MACO calcium reactor course

[matt]

Howdy;

I'm supposedly taking this MACO DIY calcium reactor course for the next 5 weeks. I say supposedly because I'm having some problems getting registered, but apparently they'll get me fixed up. Anyhow, you pay $35 for the course, plus about $100 for materials, and the instructor sends you a box of acrylic parts to make a calcium reactor, then takes you through the construction week by week. Sounds fun, and you are supposed to end up with a good quality calcium reactor. What I'm wondering is, is anybody else here in town signed up for this course? If so, maybe we could work on this together.

Matt

[matt]

A week into this course, I can say that it's really much more than just building a reactor. It's about acrylic fabrication techniques; I'm learning alot. i would recommend anyone taking this course if it's offered again.

One initial thing is the difference between cast and extruded acrylic. Most store-bought acrylic is extruded, especially tubes. Cast is much more expensive, but much stronger. The teacher of this course recommends only using cast acrylic for aquariums, reactors, etc. Any application which will withstand any water pressure.

[Chris]

Hey Matt... how's the progress?

[matt]

Hi Chris;

Wow, your tank looks great. I'm dying to get a bigger tank, just as soon as I move. The trouble with this hobby is that once you're successful in a reef system, it's overcrowded. I like the wide open space in your set up.

My reactor is basically done. I'm still waiting on the pump, which should be here tomorrow. We had a powerbuy for the pumps, which meant I saved 3$ and waited an extra 2 weeks at least! woohoo. Anyhow, the reactor looks great. Part of the course is figuring out our own plumbing set up for the pump. Since I'm trying to keep a relatively small footprint, I'm waiting for the pump to design the base. I should have the thing up and running in about a week.

Here's a breakdown of the cost: course $35, parts $100, pump $55, regulator $65, CO2 tank maybe $75, gallon of ARM $15. The reactor is a 6" acrylic tube; this is quite a bit bigger than most commercial reactors you see. The whole thing is about 17" tall, with a footprint of 12" by 9", I hope.

One of the cool things about the course is that you get templates for routing the parts for more reactors; I could make another one with a 22" tall tube instead of the 12" that I did. The larger reactor could easily handle a 500 gal system. The only tools you need are a router/table and a drill, if you can get the square acrylic cut; that's no problem.

Overall, a great course. He's going to do another one this summer to build a high-end skimmer. I'll take that one as well.

Matt

[matt]

Finally got my pump and regulator. The reactor is up and running on a tub of water I'll use for a water change. I wanted to run it on the tub for a while so i can get an idea of the ph changes that are likely in my system. It seems to be working great, and it's really built. With the templates to cut flanges, etc, it doesn't look DIY, except for the few cosmetic screw ups....

Matt

[Chris]

Any chance of a pic Matt?

[RedDragon]

Matt will you be selling any of these? :-D

[matt]

Nope. No digital camera for me :cry:

Maybe you can stop by sometime, check it out, bring your camera? I have to say, I'm happy with the way this thing turned out.

Matt

[Chris]

Matt, maybe you should finally head over to my place this time to check out the sea swirls. :-D

[matt]

Okay Chris, I'll make it over there sometime. I'm still fairly swamped with school crap. But I'll still need to get a camera over here for pics. Actually, there's a guy named Louey who also took the course who posted pictures of his on the DIY forum of reefs.org. He built a bigger one; basically looks the same as mine except I'm using an eheim pump, so my plumbing set up is a bit different.

Red Dragon, I'd consider making one of these for you if you don't mind running around and getting all the parts. When school is over, mid may, send me an email if you're interested. I could send you a shopping list, you bring me the stuff, and I'll rout the parts and glue it together. Or, if I get a much bigger tank (not likely) I'd sell this one and build a bigger one. Just the parts will cost, though. We got most of the stuff cheaper because the teacher orders stuff wholesale. For example, if you could find the 6"cast tube, you would expect to pay $3 a linear inch, at least. And, I don't have the necessary saw blade and jig to cut the tube. If you're really motivated, call around for an estimate for a 16" long 6" cast acrylic tube. If it's less than $50, I'll be surprised. This is why so many "bargain" skimmers and reactors, and sumps, are made out of extruded acrylic.

My reactor is now up and running on my system. So far, so good.

Matt