DIY Macro Algae Reactor

[Vance164]

After some interest from @PowderBlue and @albertareef I have decided to do a quick write up on my macro reactor. Please bare with me as this is my first ever write up.

Material list:

Media reactor (I chose a two little fishes 550 since I had it laying around)

Means to provide flow ( I used a 130gph pump due to the small size to fit my aio)  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072JC4XTT?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Led light strip to light the macro algae. This is what I used.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAC7ZOC?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

1/2 vinyl tubing 

2x 1/2" barbed ball valves

Tie wraps and rubber bands

Chaeto

This is pretty basic unfortunately I did not take any pictures when I did this so will try and recreate it. 

After unpacking everything the first thing to do is remove the phosban sticker and wrap the lights

I secured the power cord to the holding arm with a tie wrap and then began to wrap the lights around as tightly as I could. The lights have a silicone cover that somewhat adheres to the plastic so it will keep them wrapped tightly.

 

After wrapping all the lights I evenly spaced the strips out to reach the bottom of the reactor. I used a rubber band to hold the bottom in place. (the 3m clips the light came with didn't seem to adhere well) they have kind of moved around since harvesting.

The next step would be plumbing it into your system this is dependant on how you feed it. With my aio I used the small pump listed and 1/2 vinyl tubing with two ball valves for the inflow and outflow so you can easily remove the reactor for harvest and not make a mess!!

The last step is to add the chaeto. I removed the sponges on my reactor to help increase flow through the chaeto and then spread the chaeto out thinly around the inlet tube to maximize the use of the light. 

I have been using this reactor for 2 weeks to the day. I have notice a drop in my phosphates from 0.1 to undetectable on my hanna checker. my nitrates have also dropped from about 20ppm to between 5-10 ppm. I run the lights 12 hours a day starting 1 hour before the tank lights shut off. one other benefit is I added about 1 gallon of water to my total volume which is substantial to the about 15 gallon volume I have. 

here is my just shy of two week harvest and I started with about a baseball sized clump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Vance164

[albertareef]

Thanks Vance!  That flat led strip really makes it pretty straightforward and I think I may have a reactor floating around somewhere in my pile of gear.  May have to try this out (in all my spare time).