We have a relatively simple mission :
Provide the best products for the do it yourself aquarium enthusiast and provide service to our customers at the lowest prices possible.
We take great pride in our company, our commitment to customer service and in the products we sell. Our online store is designed to provide you with a safe and secure environment to browse our product catalog.
We are a unique combination of partners. A long term salt water hobbyist familiar with machining, a long term machinist with a rising interest in aquariums and a systems engineer interested in anything complex and technical!
Below are descriptions and definitions of our products families. Please review them to ensure they will meet your needs. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please contact us at support@reefersaquariums.com
Acrylic Tubing -- Extruded
Full length Extruded Acrylic Tubes are 72 inches long with a wall thickness of 0.125 inches. ID and OD tolerance +/- 0.05. Length tolerance +/-1.
Saw cut and Trimmed products have the same ID and OD tolerances. However, the length is +0 / - 0.1 and +0 / -0.25 inches respectively.
Tubing in the 10 and 12 inch diameters is very low volume for us and very expensive. There may be lead times to get the material and / or to gang a few orders to justify the purchase.
Acrylic Tubing -- Cast
We currently see little demand for Cast Acrylic Tubing and currently do not carry any stock. Send us a message if you need Cast material. If interest rises, we will add it to our product mix, but there may be lead times to get material.
Sheet Acrylic Material
We will be offering sheet materials in the future. At our current purchase quantities, we are not able to buy, handle and ship the materials at competitive prices. When our volumes rise, we should become cost competitive, so get to buying so we can get our costs down!.
Machined Parts
All machined parts produced by Reefers Aquariums are made precisely to the nominal targets of the material they are to mate.
We have found that the tolerances of recent extruded acrylic tube is much tighter than the +/- 0.050 inches in the specification. Therefore, we machine all reliefs to accept tubing to the nominal tube OD, plus a few thousandths. If the fit is a little tight, usually just touching the edge of the tube with a little sandpaper brings it right in.
End Caps
End Caps are used either to seal the end of a tube permanently by gluing or as a removable cover.
Our End Caps are machined to the nominal OD of the target tube size. A relief is machined into the edge that is 0.050 deep and 0.125 wide to accommodate the tube.
This serves 2 purposes. The inner diameter is the same as the ID of the tube, so it is inserted into the tube. There is therefore an additional 0.050 inches of contact area to be glued during the joining process.
End Caps that are not to be glued, (will be removable) are made so the ID is 0.030 inches smaller than nominal to allow easy removal.
Diffusion Plates
Diffusion Plates are typically used to reduce the turbulence in the water flow.
Our Diffusion Plates are machined to the nominal ID of the target tube size. An array of 0.18 inch holes are drilled in concentric circles with a nominal spacing of 0.3 inches.
Diffusion Plates for Protein Skimmers have an additional operation and the holes are countersunk with a 45 degree countersink to eliminate / minimize flat spots improving flow.
Flanges
All of our flanges come with O-rings, nylon bolts, washers and nuts, as appropriate to the style of flange.
Bolted Flanges
Our bolted flanges have 1/4 inch through holes in both rings. Bolts and nuts (each with a washer) are used to secure the rings together. We prefer these in our own systems, simply because the rings (the expensive bits) are never at risk when assembling. Cross threading or over tightening only damage an inexpensive nylon bolt or nut. Not a machined piece of acrylic.
Threaded Flanges
We make 2 versions of Threaded Flanges. Both Flanges have the lower ring threaded. The standard Threaded Flange has a 1/4 inch through hole to accept a nylon or stainless steel bolt in the upper ring. Bolts must be completely removed to separate the rings. The Keyhole Flange has a 1/4 inch slot with a 1/2 inch hole at one end. The bolts can be loosened, the upper ring turned a few degrees, and the rings can be separated. If you separate the rings often, the Keyhole Flange can save a lot of time.
We recommend the use of Nylon bolts for all threaded Flanges and that is what we ship with them. While stainless steel has some advantages, Nylon has one very important one: If something is going to be damaged, it is the bolt not the threaded ring. With stainless steel, the rings threads would be destroyed, a much more costly error!
Twist Lock Flanges
This is our best selling product. Need a flange that is quick and easy to remove, maybe for that collection cup? Our twist locks are excellent for these low pressure applications. Smaller tube sizes have 4 interlocking segments requiring up to 45 degrees of rotation for lock / unlock. Larger sizes have 6 or 8 segments, reducing maximum rotation to 30 or 22.5 degrees respectively.
