New Ca reactor design with pics and drawings

[salreus]

Jeff, I am not really sure what a deflection is. I am guessing by what you are saying that it would be raise the area where the CO2 return fitting is on the flange. And since you can't really raise the top flange, I assume you made another cut out and glued that to the bottom of the top flange making the area around the return set at the hightest point. Or am I way off here?

So the guys from the acrylic store sends me a different email. " I get a lot of people interested in aquariums and they are HARD to build. Cutting material square, finishing the edges so that they can be glued, etc all equals a lot of time, patience and luck. It looks like this project is also under pressure, unless you have a lot of experience with acrylics I would suggest you find a fabricator that will do this type of work."

I am not really sure how one gets "a lot of experience with acrylics" if they have other people fabricate it for them. Sure it is under pressure, but not that much pressure. What could happen? The reactor leaks? Nothing weldon 16 wouldn't take care of. And I have dumped so many gallons of water in my basement the last week. I was thinking about setting up a saltwater basement. hehe

 

[hans1976]

Sal,
The top area is raised. On the top flange, we heated it up with a heat gun (over sized hair dryer) till it softened up. Then we took a bowling ball (or something similar) to the heated area and created a dent (maybe 1/16"). That is facing upward and traps the Co2.

I had never worked with acrylic either. We did have a leak here and there. We ended up cutting some scrap pieces and using weld-on #3 to plug them up. That is why we put water sensors next to the unit.

Acrylic is easy to work with. The trick is getting it cut right the first time. You need a blade with at least 80 teeth and it needs to be above 45 degrees, otherwise you will tear it up.

 

[salreus]

Thanks for the info. I like the idea of building one of these. Yeah, I am not going to listen to this guy anyway. All he needs to do is sell my my acrylic and i'll worry abuot putting it together. And thanks for your great web site with all the pics. Very nice. Is the cut sheet you provided the one you used that was corrected? does it also include the second diffuser? In other words. if I use your cut list. would I have any issues with assembly?

Water sensors? Used to turn off the pumps if water leak is detected. What a genious idea....

Oh and if anyone is curious. Glass Thermometer being sucked into a dolphin amp master 2100 = BAD!!! My pump is very loud now and my impeller is going to need replace.....all could have been avoided if I just bought the pre-filter....

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7136508#post7136508 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by salreus

Oh and if anyone is curious. Glass Thermometer being sucked into a dolphin amp master 2100 = BAD!!! My pump is very loud now and my impeller is going to need replace.....all could have been avoided if I just bought the pre-filter....

Been there, done that, several times

 

[salreus]

was yours a dolphin pump? is it hard to replace the impeller? I called someone. that is how I know what is wrong. But they have a 48 hr turn around and are going to charge 50 bucks. but hey, i will have my pump back.

 

[GreshamH]

One was a Dolphin, the rest Sequence. The Dolphin was at a LFS I worked at, and we had 2 back-ups per pump, so we just swapped it out when it started clanking

 

[salreus]

Jeff,

Did you guys build the venturi? I think the last thoughts were that you get more suction without it then with it. But I guess the question would also be rather or not more or less is important. but rather the ideal that you get some suction. I guess if the system was set up with lower pressure, the suction would be needed, But with higher pressure, the system would end up forcing the water out of the top and back down.

 

[hans1976]

Most of us bought the Kent Venturi. For $17.00, worth every penny.

 

[salreus]

Jeff,

After looking at page 29 of your build, I had a question about the connection on the side. I am assuming that is actually in water input from the tank. Also, what are the fittings on the bottom left. Guessing again those are drains? Thanks in advance.

-sal

 

[Black71gp]

are there any up to date plans on this reactor. i need something for a 550 gallon system.. sps and clams and some lps.. thanks for any info
jarrod

 

[olemos]

Also interested to see what modification would they make if they had to build it again or if it works fine the way it is.

 

[zapata41]

ok well since the original author hasnt said much, i will jump in here.

i have built one of these reactors, hold close to 100lbs of media. works fine ecpept for i would add some ball valves and unions on the pump.

the design works good except for when you run it real hard, ie. ph under 6.3. the effluent ph is still around 6.8. having a second chamber where the flow through it is only from the 1st chambers effluent, and at a effluent drip rate, would cause the ph to rise up considerably and give a high dkh from the effluent.

so for a 550g sps tank, i would build one like his design, then build and additional stand-aside chamber that te effluent can go through to burn off some extra co2 and help raise the dkh.
or just build a conventional round reactor that accomplishes this already

Tim

 

[olemos]

Thanks for all the info, here is my 36" version in progress

 

[zapata41]

looks good, also looks lke you made the same mistake as i did, place unions on the pump but no ball valves.

looks like you are gonna need some 75lbs of media. these, like all ca rx, need to be full to work well, otherwise you will just be dumping co2 ladden water back to your tank and use up more co2 throughout the year.

Tim

 

[olemos]

Tim, I actually had good plans to put ball valves you can see I have a lot o room on the floor piece, the extra room was the length of the ball valve, but had one flaw, I taped threads in to the acrylic to make it easy to change things in the future, most of the pvc is threaded to modify if necessary, but the problem was I didn't account for the size of the ball valve handle , when you start to screw it in, it hits the floor, not allowing to keep turning them around
I can still install them, but would have to use unions.

 

[zapata41]

lol, i did a similar thing with my ball valves, did plan for one thing and now they still sit in a box of old plumbing parts. i like how you fabbed up a lid that you can open and close easily. i ended up having to silcone mine shut since it would always leak, well that and i run my reactor under a bit of pressure to ensure a consistant effluent flow.

looks good though, should work nicely, especially for the cost f the unit .

Tim

 

[Cove Beach]

I'm just about to start gathering materials to build this reactor because i am sick of 2-part, and i was wondering if anybody has had problems with pump leaks do to the pump itself. I see there is an even divide between Mags ane Ehiem pumps. I am familiar with Mags as i have 2 already but run them submerged this would be a first for me to run them external....Tank is in a bedroom and i don't need saltwater on the wife's carpet(cuts down on my reef spending)

 

[olemos]

Well i did not start mine yet, the Mag has a leak, I opened it up and it is a lousy design the way it is sealed, there is a gap on the top inside cover that leaves a bad contact with the seal, IMO this is not designed to work with out being submerged.
The problem now is I can't even return it because I glued a union to the intake.
Have a Ehiem on the way, lets see how that works

 

[olemos]

Ok here is a update , got the Eheim in but had to modify a few things.
A big problem was the accumulation of CO2 at the top of the reactor, I used 3/8 tube for everything (with exception of the CO2 line) to prevent clogging but trapped air would stop the circulation, I put a valve to bleed it, the water will circulate from the top to the bottom but CO2 will soon accumulate and stop the circulation again, so I had to put a bal valve in chamber #1 to help create more suction from top of reactor, now it appears to work fine

 

[jc286006]

i dont have the need for this reactor yet but i scored a CO2system for $20 bucks at a swap meet today so when i get a chance i will be building it. now my question i thought about building a DIY kalkwasser system also, do i need it too or will this CR be all i need for a 75aga with 55 aga sump/refuge when i start to stock corals i know the KR replaces evap water but is it really needed if and when i build this CR?