| Simple Photo Bio Reactor Array V.2 - Materials |
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The Frame :
So we will be starting this project by killing a tree for our project. Basically we will be building a fairly simple frame to hold our reactor cells and pumps. Could you use reclaimed or recycled wood products? Sure! if you have them locally or on hand... if not don’t burn off that gallon or more of gasoline driving 20 miles and back from a recycler.... just go to the home center around the block. However, if you go the home center route make sure to get some good stain to protect the wood from the weather and make it last as long as possible. |
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Acrylic:
For this project we will be using some acrylic sheet that is 1/2 inch thick. This will be cut using a hole saw to make the plugs for the tube ends as well as making the holes for the plumbing. Now I realize that everything can be measured in carbon and energy required in making a product... and I realize that I will get email saying how plastics will kill the earth. Well... your likely right. |
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More Acrylic:
These are 3 3/4 OD 3 1/4 ID Cast acrylic tubes. There are two types of acrylic, cast and extruded. It’s important that you use a cast acrylic tube for this project. If you use extruded acrylic it will eventually crack under the pressure of the water in the tubes and you will kill an entire plankton colony. However if you use extruded lengths of 2 foot or less it will last a very long time I found. |
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The Pumps:
We found these WISA air pumps on eBay for 8.00 each. The cool thing about them is that they have a input and output on them so you can easily capture the air and pass it along. These are surprisingly high volume and 6 of them in parallel ran great on our 45 watt solar panel kit. |
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