Another DIY Ca reactor...

[clintyiu]

Here's my second kick at the can in making a reactor. It will do for smaller tanks but a similar design can be used for a bigger reactor.

I built this one with these criteria in mind: small footprint, MJ 1200 and with minimal external plumbing. The use of the MJ is possible because of the very low headloss. It literally blasts water directly into the chamber and the intake is plumbed with 3/4" pvc. The media chamber is 5" in diameter and 15.5" high. The overall size is 6" diameter at the flange and 20" high. The top is removable and so is the pump for cleaning. The reactor is a free flow system IE there is no valve on the effluent. It's been up and running since the summer.
http://www3.telus.net/clintyiu/Ca_reactor/Ca_R1.jpg


View showing the bubble counter. The black tubing supplies the CO2 and the clear tubing feeds the pump intake. Another tube at the top of the PVC elbow lets the air out on first use.
http://www3.telus.net/clintyiu/Ca_reactor/Ca_R2.jpg

Another top view showing how the MJ1200 is mounted with a elbow and union. The green tube is the tank water feed via gravity from the display above. I used the venturi that came with the MJ to help draw water into the reactor.
http://www3.telus.net/clintyiu/Ca_reactor/Ca_R3.jpg

Top side view showing the pump intake lead to the bottom of the reactor where a simple perforated sheet of acrylic supports a sponge that keeps the media off the bottom.
http://www3.telus.net/clintyiu/Ca_reactor/Ca_R4.jpg

Top view showing all the tubing. The little black tube on the right of the pump is where the effluent exits the reactor.
http://www3.telus.net/clintyiu/Ca_reactor/Ca_R5.jpg

Here's a pic of my old reactor... It's a mess compared to #2 heh!?
http://www3.telus.net/clinton/Ca_reactor/old%20Ca_R.jpg

Cheers
Clint

[CHEAPREEF]

Very cool, nice simple design. Will have to make one for the new 40gal cube i'm building.

Clinton

[GregJ]

What sze of tank is something like that good for?

[clintyiu]

Thanks for the compliments Clinton. (Sound like I am talking to myself!) :oops:

I say this little reactor can handle a 75gal tank but it's a function of what the livestock's calcium demand is. The chamber holds about 1.5 containers' of ARG media. The effluent drips at a rate of about 2-3 drops per second and it is around 45+/-dkh. My tank is 40 gal and the [Ca] is at 430+/- ppm.

I have another idea for diy reactors... An older model fluval canister filter can easily be modified into a reactor. Just loop the intake and output with some rigid tubing. The feeds for CO2, water in and effluent out can be drilled into the canister top or the rigid tube.

cheers
Clint

[CHEAPREEF]

Have any pictures of your tank ect..?

Clinton

[clintyiu]

The old 40 gal tank is suffering from a bit of neglect on my part because of work... :cry: Here are some pics I took a month ago...

Frontview
http://www3.telus.net/clinton/old%20reef%20tank/oldreeffront.JPG

Sideview
http://www3.telus.net/clinton/old%20reef%20tank/oldreefside.JPG

I am setting up a new tank...but it has taken nearly a year though! :oops:

[Son Of Skyline]

I have another idea for diy reactors... An older model fluval canister filter can easily be modified into a reactor. Just loop the intake and output with some rigid tubing. The feeds for CO2, water in and effluent out can be drilled into the canister top or the rigid tube.

cheers
Clint


Very interesting...I have 2 old Fluval 301's kicking around the misc pile. Tell me more about your idea. Maybe I'll give it a shot and if it doesn't work the first time, I have another one to try again :)

[clintyiu]

....The fluval canister mod...

I was thinking connecting the intake and the out flow of a fluval canister with some soft vinyl and/or hard pvc tubing. The hard tubing will have three orifices for water in, CO2 in and effluent out. The effluent tube's opening can face the out flow. You can also use a venturi to draw the water into the reactor.

The old fluvals have three round media baskets that can hold quite a bit of aragonite. Just place a piece of foam on the bottom and top most positions.

The mod won't damage the filter so there's no loss.

Clint

[Troy F]

What did you use to seal the MJ intake to the 90* elbow? Looks great BTW.

[Canadian Man]

Clint.
Do you think/find that the MJ has enough umph to handle the head of this type of situation?

[clintyiu]

Troy,

I took the MJ's impeller housing to revy to find a fitting and came across those black double threaded PVC irrigation extensions. The MJ's intake OD fits really snugly inside this threaded pipe (size varies a bit and I had to chamfer the pipe's inside radius a little with a small knife for #2). I sawed the pipe in half, superglued it to the impeller housing and connected it to a 90 degree threaded elbow with teflon tape. The nice part is that the ID of the plumbing is always greater than the pump's intake IE low head loss.

Cdn Man,

The MJ surprisingly can push quite a bit of water here. My reactor #1 was strong enough to blow the media around across the top. And #2 blows a crater in the media and moves the stuff around quite a bit. I bet you can get greater flow with a coarser media.

cheers,
clint