May&Bruce

now i feel better...i thought my skimmate was always too runny, but it seems just like everyone elses...sorry no pic yet but with my beckett i get about 1 cup or more per day from a wells tocked 5 foot reef tank

Jurong Kecil..........on the right hand side of the Shell Station there is a block of shops - there are two HW shops there that both sell lots of PVC fittings, including unions and stuff. I just bought lots of stuff there last weekend.

ettin Dazhou Trading 35, Jln Mas Puteh Singapore 128635 (65) 67733383 / 67793353 They have a good selection of all sorts of speedfit type pipe fittings, plastic hose fittings, plastic hose, etc., etc. They do not stock the normal PVC pipe fittings though.

Hey Simon Well, it shouldn't. It's only fresh water in the counter, thus should not rust. Anyway, if it does i will just make an all plastic one :-)

here is a diagram of the calcium reactor... Calcium_Reactor.pdf

Price summary Mixing chamber S$71 Recirculation fittings & pump S$50 Water inlet/outlet fittings S$5 Total S$126 CO2 system (inc regulator and cylinder S$190 Rowalith C (12.5 kg) S$99 pH Controller (Milwaukee) S$215 Total price S$630 That is the all-up price including C media and pH controller system, CO2 cylinder and regulator! Will post some more pics in a week or so, showing the completed system. Will also post more complete instructions about how to make it and where to get the bits.

closeup...

CO2 cylinder from Aqua Star ($50 filled with CO2). Dual gauge regulator with control solenoind valve also from Aqua Star ($120).

This is the recirculation pipe coming out of the top of the reactor and then down to the pump. The little blue fitting on top is the calcium-rich effluent (water) output to the tank.

back to this pic....this shows the input side of the recirculation pump....the little blue input on the leftr is the CO2 input from the bubble counter. The little blue input on the right is tank water input.

oops the above pic is wrong, here is the CO2 input and bubble counter....

CO2 input is shown here....CO2 enters via the gray speedfit fitting and through the bubble counter. Bubble counter was $12 from Aqua Star

Pump is a Rio 1100 - the one in the pic is an old one that I used just to get the positioning and pipe lengths all correct.

Another pic

Overall pic

So, it is nearing completion and I decided to post a few pics. All done in acrylic from Dama Industries in Ubi. Pipe fittings are all normal PVC fittings.

Also, dont forgtet about the noise. A 1/2 HP chiller make quite a bit of noise - too much to have in your living room, unless you have it tucked away in a soundproof (and ventilated) cabinet.

There are two good hardware shops in Jl Jurong Kecil that have a good range of unions, valves and other PVC fittings. The unions are less than $10 (can't remember exactly).

Thanks guys...yeah, been busy with work n stuff Gotta be able to keep funding the hobby. Will post some pics of the DIY calcium reactor soon

First i started with a simple kalk dripper but i got fed up with filling the bottle every day and constantly altering the drip rate, so I built a kalk reactor (see DIY kalk reactor in DIY forum about 9 months ago). Now I am fed up with filling the kalk reactor with kalk and fresh water once a week, so I am now buidling a DIY calcium reactor. After researching the local market it looks like good quality calcium reactors (big enough for a 150 gal tank) start at about $300 and go up to $800 or more, before even buying the CO2 system. Too much for me! The design is complete and I have bought all the parts. Total price of parts is $125! I have also bought all the parts for the CO2 system (twin gauge regulator with solenoid valve; CO2 cylinder and needle valve for fine tuning the air flow) $200. So, for less than $350, one complete calcium reactor including CO2 system. I will post photos over the next week or so. Next will be a pH controller to fully automate the process! woo hoo.....maintenance now getting less and less!

Best show tank is at Bio Ocean Aquarix, for sure! 10ft LPS reef with lots of tangs and others :-)

yeah, sorry, i meant CL650. make sure that your pump is big enough to pump up to 6ft at the required flow rate.

I would recommend the C0500. I am using one for a 600 litre tank n sump. Such a 1/2 HP size chiller is a little noisy though. I put mine outside and ran pipes to the tank (about 3 metres). The CL450 might do the trick, if you dont want to go too cold (26 or27 shd be OK), and it is a bity quieter than the C0500.

yep, that's why I said chlorine is an element...sodium chloride is a compound ya?

Hey Lara....Blue and yellow tang together are a good pair :-) Wish you luck with everything!