Pics of my calcium reactor...3 months late
 

This first one is a general view of the reactor. The chamber is 6" in diameter and 26" high. So the total reactor height is about 30" or so (I am glad I have the sump in the basement! 8) ) and it has 2 containers of ARM in it.
http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00645-1.JPG
Top flange detail. I did the flanges by hand with no templates, just some drawings and my router. I origionaly had 8 screws in the flange but I added 8 more just for fun! :wink: http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00647-1.JPG
Plumbing pic. Water intake is on the left and the recirc loop and the co2 in is on the right. This is before the pump impeller. Note the cool mini union/ball valves 8). Pump is a mag5.
http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00648-1.JPG

some more.
 

Picture of the reactor base section.
http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00649-1.JPG
Picture of the reactor top detail.
http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00651-1.JPG
Pic of the bulkhead detail. I glued 2 pieces of acrylic together where the bulkhead go just for added strength as the reactor is always at my feet when I am in the basement.
http://members.shaw.ca/reefs/canadia...DSC00652-1.JPG

This is basically a better copy :wink: of DJ88's reactor and Tony has the same reactor as well as we built them together. What do you think.

Jon, that looks great!! Although the 16 screws on top might be a pain after a couple of refills!! :P

Yea but this monster is so big refills are almost unheard of! :lol:

Jon, how expensive was that to make?

GregJ:
Well I suppose I can say it was alot cheeper than purchasing one from a store.
I never really kept tally but Tony and I built them together and they probably cost us maybe $300 or there about's to build :?
I had some acrylic at home and we had to buy some of it as well.

You could do a reactor for probably $200 or less but then you would not have the possablilty of using nice fittings with a budget like that. Eg. bulkheads, 1/2" union ball valves, quick disconnect John Guest fittings. All these nice extras add up.

I am building some reactors now for sale and I am using all these nice fittings for the reactor. I could get away with out them but, if used the reactor is much nicer IMO.
:D

I didn't keep a close enough tally either but I beleive the total tally for everything was somewhere between $300 and $400. The reactor itself was probably about $150 of that. The most expensive part was the 6" tubing, although to have gone with extruded acrylic instead of case would have been cheaper. We got a section slightly over 4' long and it was ... um ... $150-160 so for each of us $80 of that $150 was the just the tubing.

Very rough estimates of course.

You can probably do it for less if you go smaller. My reactor is oversized for my needs of today but I hope that this is something that can grow with me as time goes on and one day I get a much bigger tank. So if cost is concern right now, don't build a reactor with a 26" tall chamber (many are only 12" tall are for some tanks this is totally sufficient).

OK I have to ask: what is a John Guest fitting?? Pic please :D

Christy:)

it is a quick conect fitting made for ridgid vinal tubing..

I will find a pic

Steve

The little biege fittings in the pics that the 1/4" tubing goes into is John guest (brand Name) fittings