I’m building 2 reactors, 1 for phosphate removal and 1 for activated carbon. The pics will be posted soon, but I wanted to add a little more to this project: Proper calculations and easy-to-follow instructions for sizing your reactor, sizing your pump, and optimizing your bed depth. Hopefully this would remove the need for excessive valving, using too much media, and improper sizing of pumps.
I’ve been looking around on other forums, I cannot find any information for flow calculations and optimizations for reacter media (Phosban, carbon, or whatever you are using). If this information is available elsewhere, please tell me now so I don’t waste my time. I’ll wait till I get a couple of replies before I start working up the numbers. Fluidized bed reactor calculations aren’t terribly difficult, but if there is something that I’m missing that anybody else is using I’d appreciate a heads up to save me a bit of redundancy.
I plan on gathering information for the most common media (particle size, void fractions, density, etc), which will take the most time. The formulas are pretty simple, since we are all using pretty much the same fluid with the same SG (NOTE: I will NOT be using an SG of 1.022 for my calculations :: )
Dave have you looked at the “phosban” ones, and duplicate their info? also bulkreefsupply has videos about reactors, maybe mention flow rate optimums for carbon… but the gfo i know is low flow! and if you plan on a diy gfo reactor i highly recommend that it be clear because you need to see the media to make adjustments… :TWOCENTS
Use a large center tube if you are building a down draft reactor. Many of the reactors out there have a very small tube and are not as nice of a bio pellet reactors(IMO) and could be better dark fuges with the ability to handle more flow.(UMO) I know you said Phosban and Carbon, but why build something which works for only two things when you could easily open up the possibilities to much more.
If you want to find out how much Phosban you should use for your tank or activated carbon the manufacturers typically include this information on the box. IMO Phosban should have a very slow flow rate through it. I typically adjust it so that a couple pieces on the top of the pile are moving, but 99.99% of it is sitting still. With carbon I use significantly more flow, but don’t allow any of the particles to be moving. Both will benefit from occasional increases of flow to help release particles which in time can jam up the media.
Keep in mind carbon must be replaced once a month or it can begin to leach out what it’s caught and add Nitrates to the tank. There is also recent articles out that seem to support that some activated carbons could be causing HLLE in our reef animals.(the study to me seemed pretty primitive and in my opinion didn’t prove anything, but supports) Use of a protein skimmer helps to avoid this side effect.
I place my absorbing media in fine weave poly bags and place them in a trickle filter. or maybe in an outer sock around an overflow sock. or if you dont have a trickle filter you can use those black pond perforated baskets , nested with a bag of each media in them and then set them on an inverted basket in the sump, so they are above the water level, then use a maxijet pump to spray water down through them. or some variation of flow through the bags. I’m a bag man, what more can I say?
or search for DIY media reactors? Two Little Fishies Brands are nice!
or buy a “You Built” Kit from the Pie-Rates?
I’m seriously considerin one of their cone skimmers…
Just get BRS dual chamber reactor, rox8 carbon and GFO. I love building things, but why pull you hair out to build media reactor. I converted my old ro unit to use it as reactor and spend same amount converting it as just getting BRS one, diy reactor will leak, you will fix it, and cycle continues. Don’t create your self a headache, build something else.
Tend to agree with Rosti that building really won’t save you much money, I personally wouldn’t enjoy it, and there are some nice models out there from many companies. To each their own, if you would enjoy building it have fun. Creating cool DIYS rock scapes or a small acrylic frag tank may be another project to try.
The cost of materials could very well make it more expensive then getting an off the shelf version.
Is there something different you hope to accomplish with your design then other models out there. I’m all ears for ways to improve on things. There isn’t much on my system I haven’t modified or tweaked in some manner and I purchased 5-6 different reactors or more trying to find a good bio pellet reactor.
Well , the avast kits include all the precut parts and materials you need. you just need to glue them together. build a model airplane, so to speak . Seems worth while for the skimmer,. perhaps not for the reactors. buy a nice Two Little Fishies Reactor and be done.
I had some scrap Polycarb pieces left from my overflow build. True, there are some competitively priced items out there, but I’m a hands-on kind of guy. I never turn down the opportunity to build something, so this is mostly for the fun of doing it.
I finished up the build last night, and with the total cost of building 2 reactors being $27, I think it was worth it. Started running Phosguard last night, flow was just enough to fluidize the bed but not cause slugging or excessive particulate rise. I have a nice, gentle roll to the media and the water passes through clean and clear. Woke up this morning and some of my corals seemed to be a bit more “chipper” than usual. Still, I plan on keeping a good eye on them for the next few days.
I plan on putting carbon in the 2nd reactor, but I read that it could leach beneficial elements out of the water and am still hesitant on running it on anything other than 5 minute intervals, every hour or so . . . any input?
[quote=“kaptken, post:7, topic:4289”]
you just need to glue them together. build a model airplane, so to speak .[/quote]
Sorry to kidnap you thread Dave, but I wanted to show Ken my favorite model I build years ago. I flew it for many years before selling it to fly at competitions. I used to fly at lumspund field with DRC (delaware radio control) LOL
Carbon, start with about a tablespoon for every 10g of water. I put mine in a reactor, then put poly fluff stuffing in there to keep the carbon from tumbling so i can push decent flow through it (200gph…not much but way more then gfo), i change it after bout 2 weeks tops.
you also mentioned “flow was just enough to fluidize the bed but not cause slugging or excessive particulate rise”. just remember you want the gfo to barely move a couple or 10… particles of gfo on the top of the bed, you don’t want that stuff to move, it makes dust very easy. sorry if you’ve got that covered… i just know i was guilty of excessive flow when i first used it…
Damn Rosti… thats one awesome plane… even has a “mini Rosti” pilot! WOW! ever do helicopters, boats or any other RC stuff?
[quote=“saltcreep, post:10, topic:4289”]
just remember you want the gfo to barely move a couple or 10…[/quote]
Second that.
Crappy thing is if you search YouTube for videos of flow rate you’ll find lots of hobbyist doing it the wrong way and not a single vendor has any videos.
[quote=“saltcreep, post:10, topic:4289”]
just remember you want the gfo to barely move a couple or 10…[/quote]
Second that.
Crappy thing is if you search YouTube for videos of flow rate you’ll find lots of hobbyist doing it the wrong way and not a single vendor has any videos. [/quote]
I spend too much time on YouTube watching people give out misinformation. Not sure if I saw him using GFO improperly yet, but wouldn’t surprise me. I made a comment on that guys video and he removed comments from all of his videos hours later.
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