| Basic Reactor - Assembly |
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| So to assemble our reactor it’s really simple. I simply cut two lengths of hose to drop into the bottom of each vessel for this reactor. Then I simply connected the bubblers and “T” connection together and the pump to the remaining connection on the “T”. The air pump I use is a high output continuous use 12V pump; however any aquarium pump will work well for this project. |
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| Here we did a test of the pump and made sure we had good airflow. It’s worth noting a potential problem that can arise with the bubblers, some light weight cheap versions will actually float when you turn on the air. The natural instinct is to weigh them down to fix this problem. If you do encounter this problem I recommend against a couple things. Lead weights for example are not a smart idea. You will contaminate your algae with lead, and if you are growing for consumption you can see the obvious problem. Secondly don’t use anything that will rust to attach a weight. I personally recommend a plastic zip tie and a stone as the safest and simplest way to solve this problem if you encounter it. |
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| So now we add our algae to our reactor. It doesn’t take much to get this off and running. If you are using city tap water let it sit overnight before inoculating your reactor or you risk the chlorine killing off your algae. There are also several schools of thought for providing nutrients to your algae. Some people think commercial fertilizers for algae is a good method, some people actually promote taking a multivitamin and then using the following urine to fertilize. I’m not a fan of the second personally… whatever you choose make sure to research it and determine its sustainability. |
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