MY DIY Calcium Reactor (WARNING: Graphic Intense)

[Yellotang]

Here is my DIY calcium Reactor. 8X10" foot base, 24" tall. Chamber on the right is the main chamber 4 " dia, and the chamber on the left is the CO2 burnoff chamber 3" dia. Mag 7 for circulation.
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor.JPG

[Yellotang]

just a min, the rest of the pictures have to be renamed for this to work. Stupid computers

[Yellotang]

http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor1.JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor2.jpg
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor3.JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor4.JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor5.JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor6.JPG
http://webpages.charter.net/steel4/Reactor7.JPG

[Mr James]

I continue to look into building a DIY calcium reactor and your's looks very decent indeed. Does it fill your needs for calcium?? The reason you don't see my name on too many of these threads is because I continue to investigate, read and plan my future reactor. I have a 24"L x 4" dia. x 1/4" thick acrylic tube I inherited that I intend to use for a reactor. DJ88's reactor is sweet, but I already have a round tube and plan to go in that direction.

My first question(s) is this. The second tube, the "burn off" tube is there for what purpose?? How does the flow go in your system?? Is your design considered a dual tube system??

[Yellotang]

Does it fill your needs for calcium??
Yes it does, I have a 200+ gallon system and it actually is overkill but its tuned way down.

The second tube, the "burn off" tube is there for what purpose??
The second chamber is used to "burn off" the CO2 from the first chamber. The CO2 drops the first's chamber ph down to 7.5 or what ever you have it at. The second chamber then causes the CO2 to burn off so that the CO2 is virtually gone and the PH goes back up to 8.0-83. Of course this is all dependant on the flow of effluent out of the reactor.
How does the flow go in your system??
The water in line is below the unit and goes into the intake of the pump. This is also the area that CO2 goes into.
Is your design considered a dual tube system??
Yes, I believe that's what its called.

[DJ88©]

Very nice reactor. And work.

I bet that thing is dialed back on your tank. :D

it's nice to see people getting creative with their own reactors. :)

I know one thing. I need to get a flow meter. lol everytime I see one being used I say that. :D

[Yellotang]

Thank you very much for the kind words.

[H20ENG]

How much better is the flowmeter than the needlevalve / bubble counter?

[Yellotang]

Much more accurate. Bubbles are never the same size so its almost important to accurately tell how much Co2 is going into the reactor.

[H20ENG]

THX!