DIY phosban reactor?

[kcharm]

They look like pretty simple devices, can they be DIY'd cost effectively?

Also, can they be mounted horizontally? With a 29 gallon sump under a 29 gallon tank, I don't exactly have room for stuff under the tank. The stand, however, is very tall and a phosban reactor could be mounted under the top of the stand horizontally in much the same way as I would consider mounting a UV sterilizer.

 

[jlehigh]

I thought about that myself Kcharm but they are so cheap I think it will be difficult to save any money... but if it's DIY "fun" you are after then go for it

I think a challenge to a horizontal mount is getting the water to pass THROUGH the media instead of over and around it since the media would likely settle along the reactors body. I believe slow flow through PO4 media is the way to go so you wouldnt want to fluidize it either.

 

[Reefdaddy1]

I have bult some myself. All I di was go to the store ie walmart and pick up the acrylic set of Sealed containers. They have a gasketed lock down lid. I drilled a hole to right below the lock down band of 1/2 inch and another on the opposite side. One side ( inlet) had a elbow 90 on the outside glued in with pvc glue through the hole. I then attached a piece of pvs tube to that with another elbow on the end. The attached a 4 inch piece of 1/2 to that to run to the bottom of canister. The other side I ran a 90 elbow to and sreened the open in with Nylon screen. Took me about 10 minutes to work and very simple to do. Low flow to where the media is just bubbling up and you good. Here is real rough example. This is not mine but gives you an idea. Total cost was 5.47 Not bad for a acrylic unit.

 

[dougwilliams]

I made one using PVC - if you have some laying around it's probably a few bucks cheaper- although as jlehigh said - they are so cheap anyway to begin with. I'll post some pics - later when I get a chance if your interested.

I have a 30 something gallon hex and 25 sump. I use a mag 7 as a return now and basically I just took some pvc fittings to expand up from 3/4 on the mag7 up to a 3 inch diameter section of PVC about a foot and a half long. Then I use some more fittings and go from the 3 inch back down to 3/4 or so into the display tank. I see no reason why this couldnt be used vertical, horizontal, upside down, backward etc. A lot of people build the up ones- but I dont think most chemical reactions depend too much on what spatial orientation they are in. Speed of water movement I could see which may be a reason to set it up with upflow- but beyond that - I dont believe the hype.

As for assuring flow through all of the media - in the chamber I put about 6 inches of floss type filter pad rolled up. That and physics disperses the water and fills the chamber. After that it passes through about 3 inches of phosban I have in a media bag - it completely fills the cross section of the chamber - so water has to be flowing through it. After that I happen to also run carbon in its own media bag similar to the phosban bag.

So far so good...

 

[Krish]

LOL...Bob! That's cool

Welcome to RF Dougwilliams!

 

[dougwilliams]

Thanks, I got enticed to come check it out here after a few years at some other reef site

 

[Klondar]

For the original plans for the above Canister, visit here:
DIY Canister

-Glen