nanolover80
New member
Cool, i was going to make a reactor .. and i just may have to try this one or a version of it anyway :dance:
Ghetto Rig
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Cool, i was going to make a reactor .. and i just may have to try this one or a version of it anyway :dance:
nanolover80
New member
HAHA i made that very one and used it .. Hey, it worked.
nanolover80
New member
holy crap! ..Agu, i have that very one .. only it has just 1 bulb 
ahahaha
ahahaha
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nanolover80
New member
Mekanic...Those lights are the same type i had over my 55 gallon .. i had 4 of them lines up right next to each other for a grand total of 160w ...wow
jake koppen
New member
Oh my god lol^^^ I love this thread btw
username in use
Sciencing Daily
here is a thermal cooler
This is actually kind of cool. (pun intended) Does it work at all?
nogascans
Member
So, I came across this thread, and I must say that I truly admire the resourcefulness of these "ghetto rigs".
Being that I can be resourceful, but usually take the easier "just buy it" route, I have for the most part avoided this path since back in 1980 when I modded a 1974 Mercury Capri by yanking out the four-banger and cramming in a 435 horse Boss 351/C6 Auto!
Recently, I received a memorandum from the CFO of my living space (wife) informing me of my revocation on any online/LFS endeavors for a undetermined duration, due in part, to a recent "small" purchase of a SRO skimmer, new T5 light fixture and 6 bulbs, RO/DI stage 5, some Red Sea test kits, and Bio-Pellet reactor. Oh, I also must confess to purchasing several small "just" rocks (SPS, crack!).
So, I found myself in a quandry as I have been battling a small (.36ppm) P04 issue for sometime. I have dilligent about doing weekly W/C's and hanging a bag of GFO in tank, but in light of bio-load and my feeding habits, it just wasn't falling, and needed a GFO reactor.
So back to my resourceful days, I dug out the original skimmer I had started thos tank on, the illustrious (POS) SeaClone 100/maxijet 1200 skimmer assembly (READ receive bonus points from CFO for saving money), and went to work turning it into a GFO reactor. I won't go into great details here, but lets just say I sawed off the top of assembly with the return, and cutout the interior tube, rounded up some old PVC fittings and shower head strainer, and made a media container that slips in from top, and is held in place by a piece of a broken glo rod (wire fish). It took a few fitings and runs in a 5 gallon bucket to get it right, but results are I get a good light tumble of media, and P04 is down after 2 weeks to .002 (Red Sea).
I have attached a few pictures, and for anyone interested, I had taken pictures of modding from beginning-beta-release to manufacturer that i will gladly share.
Sincerely,
David
Being that I can be resourceful, but usually take the easier "just buy it" route, I have for the most part avoided this path since back in 1980 when I modded a 1974 Mercury Capri by yanking out the four-banger and cramming in a 435 horse Boss 351/C6 Auto!
Recently, I received a memorandum from the CFO of my living space (wife) informing me of my revocation on any online/LFS endeavors for a undetermined duration, due in part, to a recent "small" purchase of a SRO skimmer, new T5 light fixture and 6 bulbs, RO/DI stage 5, some Red Sea test kits, and Bio-Pellet reactor. Oh, I also must confess to purchasing several small "just" rocks (SPS, crack!).
So, I found myself in a quandry as I have been battling a small (.36ppm) P04 issue for sometime. I have dilligent about doing weekly W/C's and hanging a bag of GFO in tank, but in light of bio-load and my feeding habits, it just wasn't falling, and needed a GFO reactor.
So back to my resourceful days, I dug out the original skimmer I had started thos tank on, the illustrious (POS) SeaClone 100/maxijet 1200 skimmer assembly (READ receive bonus points from CFO for saving money), and went to work turning it into a GFO reactor. I won't go into great details here, but lets just say I sawed off the top of assembly with the return, and cutout the interior tube, rounded up some old PVC fittings and shower head strainer, and made a media container that slips in from top, and is held in place by a piece of a broken glo rod (wire fish). It took a few fitings and runs in a 5 gallon bucket to get it right, but results are I get a good light tumble of media, and P04 is down after 2 weeks to .002 (Red Sea).
I have attached a few pictures, and for anyone interested, I had taken pictures of modding from beginning-beta-release to manufacturer that i will gladly share.
Sincerely,
David
Attachments
tommyz44
New member
This thread is awesome! Gives me lots of good winter project ideas. Well ill post one for now that i happen to have on my phone right now. Kinda hard to see in the picture. But this is my LaCl doser. Its an old water jug drilled a hole in the back, added airline tubing, put in a few knots like acclimation and siliconed it sealed and dropped the tube into the overflow. Pretty basic homemade doser!
Attachments
This thread is fantastic, sooo many things I want to try now, or have already done.....
