Do Algae Reactors Work, And Worth It?

s2nhle · Aug 1, 2017

Wow, that is great to know. Thank you for sharing.

Goubli · Aug 5, 2017

How do you know what size reactor is best for tank size? My tank is around a 140-50 gallons and I currently have a small (4-6 gal) refugium section with tiny amount of chaeto and I've got a BRS larger size GFO reactor (black lid, elbows and tubing).

Should I modify this reactor into an algae reactor or do I need something else that is larger?

jasonrusso · Aug 5, 2017

Goubli said:
How do you know what size reactor is best for tank size? My tank is around a 140-50 gallons and I currently have a small (4-6 gal) refugium section with tiny amount of chaeto and I've got a BRS larger size GFO reactor (black lid, elbows and tubing).

Should I modify this reactor into an algae reactor or do I need something else that is larger?

I modified my BRS reactor. Don't do it. It constantly clogs up and you need to unplug the lights to spin it off to fix it. Just spend the money on a TLF posban 550. The cap unscrews so it doesn't have to spin

Forsaken77 · Aug 6, 2017

Sabellafella said:
This was built with 70$ the led tape was 24 dollars. No reason to why i tryed it other then being curious, i assume it helps. I get a huge ball of cheato in 2 weeks time though

But does your chaeto get all over the sump and/or return to the return pump when you trim it? That's why I was interested in the reactor. Because it keeps all the bits I had contained, if you use a foam pad, and the light over the sump would grow micro algae everywhere.

I guess if you have enough chaeto than it will out compete the micro, but I had a smaller ball to start with and it was a mess I didn't want to deal with.

It also depends on if you want the chaeto for pods or just straight nutrient export. I've noticed pods have a tough time escaping from reactors.

Forsaken77 · Aug 6, 2017

jasonrusso said:
That is possible, I mean these lights did mess my eyes up. After building it the first time my whole house looked green for 15 minutes.

Like I said, I soldered another length onto the end of what I was using and when I plugged in to check there was an obvious difference in color.

Are they IP67 rated? Or lower, like 65? 68 is totally waterproof, but are difficult to find in wrap around strips because each led is encapsulated.

Also, most of the Amazon led's were meant for regular plant growth and are made cheaply.

Also, someone else mentioned that the BRS reactor had brown algae in it. If it's the reactor that is an rodi canister, that's probably not the best one to use because it has that inner wall. Just a straight open chamber would probably be best for this purpose with foam pads at the entrance and exit.

I think the lights linked from page 1 work good, but we'd need an update on them.

Forsaken77 · Aug 6, 2017

This is the reactor I plan to use...

It's an open chamber media reactor that can be up flow or down flow, has a screen and pads. This is the biggest model (17" tall, 4" diameter), but they make smaller ones. No center tube either.

s2nhle · Aug 7, 2017

Tagging along

thatwas3c · Aug 8, 2017

Forsaken77 said:
I also wanted to know if anyone knows of a canister, like a zeovit reactor kinda, that doesn't have a tube going down the middle of the reactor, so it's basically an open chamber, but uses a pump and tubing to make a reactor with. Either upflow or downflow where water enters the chamber through the bottom, without the tube, and exits the top, or vice versa. I've never used a zeovit reactor and probably wouldn't spend the money on one just to build this. I just wanted to know if something like that exists. Because I have a 16" Marineland 6500k led tube that I could stick in the reactor and just drill the power cord out of the top and silicone it. I used it to grow chaeto before and it worked quite well, but obviously not in a reactor.

I recently built my reactor with an Inland Seas Nu-Clear Canister Filter. Went with the Nu-Clear instead of the Ocean Clear because I liked the extension kit option for the Nu-Clear which would double the canister height if needed- these filters are ~13" wide and 12.5" tall and because MarineandReef has a 10% discount on them until the end of August. I got the 522 model in case I ever wanted to change the canister to a mechanical filter in the future. Otherwise the 506 model would be the better choice and cheaper. I choose to use 16.4ft 2835 LED strips of red, white, and blue ordered off Amazon. Just installed it last night so I can't really comment on effectiveness.

s2nhle · Aug 9, 2017

good idea! I have one at home I may use it.

Forsaken77 · Aug 9, 2017

hioinkii said:
I recently built my reactor with an Inland Seas Nu-Clear Canister Filter. Went with the Nu-Clear instead of the Ocean Clear because I liked the extension kit option for the Nu-Clear which would double the canister height if needed- these filters are ~13" wide and 12.5" tall and because MarineandReef has a 10% discount on them until the end of August. I got the 522 model in case I ever wanted to change the canister to a mechanical filter in the future. Otherwise the 506 model would be the better choice and cheaper. I choose to use 16.4ft 2835 LED strips of red, white, and blue ordered off Amazon. Just installed it last night so I can't really comment on effectiveness.

Just curious... You don't think the colored plastic will filter out the correct light spectrums in the same way that Trigger sumps use colored acrylic to filter light from the different compartments in their filters?

thatwas3c · Aug 9, 2017

Yes it could in some way but I felt the clear blue tint was clear enough as to not affect the end results and worth a try. Will keep posted!

jasonrusso · Aug 10, 2017

I thought the red and blue leds were the proper spectrum for plant growth. I'm interested to see if you get good results with different colors.

Forsaken77 · Aug 11, 2017

jasonrusso said:
I thought the red and blue leds were the proper spectrum for plant growth. I'm interested to see if you get good results with different colors.

This is just my opinion on that filter setup, not substantiated fact by any means...

But I don't think the white will hurt anything, just add to the full spectrum. The only thing that concerns me is that the lights aren't mixed together. They're all separate reels on top of each other. Again, just my feeling, but once it starts to thicken and doesn't get light from each reel, it may slow growth. If the colors were all mixed, that would've been a better scenario. Hopefully the whites are around a 6500K.

It's almost impossible to get decent lights on Amazon. I asked a seller that was selling the fully submersible IP68's why he only has them in 2M length and he said because the lights at the end would be dimmer if it was 5M's. They were also 12V and not 24V. But he didn't include a power supply either.

We need somebody to make dedicated, fully submersible lights for this purpose. Because all of these lights are meant for house plants.

s2nhle · Aug 11, 2017

tagging along

Crixus · Aug 11, 2017

What kind of wrap is everyone using?

jasonrusso · Aug 11, 2017

Crixus said:
What kind of wrap is everyone using?

I just used electric tape. Use good stuff, the 3M super 33, cheap tape loses the adhesion over time.

jasonrusso · Aug 13, 2017

Ok, so I am getting frustrated. My chaeto died again!

I have a phosban 550 with new grow Leds. I didn't see the algae increasing so I opened up the reactor and found that the algae was dead again. This is the second round of algae. This one came from algae barn and it was nice and green.

I also run bio pellets. I tested the water last week and my nitrates were about 2, is that too low and the algae doesn't have enough nutrients?

I Did try to treat my DT with CP in April but abandoned it quickly. I've been running carbon, UV, and a skimmer since April so I am confident that the CP is out of the system.

Why is my chaeto dying? Should I run the pellets until they are gone then buy more chaeto? There are live pods and critters in the algae reactor.

My Kh is pretty high (17-18), does that matter? I have stuff growing on the back glass.