sump and have flow restrictor from your drain into the sump? I've seen Melev's sump design and I have many ideas to incorporate them.