DIY Media Reactor

I though I would show you a homemade carbon/ media reactor that can be made for a few bucks or maybe out of some things most reefers have laying around.
Materials for the build:

• About 12″ of pvc pipe I used 2″ for mine but it would depend on the volume you need in your system
• 2 pvc couplers that fit the pipe size you choose ( Make sure that they are supply fittings(1.5″ glue joint) and not drain fittings ( .750″ glue joint )
• 1 pvc slip in adapter 2″ to 1″ fpt
• 1 nylon 1″ mpt to .5″ barbed tubing nipple
• Some nylon craft screen ( can be found at Wal-mart, AC Moore or most places that carry craft supplies )
• Some .5 id tubing
• A small power head ( I used a rio 600 200gph that I had already) any will do but most times will need between 150 to 400 gph
• Of coarse some cleaner and pvc glue ( Used all-purpose cement with the red label )

First you will need to cut few thin pieces off the piece of pvc pipe. They will need to be about 3/8th in thick, cut 3 of these. I recommend cutting these on a chop saw or a table saw but a hack saw will do if you take your time to get the cuts square.

The craft screen I had came in 8×11″ sheets to cut I laid the 3/8 thick pipe on it and traced to outside diameter(od) with a sharpie marker. I then cut it out with a pair of good scissors and laided the pipe ring back on the screen and made to final trim with a razor blade. The screen should have the same od as the pipe ring, this is important for a good fit while gluing.





Next clean that adapter and apply the glue again makeing sure that there is a liberal amount on the bottom edge that will be touching the screen. Push the screen down to the ring and then insert the adapter on top and you should come up with something like this.

Here is looking in from the other end

Now that the top is done it’s time to start on the bottom that holds the media. Use the 2 coupler and do 1 of 2 thing for this, I cut the coupler i half at the stop in the center and used only one ring and the 2in pipe for the body to hold the screen in place. Or you can use two ring pushing one into the center stop then gluing the screen and 2nd ring in like we did in the first step either way will work.



You should now have something close to this

I lay this in the bottom of my sump but with a few modifications you could stand it up or use some clean out adapters and make it a inline unit, here is a picture of it in my sump

This project will probably cost 15 bucks if you have a old power head around and nothing else
Thanks for looking at my cheap skate project stay tuned for my next project a hang on acclimater

 

Could you explain a bit more, you lost me in the run-ons.

 

which part you need clarified

 

The whole bottom part.
Did you use PVC in between the 2 adaptors?
Neat little project!

 

Yea the body is 2in pvc between the to ends. The bottom piece is a coupler cut in half just passed the stop ring in the middle. Then I just glued the 3/8in thick ring ( slice of 2in pipe ) flush on the cut end of the coupler. I didnt put glue on the screen itself I just mounded it on the inside of the ring enough that would push thur the screen holes, pushed the screen in the cleaned and glued the body just the same as if you were doing plumbing. Just making sure that there is some on the edge of the pipe where it will touch the screen. It holds the screen in place nicely. Thanks I do what I can myself with stuff I can pick up at the hardware store with cash that its harder for the wife to track my spending. I really caught when she added up the money I spent on my last build, Lessons learned

 

a screw in piece would make cleaning and replacement of media nice.

 

and a tight seal

 

its actually easy to clean and seal up tight. If the whole top comes off its not glued, and the bore on pvc fittings is slightly tapered so it seal tight when fully seated. If you have ever dry fitted pipe you know how hard it can be to get back apart. You could use some clean out fitting and make it water tight for inline if you needed but I was just laying this one in the sump so it wasnt a concern for this one, plus was all parts I had laying around