FRaNKeN"ReaCToR - rated 200g

[Bloke]

Well, I needed a new reactor for the 36g corner tank. I fiddled around with a few others and thought I would just go without one since I know, here in the near future, this tank will be coming down. (I know - I'm never satisfied, but LFS love the money, so whatever...). Anyway, I did NOT want to throw another $300 into a reactor, but the lack of one on this system has really caused it to fall off from where it had been a month ago.

A quick visit to Lustercraft where I spent $45 on acryllic. $30 for 24" of 3.75" tube, a small scrap for a base, and two 6" diameter discs. I enlisted dngspot's help. He has some Weldon and a little more ingenuity that I do, so off to Bramblewood...

The first step was the measure the space alotted for this project and I knew that the base could NOT be more than 5.5" x9", so I'm dealing with a very small footprint. After the base was cut, I had to figure out how to best mount the Mag pump I had so that the plumbing took as little space as possible.

Finally, attachment of the cylinder. A piece of 3" ABS was cut to fit inside the tube. This provided stablility for the pump attachment as well as an inner base for the bottom place where the media will rest. A few inches were cut off of each side, but in total, the reaction chamber is about 22". I am sure it will hold a little more than 6lbs of media; plenty enough for a system of 200g!


It didn't take long after attching the cylinder for me to realize that a union would be required between the pump and the tube so that it could be removed for cleaning, impeller changes, etc.


The top was drilled and tapped for a 1/2" male insert and eight 1/4" vinyl screws.


So far, this is what it looks like...

[Bloke]

With the absence of an O-ring, there has to be a gasket to seal the lid. For $.99, Hobby Lobby sells sheets of this spongey material. Tracing the lid gives a nice custom fit!


for attaching the lid to the top of the reactor. I know most people go for dark/smoke colored discs for the top, but I did not want to have to cut my own and Lusterraft had these 6" discs pre-cut in clear, so functionally sound, but asthetically, a little different. With the black gasket, it might still "look" ok.


Attaching the lid with some Weldon #16. CAUTION: Fumes known to cause blurred vision.


Attached and drying, waiting for the fun part of routing...

[Bloke]

Alright, now with the top in place and drying, attention can be focused on getting the gasket to fit neatly.


Using the drill press and the holes in the lid as guides, holes were drilled through the gasket to ensure proper seating.


Then came the violently messy part of routing out the center of the top. Once dried, the router went straight into the top and created a nice, flush, and clean edge to the inner chamber wall.


Top glued and routed, gasket cut and drilled, and finaly the lid attachment. Coming along nicely...

[Bloke]

So, with everything glued and dry, now we can start looking at getting things plumbed. Here, the pumped at attached to the lower union allowing a straight input into the reaction chamber.


The beginnings of the loop using basic schedule 40 1/2" PVC. I decided to go with a second union on the verticle section of the loop for easy assembly and removal.


Plumbing complete. All that remains is tapping for the water & CO2 inputs, as well as the lid for effluent and bleed lines. In all though, this is what she'll look like. Water testing and installation ahead.


So, $45 in acryllic and just under $15 in PVC and plumbing parts means a simple franken-reactor for $60. Of course, you would have to add in the cost of a pump, regulator, CO2 bottle, and 1/4" hosing to get the final costs for the reactor. However, I would still bet that including those expenses, it should be a far cry of what a factory CA Reactor would run.

My thanks to dngspot for ALL his help and efforts and moreover to his wife for her babysitting ablities.

[Loverotties]

Looks great!

[Bloke]

Well, I didn't get much done regarding getting the reactor up and running, but I did get the 10lb bottle connected to the 90g and I made a few plumbing adjustments to this one. I plan to take the 5lb bottle I was using on the 90g upstairs on the 36g tank.

I did not like the way the water intake and CO2 were being added to the plumbing. Previously, the two lines were drilled and tapped right above the connection to the pump intake. It was quite effective, yet looked like Frankenstien bolts sticking out of the vertical run shown here:


So, I cut the PVC and added two "T"'s to the plumbing. This makes it VERY similar to the Reef Octopus CA-100 I have on the 90g. Here is a pic:


Of course, I had to reduce the 1/2" opening to a 1/4" JG fitting:


Once changed, I wanted to see how we did on the footprint given the limited space: