CO2 reactor advice

[Poustic]

Just curious...  what have you aquatic plant people been using as CO2 reactors?

Since I'm converting from DIY to pressurized, I was wondering if I could still safely feed the CO2 through my canister filter, or if I should really consider making a reactor as mentioned in other posts (or buying one if you have good suggestions).

:?:

[ekim]

Here is 2 different ones I have built.  
Both cost less than $15 to build.  
What size is your tank?  
If it is less than 30gallon you shouldn't have much trouble dissolving the CO2 with your canister!

[Poustic]

Did you put your black reactor from the first picture at the input or the output of your canister filter?  Did you notice any big difference in the output flow?

Our tank is 90 gallon.  I've had no problem so far feeding a double pop bottle DIY system through the canister filter...  and judging by the pH, it even seemed like with proper bottle-shaking, that annoying setup might have been supplying enough CO2, although not very consistently.

Is it possible that my controlled pressurized setup will not need to supply a whole lot more CO2 than what I get with DIY, and that the canister might even be able to handle it, given that it would be a more regular and controlled output?

Tap water pH is between 7 and 7.1, and my target pH is 6.5.

By the way, the reactor in the second picture looks like it was made from a gravel vacuum.  My Python gravel vacuum is already leaking between the rubbery top and the clear tube, so I'm assuming you sealed yours real good in order not to moisten your nice hardwood floors.   :wink:

[ekim]

I prefer to have it on the input side of the filter, gravity helps pull the water through the reactor, 0 loss in output!  I tried it on the output side but notice a little loss in output, much more tubing is needed for routing on the output side!

What is your PH and KH level of your tank?  I doubt you could maintain high CO2 levels with just 2 bottles on a 90 gallon, do you know how many bubbles were coming out of it on average?  You will probably need about 3 bubbles per second with a good reactor on a 90gallon tank.  1 bubble per second seemed to be the max I could inject into my canisters without them burping bubbles!

Yes I put a little extra silicon on the ends!  No worries!

[Poustic]

Do you often need to clean your reactor since it's on the input side?

KH has been at 3 since we started setting up our new aquarium 3 months ago.  pH has been at around 6.5 on average, although it's been known to vary quite a bit, which is one of the reasons for getting controllable CO2 before getting any decent fish.   I haven't bothered measuring the amount of bubbles yet, since I wasn't really worried about having too many of them with DIY, but that's an item near the top of the list.

Besides, the reactor sounds like another fun project.  It's one fun project after the other!

[Greg Turner]

A better yeast method is using champaine yeast... it's more stable and smoother.  Although it still doesn't beat a pressurized system it's the closest I've come to to stable output.  Here is it:

1 tsp Cerevisiae K1V-1116 or Bayanus EC-1118
(found at wine making stores)
2 tsp yeast nutrient (found at wine making stores)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda (to maintain a buffer)
1 penny (I forgot what this was for, but it's good luck anyways)

I prefer the Cervisiae, it seems more smoother.  Throw it all into a 2L pop bottle with luke water water.  I find it has enough to go for 4 weeks and very rarely crashes.  The yeast usually go for 75cents for a packet which contains about 3 doses.  So it's a little more expensive but it really reduces frustration and batch restarts because of crashing.

[Poustic]

I now have a basic pressurized CO2 system, and am ready to make a CO2 reactor.  

ekim mentioned that if you put the reactor on the output side, you notice some loss in output, and on the input side of the filter, gravity helps pull the water through.  Now, I am concerned about having to clean the thing, so I'm thinking: if I set one up on the output side, but place it so the water goes in through the top and comes out through the bottom, would I still notice loss in the output if gravity helped to pull it through?

[ekim]

The water should always enter the top and exit through the bottom.  Try it on the output side first, some people report no loss in flow, so I guess it might have something to do the the type of filter you have.  I found there was allot more tubing involved in running it on the output side & the water had to be pumped up from the floor(bottom of the reactor).  I never clean any of mine.... as long as you have a strainer on the input of your filter it will stop large leaves from entering the reactor.  Also if you use bio-balls they are not very good at trapping small particles.

good luck