DIY’ed a cal reactor

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#1
Had a bubble magus reactor that Goober gave me. I broke it when I dropped it trying to put plumbing on and had to cut off the broken part. So I ended up converting the reactor into a cal reactor.

I cut the broken part off. Also I cut the top and bottom off. I then used a router to cut the old tube out of the lid and base plate. Then drilled the holes for the 3/4” pvc for the plumbing. Then I plumbed to pump, ph probe holder, inlets, and outlets. I made a plate for the media to rest on with the router and an access lid.

I used the white piece of pvc be cause sch80 was to thick on pipe. I need to put an insert in the pvc to create a suction action on the inlets. Sense the 80 was to thick I use sch40 pvc so I course insert an a smaller piece of pvc inside to create the suction on the inlets. I then painted the white pvc with gray paint.
 

djrice69

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#3
Sweet looks great bro here’s my diy one
 

djrice69

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#4
Should put a street elbow and out a drain valve to lower your water level when topping off
 
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Should put a street elbow and out a drain valve to lower your water level when topping off
What’s a street elbow? I’ve been thinking about putting a 1/4” drain near the bottom but I really don’t want to drill anymore holes in the acrylic tube. But I’m thinking, when I do need to top off media I could just turn off the pump and pull the tank feed line off and air should pull into the body of the reactor since the effluent line is lower then the inlet line.
But also I’ve been tossing around the idea of adding a float switch and a purge valve on the lid. In the past I’ve had a reactor that would build up with air in the top and cause the pump to suck up co2/air that gets trapped at the intake pipe. I was thinking by adding a float switch I then could use a purge valve to purge the excess co2/air out of the reactor. Something like this
 
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djrice69

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#6
Are you pulling or pushing water
What’s a street elbow? I’ve been thinking about putting a 1/4” drain near the bottom but I really don’t want to drill anymore holes in the acrylic tube. But I’m thinking, when I do need to top off media I could just turn off the pump and pull the tank feed line off and air should pull into the body of the reactor since the effluent line is lower then the inlet line.
But also I’ve been tossing around the idea of adding a float switch and a purge valve on the lid. In the past I’ve had a reactor that would build up with air in the top and cause the pump to suck up co2/air that gets trapped at the intake pipe. I was thinking by adding a float switch I then could use a purge valve to purge the excess co2/air out of the reactor. Something like this
 

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#8
With pulling make sure there aren’t any leaks Bc that will suck more air
 
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Yea I’m waiting for weld-On #40 so I can bond the pvc to the acrylic properly. Once I bond the pvc and acrylic I’ll then bond all the acrylic. After that I’m going to do a leak test with no water I’m going to use an extra reg and co2 I have. I’m going to start by pressurizing the reactor to q 10psi and spray the whole reactor down with soapy water while checking for bubbles. I’ll then work up to 30psi on the reactor and checking while raising the pressure.
 
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When I got home from work the weld-on 40 was in the mail box. I bonded the pvc bottom on and the sch80 to the acrylic now I let it dry for 2 days.
 

five.five-six

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#11
WOW! That looks completely awesome. I DIYed my CACL2 reactor too, from a denitrifier. OK, all I did was drill and tap a 1/2” NPT hole for a pH probe holder. Yours looks a lot nicer than mine. I’ll post a photo and if you would like to use my drill and tap you are welcome to barrow it.
 
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WOW! That looks completely awesome. I DIYed my CACL2 reactor too, from a denitrifier. OK, all I did was drill and tap a 1/2” NPT hole for a pH probe holder. Yours looks a lot nicer than mine. I’ll post a photo and if you would like to use my drill and tap you are welcome to barrow it.
Thank you sir. I did the same like 5 years back.

In all truth tho this reactor was pretty bada$$. It ran a 300 with no issues. But when I took down the 300 I put the reactor in the garage and my puppy husky chewed it up.

But I already installed a probe holder.

It’s a 1/2” John guest tread to tube connection.

But I had to modify it a little. The connection doesn’t allow 1/2” tube to pass through it. Has a blocker that stops the tubing. I just took a tapered drill bite and drilled out that blocker. Now I can install a probe in the John guest quick connect. I also put an insert in the T that will stop the pump from blasting the ph probe directly
 
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#15
I still waiting on the titanium bolts to hold the lid on. But I was being impatient and decided to do a water test.


I’m going to let it run for a day or two to make sure it’s all good before I feel it with media.
 
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#16
Running flawlessly


Filled a 4g bucket with ro/di and put around 12lbs of media in the reactor.
I mainly did this to rinse out all the media so I don’t cause a massive cloud and alk spike in the tank.
I got it running early this morning and let it run for 12 hours to make sure no leaks or problems. I think it’s time to activate this monster.
 
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#18
Was worried about the reactor getting co2 build up in the top causing to pump to suck in air and getting large amounts of bubbles in the reactor. Maybe even causing the pump to fail. But so far no air buildup under the lid at all.
 

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