BRS Reactor algae reactor

[NY_Caveman]

Very cool. Thanks for this thread. I am considering the same thing. I am very interested that you ran this under the aquarium as I intend to do. That is my chief concern as someone who never used a reactor before. Would a pump be able to send the water up 1 foot, down 4 feet to the reactor, get a proper tumble/flow for chaeto and then return the water up 4 feet to the display? Have you have any issues with pressure, or is it working fine? Any pressure stress anywhere through the canister or tubing? Still using the same pump? Thanks!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

My reactor did not work on my system, so I ended up putting in a refugium with an H380. Much less fuss

 

[NY_Caveman]

What did not work? Pressure? Nutrient removal? Other?

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Everything, Chaeto didn't really grow, the LED's overheated the canister by a lot, pieces of chaeto got shot back into the tank (used plastic screen), the reactor was a pain to load/unload getting water everywhere etc. I wouldn't go back to a reactor since the normal refugium works so well. I ended up drilling my Biocube to put in a sump/refugium instead of messing with the DIY reactor


It has seemed to work well for some others however

 

[lion king]

Very cool. Thanks for this thread. I am considering the same thing. I am very interested that you ran this under the aquarium as I intend to do. That is my chief concern as someone who never used a reactor before. Would a pump be able to send the water up 1 foot, down 4 feet to the reactor, get a proper tumble/flow for chaeto and then return the water up 4 feet to the display? Have you have any issues with pressure, or is it working fine? Any pressure stress anywhere through the canister or tubing? Still using the same pump? Thanks!

There is no tumble in the reactor, the point of tumble is to get light to all sides, in the reactor with the lights wrapped around, there's no issue.
Too much flow can actually be more detrimental; I'm using a cobalt mj1200(262gph) on 2 reactors, one on a bc29 going from back chamber #2 to the 1st shelf underneath and back, on the other it's perpendicular to a sump and I dial it back by about 1/3. I use a cheap aquatop 192gph pump for another going up 4 feet. There is no pressure, it's only flow, so no stress. A cobalt aquatics mj1200 is a very versatile pump that would fit this application perfectly. If you use the murlock ball valves you can even dial it back if necessary, and it makes maintenance a breeze.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Awesome! Thanks for the response.

 

[Shelbytwp123]

can these cheto reactors be placed in sump since i have no dry room under my stand as is?

 

[lion king]

can these cheto reactors be placed in sump since i have no dry room under my stand as is?[/QUOTE

If you use completely submersible leds then yes; but I know nothing about them you would have to do your research on those. If you check out the brs website they show a configuration were they place the reactor in the sump. There's a bracket you can get for them and mount it on an interior wall on your stand. That's how I had them mounted when used them as media reactors.

 

[Shelbytwp123]

i ended up going with outside the sump and getting
MBR127 MACROALGAE REACTOR
seems to work good thus far. 2 weeks and harvested quite bit out of it since i only started with 2 small bits of cheto in reactor to begin with. reason i went with this designs 1)i had room in sump 2) didn't want to chance it on developing a leak outside the sump and getting my stand and floors damaged and 3 i couldn't afford the other Pox Bellium or however you spell it

 

[lion king]

i ended up going with outside the sump and getting
MBR127 MACROALGAE REACTOR
seems to work good thus far. 2 weeks and harvested quite bit out of it since i only started with 2 small bits of cheto in reactor to begin with. reason i went with this designs 1)i had room in sump 2) didn't want to chance it on developing a leak outside the sump and getting my stand and floors damaged and 3 i couldn't afford the other Pox Bellium or however you spell it

Looks like a good unit, the purpose of this thread was to inspire people to repurpose what they already had but weren't using; or to inexpensively build their own. I had 2 aquamaxx biopellet reactors that running bioplellets didn't work for me. I had 2 brs media reactors that I found using as media reactors to be tedious with no or very little difference than just placing the media on a rack beneath the bubble trap sponge in my sump.

I'm working on a diy algae scrubber now; a build thread with follow in a week or 2. I spend plenty of money but just can't justify spending $400, my build budget for this project is $100.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

following along!

 

[Jbod77]

Can't wait to get mine going

 

[Jbod77]

Any updates? i plan on going online this weekend....

 

[lion king]

Any updates? i plan on going online this weekend....

The brs reactor is working great. I did build the ats, it also works great but I do prefer reactors. I'm thinking of building a large reactor for larger tanks. Here's the ats: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cheap-diy-enclosed-algae-scrubber.349286/

 

[ranchhand02]

Great looking reactor. I am thinking of adding one to my nano cube 28 gallon.

 

[lion king]

Great looking reactor. I am thinking of adding one to my nano cube 28 gallon.

Do it!, on a 28g you'll be so happy you'll consider not doing water changes any more. You'll find your tank staying cleaner as well, algae reactors rock.

 

[ReefZ1lla84]

Updates??

 

[Devaji]

yeah any updates

 

[Be102]

Bump

 

[Flatlandreefer]

Mine didn’t pan out too well, light would burn out after a while, I’m sure it’s a heat issue and overall I don’t think there is enough light hitting the algae to make it work well. I would recommend a purpose built product if you want an algae reactor.