Loop through a JSON Array in Laravel and return smaller list

I have an array which I recieve over a post method: { "connected_macs":[ "22:33:44:55:66:71", "22:33:44:55:66:72", "22:33:44:55:66:73", "22:33:44:55:66:74", "22:33:44:55:66:75" ] } } I need to loop through this list in Laravel, lookup each value in my database: .... something similar to this., but don't worry to much about this logic as I can handle this... $ct = Conn::where('mac', 'mac1')->first(); if($ct->expired == 1){ //take out the mac address from the array }else{ //leave the mac in the array } then I want to return a response with only the macs I want to keep in the list in this format: { "deauth_macs":[ "22:33:44:55:66:71", "22:33:44:55:66:72" ] }