My 3D printed Reactor Design

[chippwalters]

Since folks are asking, I'm now selling these as kits for $20 + $5 shipping (USA). They include a rubber o-ring and suction cups. I'll also pre-build a Gatorade bottle for and ship it for another $10-- but it's easy to do yourself with a Dremel tool. Just cut a hole in the top for the nozzle, then cut an opening in the bottom large enough to put whatever bag(s) of media you want in there. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Why do we need yet another New Reactor?

So, the question is 'why a new reactor?'

Well, sadly there are few small reactors available. I've been looking at them for some time, hoping someone will solve the myriad of UX (User Experience) issues when trying to use them. For those who don't know, a reactor is simply a chamber where water is forced through media. For many, it's 'good enough' to just lay a bag of activated carbon and/or GFO near the return pump. And having owned this Two Little Fishies Reactor, I've found there is value in actually forcing water through a media substrate-- even for my little tank.


But there are huge problems with this little reactor. The user workflow for changing out and cleaning this reactor is horrendous! First off, IMHO, a couple of the original design premises were INCORRECT. For instance...

• Design the reactor so it could work out of the water and hang outside the sump. This reactor is set up to work both inside and outside the sump. Well, I don't think that's such a great idea-- and from what I've read everyone says NOT to do this as you're just adding one more spill element and eventually it will fail and then you have a flood to clean up. And by the look of the rubber connectors, I have to agree. So, I always kept mine in the sump. I think this feature ended up dooming this particular device from the get go.
  
  This attention to making this reactor work OUTSIDE the sump has serious consequences for the design. One of the biggest is it forces both inlet and outlet out the top, and creates a not so great workflow for changing media. More on that later. Also, in my reactor, the media tended to 'clump' no matter what pressure settings I used. I tried it with both Phosguard and Purigen, and neither could 'bubble' more than a day or two before clumping. I did not try GFO, but I would assume a similar result. If you use this reactor for activated carbon, then you DON'T want lots of movement in the carbon as it will rub carbon dust off and place it in the water column, which many say can be an irritant to corals and fish.
  
  FWIW, I know there are larger reactors which do work outside sumps-- and they are designed specifically for outside of the sump mounting and operation and seem to work just fine.
  
• Design the reactor for loose media. In fact every reactor I know of is designed for loose media, but I think that's problematic for small systems and this reactor. Here's why.
  
  First off, I've yet to see anyone successfully use Purigen loose in a reactor. Invariably the stuff ends up getting around a filter and spilling out into the sump and display tank, and once that happens you can forget about ever cleaning it up.
  
  Next, trying to pour media into this reactor is a major headache. You have to be careful not to pour it down the center tube and if you do, you need to pull it apart and start all over. Also, if the media gets 'below' the filter, then you have a major headache as it might just sit there and clump up and limit flow to only one side or the other.
  
  And cleaning this darn thing is pretty much impossible. Sometimes algae and slime gets down low in the chamber, and because the bottom doesn't come off, you need extra long cleaning brushes, yet you still cannot get any pressure on the inside of the cylinder at the lower levels.
  
  Not to mention– what a MESS! Whatever substrate you have, goes everywhere as soon as you open it up as the water is right at the top of cylinder. Not an easy way to drain it because if you turn it over all the media flows out with the water. A huge dadgum mess indeed! And don't even think about trying to capture the media for 'recharging' (as in the case of Purigen). The mess is even compounded further as you try and filter out the gunk and the small beads of Purigen. Ewww.
  
  So, for me, the easier thing is to purchase a Seachem The Bag media filter bag and use it inside my Reactor design.
  
  
  
  This bag is great and can hold any type of media, incuding activated carbon, GFO, Phosban, Phosguard, etc.. I also now purchase Purigen in bag format and regenerate it for use over and over.

