DIY Algae Reactor

[eric.battani]

With a all in one nano aquarium, I have very limited amount of space. At one point I plumbed in a sump with an overflow box. But that made life a little more difficult for me. But I still wanted to benefits of macro algae to give pods a safe haven to grow, and help out with nutrient export. Now after seeing many companies offer their version of a macro algae reactor and the huge price tag, I knew that I could make one on my own with very little effort. So off to Amazon I went.
So I bought a Deepwater Quattro Reactor to make a algae reactor. I picked this reactor because it's cast acrylic tube, price, how easy it is to take apart, and the hookups on top are at a 90 degree angel. Yes I know 45s are better at not clogging up but I didn't want a hose coming above my life.
Now for lighting I went with a 16ft strip of warm white waterproof leds. Waterproof LEDs was a must for me because I knew at some point water would eventually be dripping on them. Would have been nice if they had sticky tape on the led side but the silicone coating actually stuck to the acrylic a little bit. I still used a hot glue gun to help hold the LEDs in place.
And I'm using a Rio 16 plus 200gph pump to power the reactor. This was just a pump I had laying around.

As far as macro algae, I used red Botryocladia algae. This is what I had growing in my display. I didn't put in a whole lot because I wanted to see how quickly it will grow.


This is the reactor.

These are the leds I used

 

[mattsreefadise]

Looks very good. I've seen a few folks wrap a layer of white construction paper around it, then wrapped again with black, just to help with light. But I know you're a nerd like me, and this just looks cool.
I would advise getting red LEDs as well. They are better for algae growth.
That's what big marijuana growers use!

Good job man

 

[mattsreefadise]

The Kessil H80s spectrum is more red as well.

 

[Brew12]

With a all in one nano aquarium, I have very limited amount of space. At one point I plumbed in a sump with an overflow box. But that made life a little more difficult for me. But I still wanted to benefits of macro algae to give pods a safe haven to grow, and help out with nutrient export. Now after seeing many companies offer their version of a macro algae reactor and the huge price tag, I knew that I could make one on my own with very little effort. So off to Amazon I went.
So I bought a Deepwater Quattro Reactor to make a algae reactor. I picked this reactor because it's cast acrylic tube, price, how easy it is to take apart, and the hookups on top are at a 90 degree angel. Yes I know 45s are better at not clogging up but I didn't want a hose coming above my life.
Now for lighting I went with a 16ft strip of warm white waterproof leds. Waterproof LEDs was a must for me because I knew at some point water would eventually be dripping on them. Would have been nice if they had sticky tape on the led side but the silicone coating actually stuck to the acrylic a little bit. I still used a hot glue gun to help hold the LEDs in place.
And I'm using a Rio 16 plus 200gph pump to power the reactor. This was just a pump I had laying around.

As far as macro algae, I used red Botryocladia algae. This is what I had growing in my display. I didn't put in a whole lot because I wanted to see how quickly it will grow.


This is the reactor.

These are the leds I used

Keep us informed on how well it works!

 

[litenyaup]

Following

 

[eric.battani]

Looks very good. I've seen a few folks wrap a layer of white construction paper around it, then wrapped again with black, just to help with light. But I know you're a nerd like me, and this just looks cool.
I would advise getting red LEDs as well. They are better for algae growth.
That's what big marijuana growers use!

Good job man

Thanks. I wanted one like yours but I couldn't talk the wife into letting me spend that much.

On the red leds, I would have used red but since I only plan to grow Botryocladia, I believe warm white will do better since they soak up all color and reflect red. I could be wrong but time will tell.

 

[eric.battani]

Update on the reactor.
The leds I bought are way to bright. My red macro is almost white. So I installed a dimmer switch. Hopefully this will help.

 

[eric.battani]

Thought I would post a picture of the bleached macro algae. I did not think about this happening, but it did. So in hindsight, I should have bought a led strip with a dimmer switch. I pulled one from that led light you gave me Matt, and I have it turned down to about 50%. Hopefully the algae will grow better now

On another note, I noticed a single pod swimming inside the tube. And because of the size of the pod, I think next time I open the reactor, I will remove the sponges. At this time I don't think they do anything more than collect detritus.

 

[mattsreefadise]

Wow. That was pretty quick.
And yea, I wouldn't worry about sponge. Maybe use some plastic canvas to help stop the algae from flowing back into the tank.

 

[eric.battani]

Wow. That was pretty quick.
And yea, I wouldn't worry about sponge. Maybe use some plastic canvas to help stop the algae from flowing back into the tank.

It actually happened yesterday morning. Didnt get the dimmer on till last night

 

[Bama-Reefer]

No dimmer on mine used chateo it did have very small white lines right in front of the light just turned my timer down a lil bit went away. Phosban 150 reactor 50$ on amazon same kind of leds I fill it 1-4 the way and it's grown to a full reactor in 7-9 days

 

[jwilson]

think something like this would work for a mini algae scrubber as well? use something with a lower flow like an Aqua Lifter?

 

[eric.battani]

I'm sure the light would work being waterproof is a big plus, but how you would get the scrubber to work inside the canister, Idk?

 

[jwilson]

yeah getting the water back out may be the interesting part. need something with the inlet at the top, and outlet at the bottom.

 

[eric.battani]

How big of a scrubber are you wanting to run?

 

[jwilson]

thinking about just building something small and contained to try and cut down on the smell.

 

[beyarbrough]

I made a box out of 1/4 acrylic for a scrubber but never used it. Nothing special just a rectangular box. Never got around to drilling holes in it either, but it does hold water. It's yours if you think you can use it. I'll text you a pic if you want to see it.

 

[jwilson]

hmmm... yeah i'll give it a try. i have and extra Aqua Lift. i'm out of town this weekend, but i can grab it after work one day next week.

 

[beyarbrough]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

So, how is it doing?

My chaetomorpha in my fuge does not grow much at all...
I have a 18 inch Finnex Ray II light (7000K) on it.
It's pretty bright, but I just added an inexpensive LED grow light strip yesterday.
If the chaeto still don't grow, I might try converting my GFO reactor.

I could not grow Chaeto after installing a GFO and keeping the nutrient level very low.
It used to crumble into tiny pieces.

After seeing the BRS's video on Chaetomorpha taking up nutrients very well in their study, I am itching to try them again.