Tank Journal Archive

[Synodontis]

Finally got around to attacking them reactors.
Will be using 3 of them, 1-recirc calcium, 1- recirc sulphur & 1- carbonate & dolomite
Each one is 300x480 (12" x 19") & hold about 35Ltrs each.
Base, flange & lid are 10mm acrylic.

Only tools used in making these..
Hacksaw
Circ saw
Router
Drill
Clamps
Masking tape
Pen, tape, ruler & set square
I don't think they came up to bad. Just have to decide on recirc pumps & their placement.

 

[Sam Parker]

bloody AWESOME! When are you taking orders for these Ken????

 

[DeWalt]

Looking good and absolutely humongous. Very pro.

I have the acrylic cut and ready in my garage but don't have the kahunas just yet to glue my own fancy acrylic sump.

 

[n0rk]

You're not worried about the ability to have the water form distinct channels through the media given the aspect ratio of the chambers I take it?

 

[Synodontis]

I tried to post this last night but something went haywire. :confused:

I have the acrylic cut and ready in my garage but don't have the kahunas just yet to glue my own fancy acrylic sump.

I know the feeling @DeWalt lol. I've had the cylinders in the shed for a month before biting the bullet & grabbing the hacksaw.
Only thing I can say about attempting a sump is to make sure any edges to be joined are perfectly smooth & clean. If you use the thicker glue it will fill small imperfections, but if you use the water type adhesive you really need a near perfect join. If the pieces where laser cut just check that they dont have a slight concave along the edge. That will affect the strength of the joint. At the end of the day, you have the bits, just go for it lol.

You're not worried about the ability to have the water form distinct channels through the media given the aspect ratio of the chambers I take it?

Really good point @n0rk & one I hadn't thought of. To be honest, I don't know what the flow will be like in such a large area. You have made me think more on this tho which is brilliant, just the sort of feed back I'm looking for.
I haven't decided on recirc pumps yet so placement of the main line down to the base of the media has also not been decided. It may be off set to one side like the Koralin reactors as recirc pumps will be mounted on-top of both the calcium & sulphur.
Calc media will be extra large ARM, so the size should help with somewhat even flow through. There may be some channeling, but I think that as the media dissolves & moves around any channeling should change course.
Biggest downfall I can see with channeling is that any detritus entering the system will be trapped in the low / no flow ares. This has the possibility to do more harm long term. I plan on using a 1 micron pre-filter (changed monthly) before all reactors so no detritus will enter the system. So same with the sulphur, small media size but no detritus build up. As it dissolves water flow will change.
Recirc pumps will be somewhere between 2000-3000ltr so with that flow hopefully channeling will be kept to a min.

I did forget to put a pic of the media plate up above tho, so I will drop it in here lol.

 

[Sam Parker]

If your going to run a 1 micron pre-filter (which does sound a good idea), I'd recommend a pump that is happy to run at a high head pressure (obviously not the re-circ pumps, but the main feed pumps) as it will put a fair load on them (even when spotlessly clean).

P.S. Nice nails :p

 

[Sam Parker]

Forgot to mention, Oceanarium used to sell various clean up crew stuff that you don't normally see at the shops

 

[n0rk]

You could probably avoid channelling by having your induction spray come out into a smaller chamber in the base similar to how a skimmer does. Perhaps look at some method of periodic stirring if you need to as well.

 

[Synodontis]

If your going to run a 1 micron pre-filter (which does sound a good idea), I'd recommend a pump that is happy to run at a high head pressure (obviously not the re-circ pumps, but the main feed pumps) as it will put a fair load on them (even when spotlessly clean).

P.S. Nice nails :p

Hey Sam, the main pump will be a RD 65w for the reactors so should have that bit covered I hope. As for the nail's, took me hours to get them looking that good for the pic!

You could probably avoid channelling by having your induction spray come out into a smaller chamber in the base similar to how a skimmer does. Perhaps look at some method of periodic stirring if you need to as well.

Really like the idea n0rk, I will definitely look at the chamber in the base. As soon as I know where the center tube will be lol.

 

[Buddy]

Hey we need an update Ken!! :poidh

 

[ryan1986]

Any new updates ?????