d.fast
Community Member
I found myself in need of a small reactor for my 54 liter tank for running gfo and carbon. Most reactors are quite large and clumsy for my needs and using a sock for gfo seemed to not be very effective. So I decided to make a small reactor with pvc parts instead and a pump I had lying around.
These are the pvc parts I needed. I used 40 mm pvc. Two couplers, one for each media compartment, a few pieces of pipe and a cap.
The pump i used is an Eheim 1005, it has a fairly low flowrate but is reasonably strong so it can take the strain that the media compartment will put on it. Keen eyed people will notice that I had no suction cups for it so I zip-tied a Tunze magnet.
I bought a miter saw to make somewhat straight cuts on the pipes. There were no pipe cutters for larger pvc than 32 mm in my local stores. Needed one of these for other projects anyway.
I also used a step drill bit for making a hole in the end cap. I drilled it carefully from both directions to make a snug fit on the pumps inlet. These are great as well for pvc, I once thought I had lost mine so out of fear I immediately ran to the store and bought a new one. So now I have two...
Here is where the magic happens, I use this fine mesh for keeping the media in each compartment. This is for keeping out bugs from your doors originally. It is great but turned out to be too coarse for the gfo. So I will have to change this next time I swap media because some gfo particles slip through, excellent for the carbon I use though. Course mesh is preferred otherwise, too fine will clog up easily.
Here is the three complete parts of my reactor. They all have a piece of pipe in them so they can be stacked on top of each other. The one on top is big enough for 50 ml of carbon which is the recommended dose from Aqua Forrest whose carbon I am using. The mesh is fitted simply by cutting out a piece, placing it on the end of a piece of pipe and then forcing it into the sleeve of the part it is to be joined to. No glue required. Sometimes the mesh may break while inserting. You can pull out the pipe and try again with a new piece of mesh, this works but it is not a joyous experience. Will have to do this with the part intended for gfo...
Here is the completed reactor! It does not really resemble a reactor and is more similar to a powerhead. This reactor must be placed with the pump down and the pipe facing towards the surface though. Otherwise the media in the top coupling will fall out. It is held in place by gravity only.
Since only small amounts of media are used and get some space between each other the flow should be evenly spread across it. The flow is also very gentle since the pump does not push the flow though the media but rather pulls it. So no tumbling that may grind the media occurs. Tumbling is not always bad, especially when using larger amounts of gfo where flow though all the media may be tough to accomplish. But with my puny amounts it is not that great an idea
The reactor is very compact, which is great. It can be sized up easily by extending the compartments with longer pieces of piper or using larger dimensions. The only downside is that it requires a bit of waterheight. My reactor only needs 25 cm of water(about 10 inches) so it is fine. The design should work fairly good for tanks up to at least 200 liters or 50 gallons when the compartments are sized accordingly.
Feel free to criticize or suggest improvements to the design if you feel like it I rarely enjoy changing my views but to change is to survive and sometimes external input can help a good thing turn into a fantastic one! One thing I will do is extend the first compartment so I can fit a small filterpad that can be changed, because as it is now algae and such starts to clog it a bit, with reduced flow as a result.
These are the pvc parts I needed. I used 40 mm pvc. Two couplers, one for each media compartment, a few pieces of pipe and a cap.
The pump i used is an Eheim 1005, it has a fairly low flowrate but is reasonably strong so it can take the strain that the media compartment will put on it. Keen eyed people will notice that I had no suction cups for it so I zip-tied a Tunze magnet.
I bought a miter saw to make somewhat straight cuts on the pipes. There were no pipe cutters for larger pvc than 32 mm in my local stores. Needed one of these for other projects anyway.
I also used a step drill bit for making a hole in the end cap. I drilled it carefully from both directions to make a snug fit on the pumps inlet. These are great as well for pvc, I once thought I had lost mine so out of fear I immediately ran to the store and bought a new one. So now I have two...
Here is where the magic happens, I use this fine mesh for keeping the media in each compartment. This is for keeping out bugs from your doors originally. It is great but turned out to be too coarse for the gfo. So I will have to change this next time I swap media because some gfo particles slip through, excellent for the carbon I use though. Course mesh is preferred otherwise, too fine will clog up easily.
Here is the three complete parts of my reactor. They all have a piece of pipe in them so they can be stacked on top of each other. The one on top is big enough for 50 ml of carbon which is the recommended dose from Aqua Forrest whose carbon I am using. The mesh is fitted simply by cutting out a piece, placing it on the end of a piece of pipe and then forcing it into the sleeve of the part it is to be joined to. No glue required. Sometimes the mesh may break while inserting. You can pull out the pipe and try again with a new piece of mesh, this works but it is not a joyous experience. Will have to do this with the part intended for gfo...
Here is the completed reactor! It does not really resemble a reactor and is more similar to a powerhead. This reactor must be placed with the pump down and the pipe facing towards the surface though. Otherwise the media in the top coupling will fall out. It is held in place by gravity only.
Since only small amounts of media are used and get some space between each other the flow should be evenly spread across it. The flow is also very gentle since the pump does not push the flow though the media but rather pulls it. So no tumbling that may grind the media occurs. Tumbling is not always bad, especially when using larger amounts of gfo where flow though all the media may be tough to accomplish. But with my puny amounts it is not that great an idea
The reactor is very compact, which is great. It can be sized up easily by extending the compartments with longer pieces of piper or using larger dimensions. The only downside is that it requires a bit of waterheight. My reactor only needs 25 cm of water(about 10 inches) so it is fine. The design should work fairly good for tanks up to at least 200 liters or 50 gallons when the compartments are sized accordingly.
Feel free to criticize or suggest improvements to the design if you feel like it
I rarely enjoy changing my views but to change is to survive and sometimes external input can help a good thing turn into a fantastic one! One thing I will do is extend the first compartment so I can fit a small filterpad that can be changed, because as it is now algae and such starts to clog it a bit, with reduced flow as a result.
