Calcium Reactor Gasket

Suohhen · Oct 21, 2020

I am making a calcium reactor and need a gasket for the top around 4
1/2 inches square. I'm having a hard time finding much online but I have some fel-pro rubber fiber laying around. Anyone know if there would be an issue with using this material?

pcon · Oct 21, 2020

I am having a hard time finding anything about the PH resistance of that material. Many elastomers do not deal well with the high ph in calcium reactors. Is there a grove that the gasket sits in? If so you can use an Oring even if the channel is square. Otherwise you may need to buy a sheet of the appropriate material and cut a gasket to size.

Brewtoszek · Oct 21, 2020

Is that a silicone rubber?

Suohhen · Oct 21, 2020

I am making the reactor myself out of acrylic, I have a router and router table so I could make a channel but I would feel most comfortable doing that with round corners however I'd have to see if I could make a clean groove with rounded corners.
I can't find any more details than rubber fiber which I was hoping someone could provide more info about but I found the sheet and it is very papery so I think I'll look for some silicon.

G Santana · Oct 21, 2020

Home depot sells a variety pack with large gaskets for a few bucks

Brewtoszek · Oct 21, 2020

If you've got a part number we could see what material that Fel-pro rubber is and compare it to a chemical comparability chart, it looks like most common sealing materials are compatible with saltwater, although maybe there are some concerns with 'reef safety' on some. I did a quick look around online at replacement parts and it looks like some commercial units are using silicone so I'd guess that would be a safe bet

Suohhen · Oct 22, 2020

It does seem like silicon sheets are easy to source but pcon got me thinking twice about making a groove and I can easily make a jig to make a nice clean square with rounded corners so a round o-ring of (doing math) about 5.75" diameter should work nicely. Thank you all for the solid advice, seems there are a lot of ways to skin a pig