Nano Cube phosban reactor?? Help with the idea

[Spiffyguy]

I seem to be having an issue with phophates in my 24 gallon nanocube. I have started running some phosban but I am starting to change around the little "sump" area and I dont like using the media bag. So I am brainstorming something I could put in the back area that would act like a reactor but could be submerged.

Now I have started to enjoying making things but by no means am I any good. But I have fun and enjoy tinkering. So this is what I am thinking. Forgive me for no pictures but they took photshop of my machine at work

Take a cyninder, maybe the width of a film canister but as long as two put together. use 1/4 inch hose and drill a howl on both ends for a nipple to attach the hose. One end will screw on to provide a seal. Use some filter floss cut to size as a floss pad on both ends. Fill it up with some phosban tight enough so it doesn't blow around but loose enough to let water pass. Floss on both ends keeps it from getting into the system.

Then you could just use a small mini jet power head and run some water through. Maybe use some sort of flow control valve to slow the water down. Basicly a mini in the sump reactor. Could probably work for carbon too. Feed both tubes with a Y off one power head.

Any thoughts on this as to whether it would work or not?

Also can some people post a few shots of their reactors. Hard to get really decent pics off the online vendor sites.

Thanks for listening and any help you can provide.

 

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

Did you know that the threading on a soda bottle....12oz-2L is 3/4" hose thread? That means you can use a plastic hose thread adapter to run piping into a soda bottle. Then you cut the top off so the water simply overflows around the edges. OR, use some 2" PVC in its place...you cant see the sides in the back of a NC anyways...but with the open top, and a pump feeding water into the bottom, its a cheap way to have your reactor.

Reactors are overpriced with all these empty soda bottles and such laying around!

 

[Spiffyguy]

Thanks for that info. I have plenty of 12 oz water bottles lying around. They may work. Never thought of those. What sort of flow normally goes through these reactors. With a 3/4 inch hose feeding it I would worry about having too much flow through and pulverize the Phosban.

 

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

nah, just turn it down and put a piece of mesh in the bottom so the phosban doesnt go through the bottom.

If you go to a crafts store with needlepoing supplies, they make these little plastic mesh grids that you can cut up and use...I use the square ones for overflow mesh...and they even have various sized disks of the stuff for needlepoint...they work great!

 

[Spiffyguy]

hmm ok good info. I need to start drawing something up. Figured I could make two and use one for carbon and one for phosban. I will try to get some pics of what I create. Anyone else have any input or ideas?

 

[Spiffyguy]

So I was sitting in Home Depot today and decided to grab a few things in the plumbing section that might work. Let me know what you guys think.

So the first image is all the parts. Not sure exact names since I am not a plumber, and my tank is too small for most of them. This is how they would go together.

So from the bottom the threaded cap will screw into that male. This is mainly from convience so I can unscrew it and clean. The 3rd part is a slip connection. I wil glue that to the male coupler below it. This will give me some length and allow me to screw the plug into it.

For the plug I will drill it like this.

The small holes will be my water exit points. the large hole in the middle will have the pump hose. This will be glued in I think. Still mulling over that. So here is a pic of it together with a quick overlay I did in photshop. The black line down would be the hose from the pump. The green with be a piece of plexi with holes cut into it. The idea is a dispersion plate of sorts, which is why I got the rounded cap. The yellow is poly filter. The phosban instructions say to keep it between to pieces of poly so top and botom would be poly. The media would go in the middle.

The pump I have for this I had from a Tetra whisper filter. It is adjustable and rated for a max of 70gph. I am hoping that is not too much. I think the big concern would be the hole though the polyfilter material to let the hose down the center. i would be worried media would seep through this and get mashed up.

Anyway that is where I am at. Does this seem like a viable idea or should I head back to the drawing board? I tried to model it simply after the two fishes reactor but I have only seen the pics on the net. I have not gotten an close up views.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Spiffyguy]

Another question. Is it ok to put phosan and carbon in the same reactor as long as they are sepreated by some polyfilter?

 

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

You can let them mix fwiw.

 

[Spiffyguy]

I got to building today. Seems most of it is done except for a mounting bracket and pump mount. I am still up in the air on if my little 70 gph pump is too much. Anyway here is what I did so let me know of you think the pump is good.

First I took the the end cap with the square knob on it, I sure am technical aren't I. I drilled out a hole to fit the pump input connector. THis was 1/2 inch female on one end and barbed on the other for the line to attach. I made the hole snug as possible and the used some weldon 16 to seal up the gaps.

One thing to mention is that connector had some ridges around the female end. I would have smoothed these off before I glued it on. They can get in the way when you drill the output holes. These holes are 3/8. This is my concern. Will these holes be enough of an exit port or should I drill a few more holes?

Next I glued the slip connection on to the male reducer thing, once again I am way technical.

Next in the main body part I tool a 1/2 X 6 inch riser I found in the sprinkler section at home depot. I screwed this into the female on the cap and screwed the cap on. I marked out a dispersion plate and mounted it to the end.

Here is a shot of the bottom of the plate.

