• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

DIY Project High flow DIY reactor - now with video

foxfish

foxfish

Member
Joined
11 Oct 2009
Messages
5,296
Location
Guernsey
Here is my solution for a high flow C02 reactor, very simple to build & very efficient in design 🙂

e31b4fb79d1f6f4c76e6139182fa042a.jpg6547397f2993ef0e264993e9ca0b3b7e.jpg96a18dc10bf0cd836b5f42b41ac0ec55.jpg5c7140200e1e8bb95163abc48001ec1d.jpg

The tapering neck of the bottle is the key as the gas bubbles try to rise up they are continuously swirled around by the downward flow of water but due to the diffused flow as the neck widens, the bubble rise again until they are completely dissolved.
I have built different size models but the standard 12" high under sink mains water unit will deal with 6-7 BPS & 2500lph with very little loss of flow.
 
Re: High flow DIY reactor

Well I have been in production for 30 years,though be it on a small scale, that is why I am retired now 🙂(retired because of working for 30 + years not because I made any money from building reactors)
The reactor can be easily maintained & easily adapted to use any pipe size.....
I must of put together over 40 similar reactors but the one pictured has been in use (on & off) for at least 20 years.
 
That`s fantastic mate. Do think it would be as effective if you were to run it without the additional pump and just used a external canister filter?

I`m really impressed with this and am considering having a go at it myself, trouble is I don`t think my G6 is man enough. It can`t handle the restrictions that a AM1000 produces so I was looking at alternatives. :thumbup:
Does the bottle neck screw straight in the housing on the water treatment filter cap? How did you seal the Co2 hose into the drilled hole?

Also, I noticed you have a quite a bit of plumbing work going on. Is your whole system set up this way with plastic pipework? I`m currently looking at ways of attempting this and would be interested to get any advice?
 
Silicone 6mm airline will seal its self through a 4.5mm hole, you just need to cut a very acute angle on the end of the line with a pair of scissors & then pull the line through the hole with a pair of long nosed pliers.
Yes you can use this style of reactor in conjunction with a power filter & flexible pipe too if you want.
In fact it would be very easy to just fit two barb end fittings & use flexible pipe.
The bottle just push fits in place, you might have to find the right sized bottle or possibly add a short length of pipe into the bottle neck.
Rigid pipe is not necessarily the best option it just depends on the individual set up....
 
This one looks promising http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Water-Filter- ... 1e6c76886b it would be good to know the inside diameter though...
Click to expand...

Cheers for the link. It kind of reminds me of a similar reactor I saw a while back. I think it was a Jacqno or something like that. Where yours differs is the internal bottle neck that creates a vortex. Much more efficient I would think?
 
Oh yes there are plenty of variations to the theme, our American cousins really like this style of reactor but as you say, I have yet to see one quite the same. You never know, now my version is on the net it might catch on 🙂
I have built a lot of big tanks over the years and it was due to the need, that had me experimented until I came up with the plastic bottle idea but, I am running the one featured on my relatively small tank of 220lt & I am sure it would work with much lower flows too.
It is the fact that the bubbles keep rising into the flow until they dissolve that makes it work so well but, you can still get a build up of gas on very high bubble counts. However all that means is the gas keeps dissolving for 30 mins or so, after it is switched off.
I have built bigger versions with full length 2lt bottles inside & very high flows, they really work well but I dont think you need that size of reactor until you get into the 500lt + tanks or you are using really bright light & want really fast growth.
The idea actually came to me while working on a big commercial protein skimmer many years ago.
The skimmer worked a similar principle but used a separate internal venturi instead of a ceramic stone.
 
Well I was impressed with the design of this reactor. I was always concerned that a shop bought now would leak all over the place in the dead if night, but this seemed so much more robust.
Anyway I've now built my own.
Here's a link to a photo.

Dropbox - Photo 21-02-2013 16 50 11.jpg - Simplify your life

Now who's going to be the first to tell me off for using a bit of copper tube.
 
I have a 300L tank which has been totally neglected of late, so at the moment I have some very happy algae in there. Anyway I'm working towards getting on top of things (this forum is a great help)
The spec's
As I say 300l running a tetratec EX1200, I currently have approx 4bpm co2. There are two JBL solar tropic ultra 39W T5's.
as of today I'm starting EI dosing. This replace the stuff the lfs sold me, called aquaponics aquatrace 7. Which from the label it basically contains mico nutients and iron. He promised me that would be sufficient for my needs ( at £18 per 500ml of course he did)
I have just replaced the spray bar, but I was never too happy with the tetratec EX1200, as there is no way it filters 1200lph, now I have one of those really deep tanks 600ml. I was considering turning off the EX1200 and fitting a circulation pump to the outlet.
Anyway I digress. I also have 1 X 800lph power head and 1 X 600lph power head giving some movement.
The drop checker shows a nice lime green colour. Fish seem happy, hopefully things will start to improve.
 
Probably not. I suspect even the lowish pressure in the reactor will back flow along the pipe and peristaltic pump back into your ferts container.

Better and safer to have an air gap at the end of the ferts pipe then no issues of back flow of tank water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top