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Inline reactor

steve2tanks

Member
Joined
9 Mar 2008
Messages
172
Location
Durham
Well i bought an inline reactor a few months ago and got round to fitting it up to an tetra tec ex700 as it has 12mm hose connecters, it never came with instructions as it was an ebay bought one.It doesnt seem to dissolve a lot of the co2 as the spray bar ends up filling up with co2.Heres how i've got it at the minute
co2helpgb2.jpg


I was wondering should i put the out pipe on the top so the co2 tries to rise up the reactor but gets pushed down by the flow helping to dissolve it :?:
 
Yep, you're spot on CO2 should rise against the flow to enable diffusement.
 
The CO2 should be bubbling in at the bottom and the water flow should be in at the top and out at the bottom.

James
 
Right so i've changed the tubing around so the waters flowing the other way,the co2 now is rising up the reactor and it seems to be getting broken up a bit but most of it just rises to the top,will it be getting dissolved there?I know i can wait to check the drop checker later just wanted your opinions now :lol:

Cheers steve
 
If the CO2 is at the top of the reactor and the water is flowing through it then it will dissolve - CO2 is very soluble in water - that's one of the reasons check valves are so important in a CO2 set up - when the CO2 is turned off the CO2 in the hose will still dissolve, sucking water back up the tube form the tank/reactor.

Other gases might pass from the water into the CO2 gas in your reactor, and these (especially Nitrogen) won't easily re-dissolve, bust as long as the water's getting through your reactor without too much of a reduction in flow it should be working fine.

Mark
 
Yeah the waters going through fine so it must be working,i'll be able to tell later by the drop checker.How can you tell i've never used a reactor before :lol:
 
Just a quick question on that reactor - is that somebody's home made one that you bought ?

I've looked up a few posts on how to make one and I am going to try myself but was just interested to see if there was another brand other than Cal Aqua.
 
I dont know what make it is,it was sold as a dennerle but i dont know if they make any,i never thought to read up i just saw it for cheap so stuck a bid on :lol:
 
I have a home made reactor and my bubbles tend to rise to the top and then sit around the tubing and dissolve there.
This is because it is a very large reactor. It works very well though. Almost too well, my fish went into shock within a day of first putting it in, and I had to reduce my bubble rate by a third to get my CO2 down to what it was before!
 
No it's not that one,it doesnt have any other parts to it,like that has a blue bit mine doesnt? I have been looking at that one to buy but im just seeing how this one goes for now
 
Right so its been installed since this morning and now the reactor isnt full of water is it supposed to fill up at the top with the co2,is it not dissolving quick enough?Wish i had stuck with the ceramic diffuser :rolleyes: :lol:
 
Yes the reactor should be full of water. Is there a bleed valve on the reactor at the top any where?

If not what you can do is to tip the reactor up and this should let out the trapped air.

Hope tha makes sense.

Cheers Gordon.
 
No it hasnt got any valves like the aqua medic 1000 one posted before,its scewed in place now so cant be unscewing it all the time to tip it up.Think ill have to save up and get a better one :rolleyes: Any suggestions on a decent one for cheap,doesnt matter hose size to fit as i have both 16mm or 12mm pipes :lol:
 
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