I do feel the need to post a, I am a seasoned professional, "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME", Disclamer before posting my own pics. and this should most definately not be done in the presensce of small animals or pets (I mean children).
first off the lovely 12 year old tank held together with aluminum angle and a turnbuckle. No, I wasn't trying to reduce shadows, the darn center brace started to crack and pull apart and the tank bowed out .5" in each direction, darn 12 years of UV degredation on the cheap plastic! all better now, for another 12 years I hope!
next up the infamous 2part doser, I wish I could claim building this one but found it "pre rigged" for less than I could get my hands on a regular 2 part dosing pump. maybe not worthy but....... it does have battery back up and will keep dosing when the power's out(not sure why that would be good though)
then there's my lovely chiller, and my nice little heat exchange cooler. (chiller has copper lines so direct contact with saltwater would be very, very, bad)
and finally my cheap solution to LED refugium lights, narrow beam, I was tired of cleaning algea off the skimmer in the chamber next to it, just don't touch them with wet hands, Ouch! that's what the acrylic holder is for.
I do feel the need to post a, I am a seasoned professional, "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME", Disclamer before posting my own pics. and this should most definately not be done in the presensce of small animals or pets (I mean children).
first off the lovely 12 year old tank held together with aluminum angle and a turnbuckle. No, I wasn't trying to reduce shadows, the darn center brace started to crack and pull apart and the tank bowed out .5" in each direction, darn 12 years of UV degredation on the cheap plastic! all better now, for another 12 years I hope!
next up the infamous 2part doser, I wish I could claim building this one but found it "pre rigged" for less than I could get my hands on a regular 2 part dosing pump. maybe not worthy but....... it does have battery back up and will keep dosing when the power's out(not sure why that would be good though)
then there's my lovely chiller, and my nice little heat exchange cooler. (chiller has copper lines so direct contact with saltwater would be very, very, bad)
and finally my cheap solution to LED refugium lights, narrow beam, I was tired of cleaning algea off the skimmer in the chamber next to it, just don't touch them with wet hands, Ouch! that's what the acrylic holder is for.
Attachments
Fantastic Thread. Got several ideas to try!
Here's my Ghetto Frag Rig, that is still growing like urban blight!
A barrel, any way you slice it!
do you have any issues with phosphates or anything leaching into the water from the plastic drum. i have about 12 of these barrels that had olive oil in them. easy to clean if cut in half in this way. love the idea but curious on things leaching as i have read in other articles.
miatawnt2b
New member
Apple juice bottle and eggcrate re-purposed as a macroalgae scrubber.
I want to know more.
miatawnt2b
New member
This is my tank, its a 9 gallon with 70w metal halide and heavily modded Aqua Medic HOB Skimmer
Things are running along nicely, I just bought some more coral as the tank params are now nice and stable, its just slightly elevated phosphate that is causing some algae growth - Phosphate remover time!
Notice the overflow for the skimmer pump, its a cut up rigger from our loval brewery, yes it was put in after I had finished the contents! :spin2:
The power situation is entertaining, the skimmer leaks (I keep adding more and more silicon sealant, its down to the odd drip now) causing nice conductive water to dribble into the multiboxes on the floor, its taken the power out with a nice wee bang once or twice!
I have extra rock cycling, nitrate levels are almost zero so its soon time to add it to the tank!
Its a real pain having the holes in the sides of the box, it means every time I stub my toe on the box (at least 6 times daily) it spills out some water too!
Im often experimenting and testing out new LED solutions for my LED hood (Ill get around to it some day, buts its probably going to be equally ghetto)
The white camera is an IP camera thats part of my monitoring system/tank controller thats under construction, when something is detected to be out of parameters the plan is for it to text me so I can log-in to check on it
I feel at home in this thread!!
I hope that this is ghetto enough to qualify :spin3:
The system looks legit. It's the poster that's motha' flippin ghetto.
I cut a slit down the side of an applejuice bottle, and cut off the neck to fit the flex hose. Filled it with a couple strips of eggcrate, zip-tied together, then threw some chaeto on top.
Lit with a 19w led flood (walmart) and a 16w(?) cfl coil (walmart)
It worked pretty well, but i re-did my sump recently, and traded it for a plain screen.
That is a very nice DIY frag tank..I am going to save the picture for possible future reference..Any problem with leeching like others have asked.
firstlight10
New member
I am glad I am not the only one with a DIY center brace on a 55! When mine failed I used a bar clamp to keep the tank from bowing out (drained maybe 25% down) so I could keep my fish in the tank until it was repaired. I'll try to find the photos.
staindsoul
Calvin for President
Not nearly the ghetto caliber of some these fine entries, but this thread can't die.
Target feeding syringe w/leftover ro/di tubing
Target feeding syringe w/leftover ro/di tubing
