Hockeynut
NJRC Member
Well I have been wanting to switch gears and get rid of my dosers and go to a calcium reactor for my 90. I have been looking for a used reactor for some time but even used they don't come cheap. The best I have done so far is one that Antony ( raffle king ) offered it was a good deal but I have been looking for a duel chamber reactor and the one he had was a single.
I love to build things so I went on a mad search for possible reactor parts, I priced out acrilic tubes and WOW are they expensive so I went looking through old stuff and came up with two next reef media reactors. One was in good shape and the other was left outside and cracked due to ice inside (shocker) don't leave acrilic tubes filled with water outside if you like them.
So here's how I built it
I came up with a design compiled from reactors I liked on line and purchased the plumbing parts
Starting with the existing holes on the tops I pluged one on the second chamber fron the inside and put a quick connect for the outflow. On the first chamber I installed a 1/2" 90 deg elbow threaded into the top and then to slip
I then turned to the second chamber again and drilled a hole in the Side down low for the inlet and taped it using my trusty chraftsman tap set
Now for the scary part I drilled the inlet from the mag3 into the first chamber and of corse it wobbled but luckily I was able to get a pretty good glue joint with the weld on 16
Now to the pvc all glued up with two plugs drilled and tapped for the co2 and the inlet water from the sump
And the finish for today with inlet, co2, and outlet hoses.
All that's left is to put in a bubble counter and buy a regulator and with the money I saved I can get a better regulator.
Total cost out of pocket $20.00 for used mag3, and $30.00 for fittings and pvc.
Won't count the cost of the media reactors because the were not being used and saved them from there doom
Final pic
I love to build things so I went on a mad search for possible reactor parts, I priced out acrilic tubes and WOW are they expensive so I went looking through old stuff and came up with two next reef media reactors. One was in good shape and the other was left outside and cracked due to ice inside (shocker) don't leave acrilic tubes filled with water outside if you like them.
So here's how I built it
I came up with a design compiled from reactors I liked on line and purchased the plumbing parts
Starting with the existing holes on the tops I pluged one on the second chamber fron the inside and put a quick connect for the outflow. On the first chamber I installed a 1/2" 90 deg elbow threaded into the top and then to slip
I then turned to the second chamber again and drilled a hole in the Side down low for the inlet and taped it using my trusty chraftsman tap set
Now for the scary part I drilled the inlet from the mag3 into the first chamber and of corse it wobbled but luckily I was able to get a pretty good glue joint with the weld on 16
Now to the pvc all glued up with two plugs drilled and tapped for the co2 and the inlet water from the sump
And the finish for today with inlet, co2, and outlet hoses.
All that's left is to put in a bubble counter and buy a regulator and with the money I saved I can get a better regulator.
Total cost out of pocket $20.00 for used mag3, and $30.00 for fittings and pvc.
Won't count the cost of the media reactors because the were not being used and saved them from there doom
Final pic
