DIY Phyto reactor

firechild · Dec 19, 2023

My LFS sells phyto and it's fairly inexpensive but I've wanted to have something a bit more regular than a 500mL bottle every few weeks. So, I decided to build a reactor so I could grow phyto and dose it directly to my tank.

I used a ~60cm (24") length of 110mm acrylic tube and some 100mm DWV PVC fittings (don't even ask about our weird pipe standards, 100mm DWV has an OD of 110mm). A cheap 60cm LED from ebay and 3d printed brackets seems to work perfectly.

The photos below are taken over about 25 days, I started with 500mL, which has become a very thick 6L culture. I am currently dosing 30mL 3x per day, I have also taken some out for another tank. I'll split the hose connected to the dosing pump and using some check valves, will connect it to another pump for the other tank. At this point, I'm still trying to work out how much I need to replace to keep a consistent culture going.

Mikeltee · Dec 19, 2023

That looks great however you are going to want to culture it on its own and then dose the harvest. To grow it, you need f2. You don't want to be dosing your tank f2. I have 2x 3.5l weekly harvests that supply my 130 main, 40g office and 4x 2g Pod cultures. I wouldn't put more than 3 days worth at room temp for dosing iso and tetra. I don't think nanno can sit out more than a day.

firechild · Dec 19, 2023

Mikeltee said:
That looks great however you are going to want to culture it on its own and then dose the harvest. To grow it, you need f2. You don't want to be dosing your tank f2. I have 2x 3.5l weekly harvests that supply my 130 main, 40g office and 4x 2g Pod cultures. I wouldn't put more than 3 days worth at room temp for dosing iso and tetra. I don't think nanno can sit out more than a day.

That's good to know, thanks. I'm not using F2 but a generic fertiliser my LFS sells, which I assume is equivalent to F2. Interested to know more about why not to dose directly, I assume the logic is that once separated from the culture, the phyto will take up any remaining fertiliser while if dosing directly, there's likely higher amounts of things like copper free in the water?

klawson · Dec 31, 2023

That looks so nice!! I'm considering trying a continuous phyto reactor and this is way more professional looking than anything I could have thought of! Mind sharing sources/links for the components?

Amstar · Dec 31, 2023

@Mikeltee where do you get your f2? I’ve seen it on Amazon. Also are you running bags in your jars? I’m trying to decide if I go two phyto (different ones) and then two different pods in the other two jars. Or 1 phyto and 3 types of pods

Mikeltee · Dec 31, 2023

Amstar said:
@Mikeltee where do you get your f2? I’ve seen it on Amazon. Also are you running bags in your jars? I’m trying to decide if I go two phyto (different ones) and then two different pods in the other two jars. Or 1 phyto and 3 types of pods

Check my build thread on how I do my pods. I don't suggest the jars. Ingot mercers f2. You can find him on etay however I suggest you get the 2 part from coralhubus. Nate is active here. I also got my isocrisis and Tigger cultures from him. He's a marine biologist and is willing to help out. @nate'sTanks

firechild · Dec 31, 2023

klawson said:
That looks so nice!! I'm considering trying a continuous phyto reactor and this is way more professional looking than anything I could have thought of! Mind sharing sources/links for the components?

Thanks. I sourced all the components locally and they're all in metric so you may need to find alternatives. However, the parts are:
100mm DWV bolted trap (these are relatively heavy so make a good base)
~600mmx 110mm acrylic tube (I'd assume better dimensional standards in the US so everything could probably be 4")
100mm DWV access coupling (this is just a press to male threaded coupling)
100mm female threaded endcap

To run air in and phyto out, I used these 1/4" bulkhead couplings

I used this light. It's from a local seller but these same type of lights are available direct from China and you can probably find them locally (we actually have very similar units available at Bunnings, which is our equivalent of Home Depot).
I 3d printed the brackets which are working fine but are maybe a little loose. I did add some allowance on the brackets to hook elastic bands or cable ties if necessary.

klawson · Jan 1, 2024

firechild said:
Thanks. I sourced all the components locally and they're all in metric so you may need to find alternatives. However, the parts are:
100mm DWV bolted trap (these are relatively heavy so make a good base)
~600mmx 110mm acrylic tube (I'd assume better dimensional standards in the US so everything could probably be 4")
100mm DWV access coupling (this is just a press to male threaded coupling)
100mm female threaded endcap

To run air in and phyto out, I used these 1/4" bulkhead couplings

I used this light. It's from a local seller but these same type of lights are available direct from China and you can probably find them locally (we actually have very similar units available at Bunnings, which is our equivalent of Home Depot).
I 3d printed the brackets which are working fine but are maybe a little loose. I did add some allowance on the brackets to hook elastic bands or cable ties if necessary.

Awesome, thank you so much!!