Neptune Aquatics

DIY Algae Reactor ideas

RandyC said:
Thanks...I went to Home Depot and asked the sales person working the pvc pipe section if they sold 6" PVC, they said no. LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! Website even says they have it in stock at the store I was at.
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I trust no one at HD staff now, and use the HD iPhone app, so I will only need the staff to locate the item I when I can’t find it on the rack.


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I have 4 of these if you're interested. They are 3-9/16" diameter x 1-1/2" tall (the metric equivalent).
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I was going to use them for a diy led project that never happened. I'll have to check how much I paid for them if you're interested.
 
Looks great Edgar!

I got an AquaMaxx XL reactor with some growlights from Amazon. I actually ordered a square aluminum tube to mount the lights onto for (hopefully) some good heat sink action. That comes next week! I'll document the process and see how it all works out.
 
Ryan Herco in San Jose I think they stock PVC in large diameter, even clear PVC.
I'm not aure if they would sell in short sections.
 
Home Depot does sell 6" diameter in 2 ft long pieces. You need to ask them to find it though because they don't stock it on shelves. I got mine from the home depot on Hesperian in Hayward.

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Also here is a two week update. No discoloration or burning of reactor canister so far.

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Got the lights setup inside a square aluminum tube. After running for even 30 minutes, it got really hot. The air inside the tube was really warm, and the aluminum was giving off quite a bit of heat. I haven't setup the reactor yet, but it fits nicely. I'm glad I went with the aluminum to help dissipate heat outwards! I'll take photos once I get everything hooked up tomorrow or Friday.
 
kinetic said:
Got the lights setup inside a square aluminum tube. After running for even 30 minutes, it got really hot. The air inside the tube was really warm, and the aluminum was giving off quite a bit of heat. I haven't setup the reactor yet, but it fits nicely. I'm glad I went with the aluminum to help dissipate heat outwards! I'll take photos once I get everything hooked up tomorrow or Friday.
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The aluminum will draw the heat from the light but if there's no fins or fans on it it won't release that heat. I think you might be better off leaving it off.
 
The LEDs do come with double sided tape, but I removed all the double sided tape before getting the 6" pvc pipe. I've read that the tape doesn't last long though. I'm sure you could super glue or expoy it on if you wanted.


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kinetic said:
Got the lights setup inside a square aluminum tube. After running for even 30 minutes, it got really hot. The air inside the tube was really warm, and the aluminum was giving off quite a bit of heat. I haven't setup the reactor yet, but it fits nicely. I'm glad I went with the aluminum to help dissipate heat outwards! I'll take photos once I get everything hooked up tomorrow or Friday.
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With the aluminum tube (assuming square) you effectively have the same radiative cooling as C-channel of the same size. The inside of the tube will radiate but that just warms up the other side of the tube, and that heating up radiates and heats up the original side, ontop of that you're relying on conductive heating to get heat to the sides to radiate away. One of the online DIY led places sells blower fans that blow through the center of those tubes, overall not a big fan of the tube design as a heatsink they use.
 
Sounds like this might be a bad idea?

I mounted the LED's using the 3M side on the aluminum tube itself (square). So they're not at all attached to the reactor. The 3M adhesive is holding well, but if I tug it'll come right off. I think it'll be fine as long as I don't put them through a lot of bumping (which I can't see how I would).

Should I get a fan to blow through it? Or I can maybe find fins to attach to the tube? Would I need to cover the WHOLE thing with fins? Or just a part of it?

Could I get something like this:
http://www.heatsinkusa.com/4-850-wide-extruded-aluminum-heatsink/

I could get 5" long pieces and somehow attach 4 of them to the middle of each of the aluminum walls of the tube? Maybe even get that silver stuff they use for CPU heatsinks and then attach with some epoxy on the edges to keep the heatsink down.
 
OK guys, for the sake of trying things out and who knows what will happen, I'm going to get two 8" heatsinks with fins (aluminum), and use JBWeld to secure them on two sides of the square tube.

If it really sucks, I'll just scrap the whole thing and just put the lights right on the reactor and call it a day. haha.
 
I think you're just over thinking things. If you want to cool them just blow a fan on them. If you want to passively cool them you're goi by to have a harder tiime because the whole point of the reactor is to have the lights wrap around the reactor so heat sinks are an issue. If you want to have a linear array of lights just slap the lights onto a regular heatsink
 
sfsuphysics said:
I think you're just over thinking things. If you want to cool them just blow a fan on them. If you want to passively cool them you're goi by to have a harder tiime because the whole point of the reactor is to have the lights wrap around the reactor so heat sinks are an issue. If you want to have a linear array of lights just slap the lights onto a regular heatsink
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I don't disagree, I'm definitely overthinking it. But I'm also bored out of my mind waiting for the tank to cycle, so my goal is to have the most ridiculous and cooled algae reactor ever seen on the planet.

I think this setup will work. I have a cheap (but quiet) clip on fan too that I'll just blow at the heatsink fins. That's it! I'm not going to do anything else crazy.
 
kinetic said:
OK guys, for the sake of trying things out and who knows what will happen, I'm going to get two 8" heatsinks with fins (aluminum), and use JBWeld to secure them on two sides of the square tube.

If it really sucks, I'll just scrap the whole thing and just put the lights right on the reactor and call it a day. haha.
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Make sure you use a bunch of thermal paste if you do this.
 
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