DIYT Calcium Reactor

[spider crab]

Hello,
I've been looking into building my own Calcium reactor and had some questions.
I've seen a number of designs online, the two main types seem to

single pass and recirculating( most of designs seem to recirculating type). I was curious if anyone here had made their own and if so which type they chose.
I'm thinking about using the single pass design, which seems to pretty simple and inexpensive to put together. I wanted to avoid getting into acrylic which seems pretty expensive. The single pass design's I've seen use a water filtration canister as a basis.
I was wondering what people thought about using the single pass design. The designs I have been looking at are on:
http://www.kingvinnie.com/aquaria/di...page.asp?cat=9
The one entitled 15 minute Calcium reactor is the one I'm thinking of using as a basis.
I am also interested if anyone knows of a cheap source of C02 tanks. I've found a local supplier that has a new aluminum 10 Lbs one for $62. Are there better sources/prices around? 20 Lbs is probably the max size I can accomodate in terms of space.
I could use some help in terms of putting together a bubble counter. I'm not real clear on what material to use here.
Any help or advice would be appreciated!

 

[krux]

for safety reasons, whenever you buy a tank that is not brand new, you should have it hydrotested to check for weak spots so you can be sure that the tank isnt going to blow on you. where i am, a hydro test runs 20 to 30 dollars depending on where you get it done. if you go to a dive shop you can pay upwards of 50 dollars.
if that place is selling new tanks for 62, that is, it hasnt been filled and used at all, then it came to them hydro tested (legally this must be done to satisfy DOT regulations). so you are going to save yourself 20 to 30 dollars right there, assuming you want to do what is safe.
there is no reason to spend all that money on reactors and chillers and other gadgets to insure that you have a nice sps setup if your CO2 could explode and shoot right up through the stand and through your tank at any time.
course as an ex welder and ex diver, i have more safety concerns when it comes to compressed gas than a lot of folks. maybe it was the hole i saw in a brick wall after someones tank went off...
and for the love of pete, if you have an older tank, at least get it visually scoped, if not hydroed, save a life!
HTH

 

[richard rendos]

I used the plans on the following link and modified them slightly. I use acrylic because I can see into the chambers...it is actually fairly inexpensive if bought online at usplastics.com. Plus it looks more impressive to your friends and family who see it.
http://www.geosreef.com/reactordiy.html
here is a pic of one of my first ones...I really need to take some more recent pictures. I bought all parts from usplastics.com except the pump and PVC...all valves, acrylic, and nylon screws are from there. Rubber gasket is made from leftover pond liner.

 

[spider crab]

Thanks for the advice on the C02 cannister. If I go with something used, I'll have it tested.
Also thanks for posting the picture of your setup Richard. Is that a single stage? It looks like it form the picture.
When I started to looking into the acrylics, It seems expensive to me, 4 1/2 inch OD acrylic tubing running $22 per foot (unless I am misreading there page) from Usplastics. That seems like a lot to me.
I ended up buying a household water filter canister for $28 that is see through and has 3/4 inch threaded connections for input and output.. I hoping this will cost a good bit less in the end.
Does anyone know any good sources for C02 regulators? The best price I have been able to find so far has been $72.

 

[richard rendos]

Are you looking at cast acrylic or extruded? A lot of people say to use cast, but I don't see why...cast has better clarity but extruded works fine. Yes, it is a single chamber, but I added a second chamber to it.

 

[spider crab]

The us plastics site didnt say if it was extruded or cast. Does that price per foot sound out of line? Here's what it says.
44067 Acrylic Tubing With 1/4" Wall Thickness 4-1/2" OD Foot Drop Ship $22.41
It also says they sell them in 5 ft lengths only. Maybe its 22.41 for 5 ft?
Anyways I think I'll go with the water cannister route if for no other reason than it looks so easy. You just need to get the right couplings for the in and out ports and add a tube from the output port in the lid to the bottom of the cannister so that it collects the output water from the bottom of the cannister. Water comes in on top and circulates down though the aragoniteto the bottom and is collected at the bottom of the cannister and fed out the output tube.
I wonder if you could use two of these cannisters to make a recirculating model?
Do you know how to go about making a bubble counter? I'm a little unclear on that part.