Once the glue had dried I screwed the top on tight. Incidently both the cap and the female connector screw in at the same time. Thought it was kinda neat. Anyway I cut the riser off allowing enough room for the end cap to screw on. The endcap I guess really didn't need to screw one but it makes it easier to clean if any of the holes get clogged. I may put some poly in there just to be safe.

Here it is together.

And here it is with a pump and my custom made poly rings.

So there you have it. I call it the Phosban grenade. For some reason reminds me of an old grenade. Anyway I plan on mounting the pump over the grenade since the phosban instructions say for best results have an up flow. So I just need to get a mounting bracket made. I plan to put this in the first chamber of my nano cube with my skimmer. That way I can set a refugium in the 2nd with some macro. Obviously I will shorten the pump hose once I get it mounted.

So any thoughts on the thing? What about that pump flow, will it be too much?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Stasher]

I really like your design, very simple. Amazing what your brain can scheme up when you are standing in home depot. They should set up a bench in the pumbing section for us reefers so we don't have to stand around

 

[Spiffyguy]

lol yeah. I haven't tried this out yet but I think it should work well. i plan to use a few poly filter rings then some Phosban. Depending on the room I may put some carbon in there as well. Since it isn't clear it will be hard to see if the phosban and carbon are tumbling. I plan to try it out in my QT tank first to make sure. Figure I would rise it with RO to get the dust off then plop it in there. If I see excessive dust or debris then I need more poly filter or I need a pump with less GPH.

 

[Spiffyguy]

I finished the mounting bracket. It basicly is a acrylic hanger and I zip tied the pump to it. I also managed to get my Current USA Fission skimmer to fit on there too so both can be pulled out at the same time. No pics, maybe tomorrow.

So I am still concerned the holes I have drilled in the dispersion plate and the exit holes will not be big enough. The pump says online it is 70 gph but it is adjustable and I will use lowest setting. Will the holes be enough? and How do I tell if there is too much pressure on the pump? I think it would be back pressure?


Thanks again.

 

[1105]

Be sure to keep us posted. I picked up some stuff from Lowes today ($4.57 total) to make something similiar to this and so far it's looking good.

I was also thinking, if the flow is too much, maybe you can make a Y coming off of the powerhead so one goes to the tank, the other goes to the reactor. This way you get a little more flow inside the tank, and not as much water goes through the reactor. Or just get a Rio pump so you can adjust the flow output with the little valve on one of the pieces it comes with.

I'm actually thinking about making mine mount on my stand so its easy to get to/clean/change out the media and have a single barbed fitting probably 1/4" with a hose going back up to the tank.

 

[Spiffyguy]

Yeah it would be easily mounted outside the tank. Just make sure all your screw connections are good and tight lol. You could even scale it you and get 2" or 4" parts to make it bigger. Mine will actually be in a "sump" so extra flow there wouldn't really help me out too much. I plan to try to get it in the tank early next week. Family and the holidays getting in the way lol.

 

[melev]

<b>Phosban Grenade</b>

Regarding flow - it would be nice if you could use clear material (like the tubing that comes with a gravel vac from your LFS) to see the phosban media. You want enough flow to barely move the media, and you need to see when the water inside is clear so as not to pump the "fines" into your tank. A ballvalve would control the flow, but right now it looks more like a guessing game.

Nice job so far.

 

[Spiffyguy]

Marc thanks for the response. I had hoped to do something clear but I wanted to be able to screw the top and bottom on so I could remove them for cleaning. This is what came out. If I had some good acrylic skills I probably could have fabbed some thing out. This little pump I have does move fairly slow on the low setting. And I plan on putting in a couple poly rings between the plate and the media so maybe that will slow it down.

I will test it in my QT tank to see if any fine particles are making it out into the system. Then it is off the the main tank. I think it should work until I can get a proper tank with a real sump. This nano cube is nice but it is just too small lol.

 

[steelhealr]

Spiffyguy...nice job. I happened to be in an lfs today and saw two phosban reactors on the shelf. Your design seems pretty much on line with the pro models. The clear housing is not a bad idea. I use SeaGel to bind my phosphates....the question is ..does the media you are going to use need inspection for color change or is simply changed over a time period?

Of course, the real problem is why such high phosphates? Following to see how this turns outs..subscribed. SH

 

[Spiffyguy]

I don't think Phosban changes color. I usually change it after about a month. That is what I did last time I used it. I have this in my 3rd chamber now with my return pump. I tried mounting it on an acrylic hanger with my Fission skimmer but needed about two inches more of vertical room. So it got moved to 3rd chamber with no hanger. I had some phosban that was a week old so I but that in with a little carbon. Don't think next time I will do the carbon, need the room to get the phosban in there.

I don't have a phosphate testing kit but I can see better results in my tank. The cyno problem I had is pretty much gone, there are a few spots left that I will syphon out next water change. I am happy with the final product. Goes together easy and should be easy to clean. I may try to make a bigger one since I am not hanging it anymore. That would give me more media space to work with. A clear container would be ideal but I didn't have any clear tubes. May have to find one.

Thanks for checking it out.

 

[hahnmeister]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77999&pid=707283&st=0&#entry707283

 

[Spiffyguy]

Thanks that is a good link