CO2 Question

[Ben Belton]

Hell must hath frozen over... even in this heat. I'm going to try to get a tank back going. Probably will be fall before I do it, but getting organized now. Ricky Cain and I have made an agreement not to show up at the AGA without some decent tanks. Note: Decent does not mean fabulous. He's the aquascaper. I prefer to farm with organization.

So before I dropped off the aquarium planet you could get CO2 into your tank with a diffuser or a reactor. I didn't like having more ugly junk in my tanks because they were always ugly enough as it was. I always went with a reactor that was piped in with the return of my filter. The problem with that was that the fittings on the reactor were always smaller than the return of the filter, so somewhere there was a loss of capacity.

Are there better options now, or can someone with some mechanical sense tell me how to properly plum my reactor into my filter so that my 300gph filter isnt reduced to 50gph.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. In another Ben and Ricky tradition, this was typed at 3am while an Ambien was taking hold.

Hopefully I won't do like Ludwig and pop up just to disappear again. Where are ya buddy?!

I call this aquascape "Secret Path Through the Bladderwort." Actually it would look worse than this, but Kevin has cleaned out my tank a couple times for me. (he wanted the starving shrimp).

[jcali10]

I always went with a reactor that was piped in with the return of my filter. The problem with that was that the fittings on the reactor were always smaller than the return of the filter, so somewhere there was a loss of capacity.

Are there better options now, or can someone with some mechanical sense tell me how to properly plum my reactor into my filter so that my 300gph filter isnt reduced to 50gph.

Ben, to keep the clutter out of your tank, you're probably gonna need an external reactor. I use ceramic diffusers because they are so easy to use and clean. To clean, you just drop them in a mild bleach and water solution for a day or so. You just have to be very careful with glasswear, it is easy to break. I keep a spare handy as a backup and to swap out dirty ones when needed. I am building my first reactor now; I hope it doesn't cut down the flow rate. I've read they work best on the inflow side of the filter. I am not going to use any media or bioballs. The co2 will be injected near the top of the reactor, the bubbles will try to rise, while the inflow of water will push them down through the filter, to be completely dissolved. Rex Grigg makes reactors without any media and they apparently work fine. He sells a lot of them. Most people make them out of 2 inch pvc. I don't see why 1 inch pvc wont work, it's still a larger diameter than the filter hose. My Rena XP hose is 5/8 inch (16mm) diameter. I had to buy brass 5/8" barb to 3/4" MPT fittings, since the plastic ones only came in 3/8, 1/2 or 3/4 inch barbs at Lowes and the Home Depot. I think bends, turns, and 90 degree elbows restrict flow. Theoretically speaking.

[Jeff120]

There are other options, I dont like the reactor for the reasons you mention, flow drop off is crazy. Ive been running one of these for about 7 months and really like it
http://cgi.ebay.com/CO2-Carbon-Dioxide- ... ltDomain_0

Its still inline of a canister but no flow drop off.

[Ben Belton]

To clean, you just drop them in a mild bleach and water solution for a day or so.

I have a different way for you. When I've used those in the past, I would clean them while doing a water change. When the water level went below the level of the disc, I would pour some peroxide on top of it. By then time I got the hose changed and the water back above the disc, the peroxide had done its trick. Within about 48 hours, the disc would be perfectly white again. No bleach mixing. Didn't even get my hands wet.

The co2 will be injected near the top of the reactor, the bubbles will try to rise, while the inflow of water will push them down through the filter, to be completely dissolved.

With hooking it on the intake I am concerned that if too many bubbles that don't get dissolved get into the filter, it might stall it and burn it up. I think that's an extreme situation though. I know there are people who do it this way.

On an intake reactor, if you want the bubbles to be rising against the current, you'll need to inject them from the bottom.

Intake or output, a reactor is still going to cut down your flow, but since you are making your own, you might not have any problems. I already have 2 different kinds of them, so I'm not going to try to do it over. I'd rather have the ceramic disc. The bubbles are pretty anyway

Thanks for the ideas.

[Ben Belton]

There are other options, I dont like the reactor for the reasons you mention, flow drop off is crazy. Ive been running one of these for about 7 months and really like it
http://cgi.ebay.com/CO2-Carbon-Dioxide- ... ltDomain_0

Its still inline of a canister but no flow drop off.

Ive never seen one of these. This is a good idea. Maybe you implied, but do you have yours attached to your intake or inline. You said inline, but I want clarification because from an anal point of view, stuck in the intake is also inline

I suppose you could do this on the outflow side too.

[Jeff120]

You can do either, I did the output side of the canister b/c I am paranoid about air locking a canister filter. I just put it close to output side of the tubing. Like 3" from where it leaves canister. When it exits the spray bar you do have some misting.

[Ben Belton]

Yeah, I didn't lock up a canister with air, but I did burn one up one time. Sucks to lose $350 from being stupid.

Thanks Bigstick!

Ben