So here's the old workflow for the Two Little Fishies reactor:

• Turn off the pump going to the Little Fishies reactor.
• Pull two rubber elbows off of lid while trying NOT to spill or break anything. Those darn elbows are HARD to remove and when you finally pull them off, stuff flies everywhere!
• Pull the entire reactor OUT of the sump and quickly transfer to a waiting bucket as it's full of water. If you have an ATO, now your sump will start filling up with fresh water and you'll rush over to turn it off while holding the reactor in your hand spilling everything.
• Try to empty the water out a bit in the bucket so you can handle the wretched thing.
• For some reason, more often than not for me, the lid is FUZED onto the reactor and cannot be unscrewed. Often I had to take it to the workshop and literally use a vise and wrenches to carefully 'unlock' it. Ugh.
• Empty out all the contents into the bucket, knowing you're not going to save anything. Now you have a bucket full of water and used media...not sure what to do with that. I usually dump the whole mess around the back of my garage.
• Hose it down while outside because washing in a sink makes even more of a mess and I don't want all that media going into my septic system.
• And now the hard part. Separate all the parts and start cleaning. You need different cleaning tools for different parts. A long flexible brush can go down the center straw tube and.. if it's long enough just might clean stuff in the middle (it's open at both ends). All the many different parts can be cleaned with a toothbrush except for the acrylic cylinder itself. The best you can do is spray inside it and shake it around. I've tried stuffing a towel into it, but it doesn't do much better. Unfortunately, it's impossible to remove the bottom of the reactor to be able to clean it from both ends.
• If you can remember which goes with which, assemble it back together.
• Carefully, CAREFULLY! poor new media into it making sure NONE OF IT goes into the center tube. If it does, pull it all out, clean it again, and start over. Ugh.
• Now, pray to God you can align the lid with the center tube which is now leaning to one side. Tilt it one way, then the other. If after 15 minutes it's not working, then remove all the media and 're-seat' the center tube. Then put the media back in and try again.
• If successful, put it back in the tank, plug in both rubber elbow joint thingys, turn on the pump and get busy trying to figure out how out of whack your salinity is with all the water removed.

Ouch.



Here's the expected new workflow with my new reactor:

• Turn off the pump.
• Unscrew the top from the bottle, leaving the hose and pump in the sump.
• Unclip the bottle and lift up. All the water will run out the bottom into the sump.
• Take to the sink, pop off the bottom and pull out the used bag.
• Clean the plastic container. It's open on the bottom and the top so it's super easy.
• Add a new 'bag-o-media' and snap the bottom back on.
• Place back in sump, screw on top and turn on pump.

Ta da! Sure, it's probably not the best solution ever, but for smaller tanks which want the advantages media reactors provide, it seems a heck of lot simpler and easier. I've since added a flow restrictor plate in the bottom so you can adjust flow rate.

I'm still tweaking this design and looking for feedback. The empty Gatorade bottle is great as it can easily be replaced if needed.

As I said, I'd sure like feedback if anyone's interested. I'll continue with updates as I learn more.

[Angel<3Nanos]

This is awesome!

It also looks DIY. Are you planning on selling this or sharing it with everyone?

[chippwalters]

When I get finished, I'm glad to share the print files. The problem they are only engineered for the Cubify Cube V1 printer and other printers have different tolerances.

[seahorsedreams]

Very nice indeed!!!

[Angel<3Nanos]

When I get finished, I'm glad to share the print files. The problem they are only engineered for the Cubify Cube V1 printer and other printers have different tolerances.

You can sell ithe parts as a DIY kit.

[Whys]

Interesting stuff, Chip. I really look forward to affordable 3D printing in the near future and you've given us all a real taste of what is to come.

 

Good luck with this!

[chippwalters]

Very nice indeed!!!

Thanks. Still a work in progress.

 

You can sell ithe parts as a DIY kit.

Not a bad idea. Currently it's close to 7 hours of 3D printing. What do you think such a kit is worth?

 

Interesting stuff, Chip. I really look forward to affordable 3D printing in the near future and you've given us all a real taste of what is to come.

 

Good luck with this!

Thanks. I'm using FormZ to design the objects as it's a really easy to use solid modeler.

[seahorsedreams]

What is 3D printing?

[Angel<3Nanos]

Lol

Not a bad idea. Currently it's close to 7 hours of 3D printing. What do you think such a kit is worth?

Lol I really wouldnt know.

[papaj10789]

how much does it cost to print it? 7 hours for such tiny parts?

