DIY cheato/macro algae reactor

[Pife]

I was trying to figure out the best way to get a refugium put on my system. I specifically wanted it to be able to grow macroalgae. I was scouring the internet and found a DIY algae reactor so I decided to give it a whirl. After I seen Matt over in the SPS forum try one I knew I had to also. I ordered two sets of red and blue hydroponic grow lights from Amazon. Like usual two days later they were at my door. The only other thing I needed was a couple of reactors and some zip ties.


Here are a couple of freshly cleaned up Geo 4 by 24 reactors. I had them laying around so I thought that they would be the perfect thing to give this a test on.

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After they were all clean I started to get to work. I didn't do any special math and try to figure out how many wraps I was going to have or worry about equal spacing too much. I just want to get the light shining on the inside of the reactor. I know I wanted the plug for the electric to be near the bottom of the reactor so that's where I started. A zip tied the bottom of the LED string to the bottom of the reactor. A couple of minutes later and I had the first light wrapped around the reactor. Several zip ties later and I'm done.


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I'm pretty sure as soon as I turned it on a little Marty McFly smiled somewhere.


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Couple of more minutes and I had the second one all wrapped up and zip-tied just the way I wanted it done.


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I think this time when I lit it up Frankenstein came alive someplace.


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Once my son goes to bed I'll finish Plumbing them in band stuffing a little algae in them. Very simple DIY thing to do. Pretty cheap to have a reactor or two laying around. The LEDs I bought were around 20 bucks each. I was specific in ordering a waterproof set.

 

[thabizness]

I have been wanting to do this for awhile. Looking foward to see what it does for pH, nitrates, and phosphates. What size system is this on?

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[Pife]

200 gallons roughly. I'm hopeful it helps ph.

 

[scuzy]

Those red ones I used like yours didn't last long and they burnt out some of the LEDs. Ended up using the accel one from marine depot and that grew better chaeto.


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[Pife]

Those red ones I used like yours didn't last long and they burnt out some of the LEDs. Ended up using the accel one from marine depot and that grew better chaeto.


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Can you tell me the manufacturer of the ones you used?

I read a ton of reviews and bought some that have sold over 4000 and rated at 4.2 stars. I read 6 month and 12 month reviews that were still burning bright. Mine are 4 red to one blue.

 

[scuzy]

I'll have to look it up. Well I guess I had mine on 24/7 ?


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[Pife]

I'm hoping to get a get a out of them. I plan on them running a reverse cycle.

 

[Scubareefman]

Great project! I'm interested to see how this performs vs my basket and grow light. I may have to look into this idea for my sump down the road.

 

[scuzy]

DIY cheato/macro algae reactor

This is the accel leds on from marine depot. The left is after broken in. Picture on right is when it was first install. Not sure why all of a sudden it cleared up on its own.


This is with the grow light from Amazon

It wasn't growing the chaeto.


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[Pife]

If these don't do anything I'll switch to those thanks for the information! How often do you harvest? What are your nutrients at?

 

[Pife]

How big was your reactor and how many feet did you use? I used 20. Maybe I will double it up?

 

[scuzy]

It's a reef octopus bio pellet reactor 110. I didn't get much growth for a month with the red grow lights. It actually died a few times. When I change to the white accel led it got lush green and full. Not really sure just my observation. I notice the arid also uses white LEDs. So I swapped to the one from marine depot.


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[scuzy]

I haven't harvest yet I started with a golf ball around mid or end of March. Now the whole reactor is with lush green chaeto and clear of debris. Not sure why it cleared up. It started to look really dirty and algae on walls then when I came homes from a week in Tokyo it was all cleared and healthy green looking. I didn't even clean it.


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[chucklez]

Any update Pife? How are your nutrients 3 months on?

 

[Pife]

I quit using the reactor as it wasn't convenient to harvest. It and the other cheato in my sump has taken my nutrients to the low levels that I wanted.