Ca Reactor built tonight

[StirCrazy]

well I finaly got off my A$$ and made a Ca reactor, I started off with a 2nd stage I bought from Bruce, and transformed it into a reactor.

I incorperated a CO2 recirc also.

the reactor tube is 4" dia x 18" high and I am using a mag drive 3 for recirc.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Doh, I forgot the pics LOL
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/reactor.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/top.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/bottom.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/pump.jpg

Steve

[kris]

prety colours smile.gif

looks good steve.. when you building mine :D

[Islander]

looks good steve.
Let me know how it works, will you?
My DIY reactor is going to be similar like your.
Where do you get the host fittings?
http://members.shaw.ca/kcnet/bottom1.jpg

Cheers,
Ken

[StirCrazy]

I got them at Prostar, they are John Guest fittings.

Steve

[Delphinus]

Looks really good, Steve.

For the piece where the John Guest fitting "T" connects to your PVC, are you using an off-the-shelf bushing or did you have to make your own (using a male threaded end cap, drill out the appropriate size hole and then tap-n-die the threads into that)?

[Aquattro]

Tony, those are off the shelf fittings.

[StirCrazy]

Originally posted by Reef_Raf:
Tony, those are off the shelf fittings.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">yup, they are all John guest fittings, the one you are talking about is a "T" with a stem adapter to go to the 1/4" pip thread from the pvc bushing.

Steve

[fishboy]

Looks great Steve. Is your output off the bottom or top? Just wondering what might be more efficient. Mine outputs from the top.

[StirCrazy]

ya my output is off the top. if the out put was on the bottom you have a risk of setting up a syphon and emptying your ca reactor.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

well I did a wet run tonight and eveerything held. I think my feed pump might be a little small but I will play with that when i install it.

http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/flow.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/ca/all.jpg

the pics are befor I had it filled all the way.

Steve

[Canadian Man]

I know this is a litte old but, Steve,
What did you use to seal the flange at the top of the reactor.

Tony(Delphinius) and I just finished our copy's of Dj88's design, but bigger!
I tried thin pond liner that was smooth on one side and kinda textured on the other but it did not work!

Please fill us in!
Thanks

[Aquattro]

Jonathan, Steve's not around tonight, but I believe he has an O ring on the reactor. I use O rings on all my stuff and it works great. And unlike a gasket, you don't need to pry the flanges apart to fill/clean it.

[StirCrazy]

yup, "O" ring.. its the only way to go. just get it sized so it barly fits on the inside of your bolts so they will act as a guide to prevent it from disforming.

Steve

[ldzielak]

Steve,

How is the reactor working? I have been having problems with my recirc flow. I had to loose the floss I had in above my screen at the bottom, just get too much silt and it would plug right up. I'm using an Ehiem and it's clean as can be.

Lee

[StirCrazy]

seams to be working good. I have a open cell sponge at the bottom andit hasn't been plugging up at all.. I can see whare filter floss would be way to fine though..

Steve

[ldzielak]

Steve,

I think I'm having the same problem (Low Recirc flow) with no floss only a "screen". My best guess, is I have lots of fine sediment mixed in the media. Thats what I found last time when I had to remove the floss. Now maybe I need to remove all the media and give it a rinse to keep only the large particles.

Or need a MAG5 pump to power through all this. I think an up flow would be much better than this design, but how to keep the pump primed??

Lee