Several years ago I made a reactor from clear acrylic. It was a 4" diameter pipe, about 10 inches long, closed on both ends, with tangential inlet and outlet for the return flow from my canister filter. The CO2 was bubbled up from the bottom and the water flow was in the same direction. (Yes, I know that isn't the way to do it, but I didn't know that then.) I did have a water vortex in the reactor tube, with the CO2 bubbles staying in the center and the surplus collecting at the top. There is such a huge difference in density between water and gas, that it takes very little swirl to hold the gas in the middle.
The Barr Internal Venturi reactor I use now also swirls the water, holding the CO2 in the middle, but the CO2 bubbles get recycled thru the venturi loop into mist. That Barr reactor doesn't even have tangential inlet from the powerhead. It just directs the water towards the side. Apparently there is less flow restriction if the water swirls than if it just tumbles every which way.
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Hoppy
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