[chippwalters]

There are 3 different print cycles:

 

1. The base: 3+ hrs.

2. The nozzle and nozzle nut: 2 hrs.

3. The mounting clip: 2hrs.

 

Just so we're clear, while it IS 7 hrs, it's not that I have to do anything but press a print button, then pop it off the print bed when it's done. There's no de-burring, de-rafting, de-support structuring, or finishing process whatsoever other than just a rinse in some water.

 

So, it's not such a lift. Probably about $5 in plastic filament, a buck fifty for the o-ring (inside cap) and suction cups, and that's about all there is to a 'kit.' Total of $6.50 in plastic, plus wear and tear on the printer. If you were to throw in the cost of a gatorade container, you might add another couple bucks as a hole must be drilled in the cap, and the bottom has to be cut open (it's wear you load the media bags.)

 

So, I would assume south of ten bucks for the whole shebang.

 

Just uploaded the three files onto Ponoko.com and the total in basic white plastic comes to $98.24. Shapeways.com was a much more reasonable $56.18. Now to be fair, the print quality of both of these online 3D print companies is significantly better, plus they can print virtually any shape (not so with home printers), but still-- quite a jolt. And, one of the reasons I purchased my own device. Way too expensive to use these guys.

 

If I were to invest in some tooling I could probably get the kit down to under $5 for everything in quantity from China. But, this is not any sort of "in demand" type of device, so that would make it a long time to break-even even if I sold the kit for $19.95.

 

It's interesting how 3D printing changes things...

[Whys]

It's interesting how 3D printing changes things...

 

An end to the drama of the 'critical plastic part'. There are a number of equipment manufacturers that rely on just such engineered life expectancies. Will be a wonder to see how they survive in this brave new world. Just watch. Soon it will be all about copyright of 3D printer files and reverse engineering for the rest of us.

[Angel<3Nanos]

$20 doesn't sound bad at all.

[L33T]

I was about to buy the Two Fishys for a 60gal cube that I'm about to build, but now it seems like there's a better choice =D

[notwithit]

 

$20 doesn't sound bad at all.

I agree. Sell it for 20. Recoup some expenses to save for a replacement printer.

[seahorsedreams]

Great.... something else I wanna get. So cool.

[Bobyboy]

20.00 for the printed plastics and include instructions on how to modify the bottle, seems like a great deal to me.

[KoolKajun]

i woudl definitely buy one...hint...hint...

[chippwalters]

So, it's been a couple weeks, and I can say this thing works great as a Purigen reactor. I turned the first P bag 'brown' in about 2 weeks-- they typically take a couple months when I leave them in my sump return area. And with Purigen, a quick bath in Clorox and then Prime and it's good to go again.

 

Algae problems solved as well.

 

Here's a pic installed in my Cryptic Sump:

 

 

That's a cable clip I printed on the right:

 

 

 

Also, recently finished printing my snail guard which fits snuggly in a 1" PVC:

 

 

 

So, here's the FINAL design. I played around a bit with different ways of maintaining pressure, but none really worked as the bottom seal just wasn't good enough no matter what-- and it turns out I really didn't need the pressure-- just the flow. So, I modified the bottom to be able to allow more flow, use less ABS (though it takes longer to print) and here's the final design.

 

 

If anyone's interested in a 'kit', I'll gladly 'grow' one up for you and send it to you for $20 + $5 shipping. Just drop me a note. I'll also throw in the suction cups and an o-ring for the nozzle. All you have to do is drill out the top and cut of the bottom of a Gatorade container.

 

 

[ExSmoker]

Holy freaking sweetness. You have a PM!!!

[Angel<3Nanos]

Holy cow! Lol I want one. Ill pm you now.

[chippwalters]

Holy cow! Lol I want one. Ill pm you now.

On it's way...

[supernip]

its cute, which printer are you using

[chippwalters]

I'm using the Cube series 1. IMO, it's a really nice printer because it just works. It has a heated table (which the series 2 doesn't have) and that is a huge help in stabilizing the ABS 'grows.'

[Hans Dorn]

Does the ABS stuff turn out waterproof?