DIY Carbon Reactor

[meschaefer]

I made the following Carbon Reactor out of PVC. The main body is 2 inch diameter, with a cap glued on to one end, and a threaded male adapter on the other. The "cap" of the reactor is a female thread with a cap glued on to that.

I got the two hose barbs in the lawn sprikler section of HD. The "output" (on the right) is a threaded hose barb that I screwed into a hole I drilled in the PVC, I liberal application of PVC glue on the inside and outside made it water tight.

The "input" (on theleft) is a 90 degree hose barb with a female thread on one end. I drilled the hole for this as close to the the male thread on the body of the reactor as the hose barb is pushed through a hole from the inside and it is a tight fit. A peice of threaded PVC was then screwed onto the 90 degree hose barb and runs along the inside of the PVC. This brings the water to the bottom of the reactor. Once again a liberal application of PVC glue makes it water tight.

To use the Reactor you have to put filter floss at the bottom and top of the reactor to prevent carbon from being pushed through, or pulled out the "input" if it backflows when the power is cut to the pump feeding it.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

cool concept. how hard is it to add/remove the floss from the bottom

 

[masterswimmer]

Nice DIY project. How much carbon does it hold? Like Scarf asked, how hard is it to remove the bottom floss?

swimmer

 

[meschaefer]

I use a peice of clothes hanger that I bent a litte hook into at one end. I just kind of fish the floss from the bottom of it. Very easy. After three weeks it has been very easy to clean, very easy to fill, and very easy to run.

It probably can hold 2-3 cups worth of carbon. It holds a little less than it looks like it should, because the peice of 1/2 PVC on the inside. bringing the water to the bottom of the reactor. It can obvioulsy be made bigger or smaller, depending on the length and diameter of the pVC you use.

 

[masterswimmer]

Very nice job. In hindsight, do you think it would have been better using a larger diameter pvc?

Can you post a pic of it hooked up and running?

Russ

 

[meschaefer]

I will post a picture of it up and running, but it basicly looks like it does in the pictures above but there are tubes running to and fro.

It may have been better to go with a larger diameter tube, but not necessary in my case. Since I only have a 65 gallon tank, 2 cups of GAC is adqequate. On a larger tank you may want to go with a larger diameter so that you can run more carbon. Although you can always make it taller, a six foot reactor is unwieldly. :lol2:

 

[masterswimmer]

I will post a picture of it up and running, but it basicly looks like it does in the pictures above but there are tubes running to and fro.

It may have been better to go with a larger diameter tube, but not necessary in my case. Since I only have a 65 gallon tank, 2 cups of GAC is adqequate. On a larger tank you may want to go with a larger diameter so that you can run more carbon. Although you can always make it taller, a six foot reactor is unwieldly. :lol2:

Matt, now that I think about it, the narrower diameter and longer length might be an even better design. The water will have to pass through more carbon to exit the chamber. Wider would not have as much contact time with the carbon.

swimmer

 

[joseney21]

nice!!! what pump are you using for the reactor??

 

[scarf_ace1981]

i think a shorter, wider model would be more appealing to me. once again great project.

 

[meschaefer]

I thought that longer is probably better than wider, for the reason the very same reason, as long as you don't run up against any height restrictions.

I run it inline with my phosban reactor, the whole thing is run with a maxijet 400.

 

[duke62]

just wondering what the price of all the pieces for carbon reactor.and whats the cost of store one

 

[meschaefer]

About $6.

A phosban reactor will run you $35.

 

[duke62]

alright now how do u run it on one pump.does it go through carbon reactor then phosban or other way around or is there a y attachment on the pump

 

[lfsmarineguy]

normal reactors have a dispersal plate at the bottom which helps to make sure the water gets to most of the carbon to make them more effective. Filter floss may spread it out some but the addition of an acrylic plate at the bottom with holes drilled in it and somehow anchored into place may make the design more efficient. Another thought may be to put more than one reactor in sequence (even at a smaller size) to insure dwell time with the media.

 

[meschaefer]

alright now how do u run it on one pump.does it go through carbon reactor then phosban or other way around or is there a y attachment on the pump

I have mine go through the carbon reactor then through the phosban reactor.

 

[meschaefer]

normal reactors have a dispersal plate at the bottom which helps to make sure the water gets to most of the carbon to make them more effective. Filter floss may spread it out some but the addition of an acrylic plate at the bottom with holes drilled in it and somehow anchored into place may make the design more efficient. Another thought may be to put more than one reactor in sequence (even at a smaller size) to insure dwell time with the media.

I thought about this when I made the reactor, and ultimately decided that it was not worth the extra effort. The fluid dynamics of water running through carbon is different then water running through phosban. The size of the individual particles of carbon are huge, when compared to the individual sizes of phosban. The larger peices make it much harder for the media to compact, and create "large" gaps between the individual peices of media for water to flow through. "large" is in quotes, as it is releative to the amount of space needed for water to flow through. Furthermore, I beleive that carbon is less prone to channeling then phosban, once again based upon particle size, making the need for a diffuser even less of a concern. The floss acts as a difusser, but is not used for that purpose, it is strictly to keep the carbon from back siphoning if/when the pump loses power.

That being said, I would not use this reactor for Phosban or any other media other than carbon. You may think differently, do with it as you please.

 

[guychoo]

what type of carbon is used in a reactor? different than the ones used in bags? i currently use marineland black diamond, would that work?

 

[meschaefer]

yes

 

[Hotwheels]

Nice job, looks good and leaves room for one to make adjustments. do you think going with a smaller size tube in the inside be better and make a positive diiference?

How about bagged media placed in the tube?

 

[meschaefer]

Nice job, looks good and leaves room for one to make adjustments. do you think going with a smaller size tube in the inside be better and make a positive diiference?

How about bagged media placed in the tube?

I don't know if running a smaller inside tube would make much of a difference, maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't . I used that size tube, as it fit the hose barb I could get.

I don't see any reason to use bagged media. Loose GAC will fill in the space inside the tube, therby forcing contact with the water. If it was bagged, it may be able to run along the outside of the bag rather than through it. Then again maybe not. Bagged media may make it easier to clean, but it is not hard to do that as it is.