Sherman
Has Met Willis
A while back, I decided I'd had enough of manually adding 2-part additives every single day, so I wanted a calcium reactor. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, since I don't have a sump. That means no return pump, and no way to force tank water into the reactor. And I didn't want a powerhead sitting in the tank just for the reactor. At the same time, I also had an extremely limited amount of space to work with, since my stand is just a former corner unit television cabinet. Here's the drawing I had to make up, so I could actually see what I was working with. I already had a skimmer, HOB filter, and a kalk reactor, sitting behind the tank.
After it was built, I set it up in a visible location (front of the tank) so I could run it for a couple weeks to prove it worked and that I could trust it before I hid everythign out of sight behind the tank. So "here she is!"
I built it all out of 3/8" Acrylite. I wanted to make sure the walls could handle the constant pressure of the pump, since I've actually seen one of these pop (literally) under pressure. I also needed the pump to be external, yet within a limited foot print. As for all the clear plumbing, that was just for the "bling" factor. I thought it looked cool. It's already been suggested that I get some blue LEDs in there too
. Internal plumbing is all 1/2" PVC. Since I've already been asked... Yes, there is a tilt in the media holding plate. This was to encourage any CO2 buildup to make its way back to the supply side of the pump and back into circulation. The main chamber holds about 2 gallons of media.
I used the inlet side of the circulation pump to draw water in from the tank, via venturi/suction. The CO2 is simply plumbed on the opposite side of the same pipe. When I first set this all up, I had the two inlets on the vertical side of the inlet 90, and suction wasn't happening. In fact, water was being pushed back OUT the JG fittings. I believe this was due to a high pressure zone being created at the 90, so I flipped the 90 around, and put the water and air inet after the bend, and it worked much better.
However, this wasn't quite enough, so I also centered the feed into the second chamber directly over the top of the circulation pump's return, so the outlet flow would help encourage water to exit the first chamber. One other problem area was that CO2 was collecting at the outer edges of the first chamber, so I plumbed in this Tee, which feeds back down into the tank water inlet line, seen two photos above. This has led to an extremely efficient reactor. Bubble count is about 12-15 bubbles per minute, and second chamber effluent is coming out around pH 6.85.
Next was the second chamber, but this was extremely simple. This is simply 2" PVC with an end cap on one side, and half of a union on the other. This chamber flows horizontally, since I have space to hang this chamber from the underside of the shelf above the tank. This chamber holds just under a half gallon of media.
And here's the half of the union with a round piece of acrylic cut to size and drilled and tapped.
The final piece, of course, was the drip cup, so I could measure both the effluent pH as well as the drip rate back into the tank. This was a simple scrap piece of 1.25" acrylic tube, with a couple of holes and a bracket glued on.
The project's finished, and I can truly say I am extremely satisfied! I haven't added a single additive to my tank in a few weeks, and alkalinity is still hovering around 11 dKH and 425ppm calcium! Coral growth is very obviously increased, as well, with much more stable conditions. As much buffer as I was having to add daily (even with 100% kalkwasser top-off), the tank was seeing a daily dKH swing of 7-12. I'm surprised anything was even surviving that.
It's also very important to me that I make sure Weatherson gets major credit for this one. It was all his tools, and almost solely his ideas. I did some tweaking, but he was the one with the concepts to begin with. I very much appreciate how the circulation pump has become the pump that also moves water to/from the tank.
After it was built, I set it up in a visible location (front of the tank) so I could run it for a couple weeks to prove it worked and that I could trust it before I hid everythign out of sight behind the tank. So "here she is!"
I built it all out of 3/8" Acrylite. I wanted to make sure the walls could handle the constant pressure of the pump, since I've actually seen one of these pop (literally) under pressure. I also needed the pump to be external, yet within a limited foot print. As for all the clear plumbing, that was just for the "bling" factor. I thought it looked cool. It's already been suggested that I get some blue LEDs in there too
. Internal plumbing is all 1/2" PVC. Since I've already been asked... Yes, there is a tilt in the media holding plate. This was to encourage any CO2 buildup to make its way back to the supply side of the pump and back into circulation. The main chamber holds about 2 gallons of media.I used the inlet side of the circulation pump to draw water in from the tank, via venturi/suction. The CO2 is simply plumbed on the opposite side of the same pipe. When I first set this all up, I had the two inlets on the vertical side of the inlet 90, and suction wasn't happening. In fact, water was being pushed back OUT the JG fittings. I believe this was due to a high pressure zone being created at the 90, so I flipped the 90 around, and put the water and air inet after the bend, and it worked much better.
However, this wasn't quite enough, so I also centered the feed into the second chamber directly over the top of the circulation pump's return, so the outlet flow would help encourage water to exit the first chamber. One other problem area was that CO2 was collecting at the outer edges of the first chamber, so I plumbed in this Tee, which feeds back down into the tank water inlet line, seen two photos above. This has led to an extremely efficient reactor. Bubble count is about 12-15 bubbles per minute, and second chamber effluent is coming out around pH 6.85.
Next was the second chamber, but this was extremely simple. This is simply 2" PVC with an end cap on one side, and half of a union on the other. This chamber flows horizontally, since I have space to hang this chamber from the underside of the shelf above the tank. This chamber holds just under a half gallon of media.
And here's the half of the union with a round piece of acrylic cut to size and drilled and tapped.
The final piece, of course, was the drip cup, so I could measure both the effluent pH as well as the drip rate back into the tank. This was a simple scrap piece of 1.25" acrylic tube, with a couple of holes and a bracket glued on.
The project's finished, and I can truly say I am extremely satisfied! I haven't added a single additive to my tank in a few weeks, and alkalinity is still hovering around 11 dKH and 425ppm calcium! Coral growth is very obviously increased, as well, with much more stable conditions. As much buffer as I was having to add daily (even with 100% kalkwasser top-off), the tank was seeing a daily dKH swing of 7-12. I'm surprised anything was even surviving that.
It's also very important to me that I make sure Weatherson gets major credit for this one. It was all his tools, and almost solely his ideas. I did some tweaking, but he was the one with the concepts to begin with. I very much appreciate how the circulation pump has become the pump that also moves water to/from the tank.
