Go a little green, DIY style!

[reefboarder]

Just wanted to share this idea I used to save a little electricity on my reactors.
Might not work for everyone, but if you don't mind barely visible PVC in the tank it seems to work quite well.
I put together two 90's and used a quick connect coupler for 1/2" tubing and hung them on the side of the aquarium and gravity feed the reactors into the sump. Here's a few pictures. If you have any questions ask away please.

 

[tropills]

What happens when the power goes off. ?? Do you have a way to restart the syphon to the reactors. ?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

neat idea. assuming water line doesn't ever drop below that intake...

(good autofeeder!)

 

[reefboarder]

They wouldn't restart until I started the syphon. I put about half to 3/4" of PVC into the water in the tank, so it shouldn't ever break syphon unless the power fails.
I have been running the single reactor like this for almost a month now and have had no problems to date, other than the occasional piece of junk getting into the reactor. You can kind of see the water line and how far into the water the pipe sits.

 

[reefboarder]

Forgot to say that the flow is perfect for my reactors, the media has a nice gentle roll, but I needed you could put a little valve in line to slow it.
I have noted the when some junk makes it into the reactor it slows a little but still keeps everything moving around.

 

[joe3196]

wow cool idea saves money and the planet

 

[Willistein]

...not to rain on your parade, but doesn't that just divert some of the flow from the tank overflow? To get the same flow back, you would have to increase the return pump flow a bit. I do like it for the simplicity factor: one less pump to maintain.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I like it. Constantly looking for ways to minimize the footprint. Lets face it, having 50-300 or even 600 gallons of saltwater in our homes is not normal and not without peril. I don't see much of a downside to what you have going on there.

 

[Capt_Cully]

How about some gutter guard or mesh around the opening to prevent citters & gunk from entering. Not sure how a snail would be able to dyno over to it unless it went topside, but you get what I'm saying.

 

[reefboarder]

Willistein- the water going back into the sump from the overflow is directly affected by the amount that is used for the reactors but it has no ill affect on anything. It actually helps to reduce noise from the overflow. I'm running a mag 12 full tilt as a return into a 120g rr, so the flow was a bit loud. If you mean the actual flow from the return to the overflow, I think it is negligible, both of the reactors probably barely take a gallon per minute. Maybe ill test that out.

Cully- that's a good idea, I was thinking of rigging up some type guard, like the ones used for the HOT filters. Like a little cage kind of. This sounds much easier and would be less visible.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Yeah, cut out a circle and use aquarium silicone around the circumphrance of the opening and sticky on the mesh/guard.