 

[spider crab]

My mistake, that tubing did say it was cast.

 

[spider crab]

Sorry Golfish,
I'm not sure I followed your post. Are you saying you think the water should flow in from the top and be collected from the bottom? (that is how I am currently planning it)
Or did you mean that you think it is better that the water flow up through the bottom and be collected at the top?

 

[barracuda]

I have recently finished building my own dual chamber CaCO3 reactor. Well, it took me about month or so to design my own model, based on several DIY plans and other issues i took into account. Thanks to Richard Rendos to answer my questions when i first started. Next week i after running the leak test i will post a picture of my "baby". This will be commercial model as few reefers are already interested in buying it.
Here are few things i have found very useful.
1. Acrilic models are really easy to build.
2. Use high quality recirculation pump (i used Eheim 1048)
3. Dual chamber - same ammount of CO2, but more Ca produced.
3. Upwards water flow in both chambers.
4. Use union fittings and PVC piping
5. My unit is completely can be disassembled part by part for any purpose in few minutes.
Well, this is what i can think of at this moment.
Good luck with yours.
After spending some time with CaCO3 reactors i can surely say that it's really easy to build your own and save a lot of money buying one from the store.

 

[richard rendos]

Barracuda - I can't wait to see yours. Hope the leak test passes with flying colors.

 

[krux]

does anyone make, or has anyone seen, a reactor that comes to you in pieces that you can assemble yourself to save some money? i would make my own, but i lack some of the key tools necessary to make it (like a router and a table saw). but i am more than competent when it comes to putting things together. was just curious, as in talking to some folks that make them, the assembly is a big part of the time to get the thing made.
us students need to cut corners where we can! i would rather it be saving some money doing my own labor, than buying a piece of garbage.

 

[barracuda]

Originally posted by Richard Rendos
Barracuda - I can't wait to see yours. Hope the leak test passes with flying colors.
Richard, i just created another thread with pictures of my Ca reactor.

 

[texasstone5]

For CO2, I am planning to use a 24 oz paint ball cylinder. I am not sure if this is big enough for you, but I like the paint ball cylinder's small size (it fits in my cabinet) and small cost (less than $30). I have a regulator, but your paint ball supplier might be able to fix you up with some kind of valve.
I highly recommend US Plastics if you decide on acrylic. One 6' section is enough for a reactor and a skimmer, so there is an economy there.
My plan is for a long pass, plug flow reactor made from acrylic tube. Water slowly enters a narrow length of tube filled with CO2 and trickles over plastic media saturating the water. The saturated water, which should have a pretty low pH, the slowly passes over a wide section of tube filled with crush coral.
My thinking is that water saturated with CO2 moving slowly over the CC will react better than water with less CO2 reciculating over the CC. (plug vs recirculating). I have no idea if it will work well or not.
Best of luck. And please email me with your results. It would help me with my project.

 

[conundrum]

texasstone5,
1- 24 oz co2 is not cost effective. You won't be able to hook up a regulator to it either.
2- having water trickle thru a co2 filled chamber is the hard way. you loose control over the PH in the reactor. Below about 6.5 and you waste co2.
3- Use media, not crushed coral.
My thinking is that water saturated with CO2 moving slowly over the CC will react better than water with less CO2 reciculating over the CC. (plug vs recirculating). I have no idea if it will work well or not.
4- Not.
everyone uses recirculation for a reason. Save yourself some money and copy one of the many popular working DIY reactors.

 

[rangermonroe]

I bought a 5lb cylinder for my kegerator five or six yars ago. When I went ot have it filled last summer, the hydro date was out , so it needed to be sent off.
I ended up going to a "fire safety" supply house. One of those places that sell stuff for fire suppression systems in restaurants, commercial kitchesn, etc..
I made an even swap for used , freshlyt hydro'd, red 20# cylinder.
It was not as pretty as my 5#, but I was smiling.
Most every sizable town will have a place like this, so It may be worth looking into.