DIY reactor advise

[rmhuntley]

I've got a secondary chamber to a calcium reactor laying around and I got the bright(maybe) idea to try and turn it into a phosphate reactor. As per the drawing below(I am not an artist, so keep that in mind) it has a pressure fitting in the top for 1/4 tubing that I would replace w. a barbed fitting for 1/2" ID tubing. there is also a 1/4" pressure fitting on the bottom side as per drawing, will this work for water entering the chamber or should I run a rigid tube from up top and down through the dispersion plate? I plan on using 1/2" ID tubing all round and powering the whole setup w/ a MJ400. please let me know anything that you see wrong(hell, or even that I'm doing right)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b67/rmhuntley/reactor.jpg

[Ahbrit]

on small tanks, even though 1/2" ID sounds like the most sense, i find it unneccesary.
i ran a kent marine one which had 1/2" tubing, but had to turn it way down to stop it kicking the media back to the sump.
i would consider unmodding the current setup and going with the 1/4"
Even with the 1/4" consider the turnover in the chamber..........

Don't go to the trouble and expense of running a dedicated pump. thats what i would consider bad enginneering. T off an existing pump and save yourself some bucks

(i would estimate 30 - 50gph with 1/4"......on a 20g tank thats full turnover 2 - 3 dozen times a day. If youre leaching phosphates from rock/ food/ waste, it should not be a problem)

[andy]

Cool, I'll just tap off my return then. You just want a steady flow through the media right? Not like a fluidized sand bed...

[Ahbrit]

steady flow is the go
return flow isnt just for show