How do YOU lower your Nitrates and Phosphates?

[ScubaSteve]

So for the past while I have been using an experimental reactor I created (I'll post the details of it one day... ain't like nothin' you've seen before) to keep the 'trates and 'phates at bay. It's been working like a charm and nitrates have never gone above 1 ppm since the reactor has been online... that is until Saturday night when my HOB filter crapped out and caused all sorts of ruckus.

After the filter fiasco my nitrates hopped up to 10 ppm. At this time I am considering rebuilding the reactor to make some improvements and trying out a new method to bring the nitrates back down just for comparison purposes.

So... I want to know what you all are doing to lower nitrates and phosphates!

I would appreciate the input! I also must say that I am not going the zeovit route; I simply don't trust any method where I can't know the ingredients going into my tank. But I'd still like to see who is using it just the same.