Well here is my new Kalk reactor. This is my first experience with acrylic. I think It turned our pretty well. Right now it is being wet tested in a big bucket. Hopefully Ill have it installed by tomorrow or Sunday. Anyway here are the steps that I took to build it. Most of this is based off of a design I saw on Reef Central from Platapus. Thanks
Picked up some acrylic at a local plastics company. Went ahead and had him cut the acrylic. Used a Rotozip to Cut two of the 8 x 8 Acrylic pieces into 6 ½ Diameter Circles, then cut a 3 ½ hole in the center of one of the circles to create the flange for the top of the reactor. Drilled 8 5/16 holes in the lid and the flange for the bolts that hold the lid on. Tapped the holes in the flange so I wouldnt need nuts. Drilled a 1 Hole using a hole saw in the lid for the ½ JG Quick disconnect also tapped it. Drilled a 7/16 hole in the lid and tapped it for the Ό JG quick disconnect. Glued the flange onto the Acrylic tube using Weldon 3 and using the little pin trick as mentioned numerous times on Reef Central. Drilled 2, 1 1/8 holes using a hole saw in the bottom for the ½ bulkheads. Assembled my stand/box with the precut pieces using Weldon 3 and the pins once again.
Most of the parts
Pump Setup and Plumbing
Used the male threaded ½ 90 on the input side of the Mag 2, and used the female threaded ½ coupler on the output side. Cut plumbing to size, so that the pump would rest on the floor, taking all stress off of the box and the bulkheads. Then Cut internal plumbing to size. I put an elbow on the pump input line so that when I dump Kalk in the reactor it wont accidentally get into the pump. I also made the pump input line rather tall, so it would suck clearer water, to help extend the life of the pump. I angled the pump outlet down and to the left so it would make a swirling motion when mixing up the kalk. Mounted a female ½ coupler to the bottom part of the ½ JG quick disconnect that stuck down into the reactor, then attached a rather long piece of PVC to the other end of the coupler to force fresh water into the lower half of the reactor.
Bottom side of the lid
Fully Assembled and ready to go
Acrylic - $60
3 8 x 8
2 8 x 6
2 8 x 4
1 5OD x 20
Plumbing - $9
1 Male Threaded 90 ½
2 Female Threaded Slip Couplers ½
1 45 ½
2 90 ½
1 10 ½ PVC Pipe
1 JG Ό Quick Disconnect
1 JG ½ Quick Disconnect
2 ½ Bulkheads
Misc
1 Mag2 Pump - $34
8 5/16 x 2 Nylon Bolts - $3
1 4 Ύ ID Rubber O-Ring - $1.50
Grand Total $107.50
Seeing something you built from scratch, up and running PRICELESS
I think if I were to do this project again I could do it for less money since I now know exactly what I need, and I also made some mistakes along the way and bough extra materials and a couple tools.
I also figured that I now need to purchase a Drill Press, and a Router.
Thanks
