DIY Phytoplankton Reactor

K

khrios

New member
After much research about how great live food is for your tank, I have decided that I would like to make a phytoplankton reactor. I have based most of my ideas off of the aqua medic plankton light reactor below:
plan_l_reac.jpg

I would like to use 6" acrylic tubing 26" long~1G with a 54W pc light leftover from my freshwater tank. The cylinder will have cones on either opening; one for a splash guard, air release, and the other to more easily keep the phyto from the bottom. Air will be pumped into the bottom I will eventually be getting a CO2 tank to increase growth rate, but I was wondering if anyone has tried using yeast to create the CO2 for this purpose. It seems like it could be done, but probably would not be enough and would not really be "adjustable". To automate it, I will use two dosing pumps. One will pump the water from the reactor to the tank for feeding and 5micron filtered water from the tank to refill the reactor. The other will add the fertilizer to the reactor. If anyone has thoughts or criticism, they would be greatly appreciated.
 
That looks pretty good. I know in freshwater planted tanks they use yeast but I don't know how that would affect the phyto. Good luck, Tim
 
how would it affect the phyto? the only thing that would be able to escape the cannister with the yeast would be the gas produced. No liquid would be able to contaminate the phyto, and I'm pretty sure that the only gas produced by the yeast is CO2, but I could be wrong. Anyone know something different?
 
Filling reactor with tank water is a bad idea. Personaly I dont think PhytoReactors can be automated with out problems. I would just do it the old fashion way or contamination at some point is inevatable. I also think it would be much easier to use a co2 cylinder becuase of the control factor. I would use the money you were going to spend on dosing pumps and just buy a co2 setup instead.

If you want to automate you could do this. Manualy pour the PhytoPlankton into a device such as this http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/nftt/index.php except eliminate the 2 bottom chambers, add an air pump to keep oxygen up and set a drip rate really slow so you only have to top off every 2-3 days. You also get a more nautrual surge type feeding this way.
 
khrios,
Have you started on your phyto reactor yet. I'm thinking of using my Kalk reactor as a phyto reactor. It's made out of an 8" tube so it would be a good size. And I could still use the magnetic stirer to make a little flow.

Does anyone know how much light and what kelvin bulb should be used? I already have a 55W 7200 K or close pink growing light. Would that work?

I'd appreciate the help.
Thanks,
Bill
 
Someplace somewhere there was a reactor that had several different stages set up on a small feed pump. The idea was that several different cultures could by raised without them preying each other into extinction.

I could swear I saw it here someplace.
 
I copied & pasted that link. I don't know what truncated means in computer lingo. My bad link looks just like your good link. I don't get it. Does copying & pasting ruin a link?
 
yes the way the board interprets can sometimes mess them up. Next time use the "http://" tag option in the "post reply" screen instead of using the quck reply.

That way the address does not get messed up, no matter how long it is :)
 
as far as lighting, I think normal output fluorescent lighting will do. That's what the aquamedic reactor has. No, I have not setup mine yet. UPS broke the tubing, and less than 30" of 6' was usable. US plastics resent me another order, and I just haven't had the time. I also think I will wait until I have the money to get the CO2 setup for it, inc. pH monitor, etc, for optimum growth potential.
 
How are you going to remove the nutrient laden media prior to dosing the tank? It takes a pretty heavy mix to get phyto producing, and even more if you plan on using CO2.
 
I already have a CO2 tank for my calcium reactor so I'm just going to split the output. That way I don't have to buy another tank and regulator. How much CO2 do you use? How low can the PH go before the phyto dies? Better yet what is the optimum PH?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7904207#post7904207 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal

This is the one!
Click to expand...
Hey Bean, I just read through that thing, and one very positive note came to mind: The constant drip of saltwater.

Those of use who skim very heavy have to keep an eye on our salinity because we pull a lot of salt out in our wet skimmate. If you match the drip in, with the amount of skimmate out, it should keep your salinity pretty stable, and offset the major disadvantage of wet skimming....


I'm gonna have to build me one.
 
i think a pH of 7.0 is recommended by Aquamedic. It would be best to get another solenoid and a pH controller for this, but you could try to wing it and see how it goes. Not sure how to get rid of excess nutrients. However, I don't think that the amount of phosphate or nitrate will be significant enough to the tank, given the size of phyto doses and also depending on the amount of fertilizer used and time between dosing.
 
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