DIY 15€ Chaeto reactor (proud of this)

[fr3n0z]

Hi guys, new in the forum, i'm from Italy and i live in france. Fairly new to reef tanks but i like all the care they need.

I have a 10g AIO tank and i wanted a chaeto reactor because a friend gave me some chaeto. Well, i like diy and after few versions i pulled out something fairly ok. I am waiting for the all plastic fitting since i did not tought that brass isn't good in tanks. In all costed me 15€ is 2l volume and i hope it will be enought for my 10g tank. Is made with a glass spaghetti jar with plastic push on lid, sealing is assured by the 3d printed parts, pump is inside the tank and is a 300l/h cheap 12v pump, hope will be enough, chaeto float when i start the pump so i think there is pretty good flow. Led will be changed with 4:1 red:blue and i am making a cover that will fit just around the led and the inside of the cover will be lined with mylar to maximize light and reduce light leakeage.

 

[Ron Reefman]

cool idea! I'm going from all big tanks with sumps (for 25 years) and downsizing to a diy 40g aio tank. This looks like a good idea for a refugium for an aio tank. Thanks!

 

[Tavero]

I've tried these LED strips in different applications (phyto reactor etc). All of them had a very limited life time. Also i think these reactors are very maintenance intensive. You will need to disconnect and open them once a month to remove some chaeto and then watch out to not let saltwater drip into the strip.

 

[fr3n0z]

I've tried these LED strips in different applications (phyto reactor etc). All of them had a very limited life time. Also i think these reactors are very maintenance intensive. You will need to disconnect and open them once a month to remove some chaeto and then watch out to not let saltwater drip into the strip

Those strip are garbage as you said., I've bought a 3m 3000k 2835 and made it perfectly waterproof by sliding it in 3mt of thermoretractable cable. It works like a charm and chaeto growing super good. once a month is perfectly acceptable for me as a maintenance, i would say even a bit more often to clean properly the glass walls from bio film.