New Reactor Build

[Ibn]

Taking this entire week off from work and have nothing better to do than to get started on the new reactor.

2 sections of 3" polycarbonate tubing. One section is 6" and the other is 8".



Diffuser from Aqua Forest



What's needed (this is actually half of it. There's another set of these for the other end).



What one end looks like with the parts attached. Hose clamp is left off, but it's not hard to figure where it goes.



What half of the reactor will look like. Hole isn't drilled yet for the airline nipple and I'm still looking out for a tee to hook both tubes up. The tee will be threaded (slipxthreadxslip) so that I can take the reactor apart to clean the diffuser and reactor itself down the line. It's also missing bioballs for the moment.

[scolley]

That is too cool! I've got all the parts to build one of these myself, without the cool polycarbonate though. I'm holding off because I don't want to cloud my one algae battle results from a new/untested type of reactor. So I'm glad to see you are doing it!

Though you did not mention it in your thread, it looks like your aim is to introduce those "Barr microbubbles" of CO2 into your tank? If so, would you mind taking a look at some of the discussion toward the end of this thread, related to gathering convincing evidence that one things does, or does not, work?

Good luck! Can't wait to see the results.

[hir0]

looks good Eric, do show us what it looks like when you're done. Once again, you have the wheels turning in my head now I might have to go out and build another reactor.

[Momotaro]

Great work, Eric!

The photographs are great as well! This is going to be quite the resource!

My reactor works quite the same way, although it is layed out a bit different. I guess Hydrologix designed the microbubbler reactor ahead of the curve!

Mike

[Ibn]

I'll piece the rest of it together when I get back (out of town this week). It'll take about a week or so before that happens since I can't find the correct size tee around here.

The idea actually didn't derived from Tom's microbubbles discussion. It was from seeing the diffuser in action over at Aqua Forest. The diffuser, pictured, puts out really minute bubbles. Most of the bubbles are usually gone by the time that it hits the surface (the others get pushed around the tank). So, in that sense, it would be similar to Tom's idea.

The reason that I'm making a new reactor is due to the inefficiency of the current reactor. It gets plenty of CO2 into the tank, but by cranking up the bubble count, sometimes it empties the bubble into the tank. After seeing how the diffuser works, I was pretty set on putting one into an external reactor (removes it from the tank altogether).

As for testing it, that would have to wait. I'm currently out of town and the tank isn't fertilized for the moment. I'm expecting to see the system out of wack by the time that I get back and have to wait until it reestablishes balance (that might have to be the next set of upgrades - some dosing pumps).

[toofazt]

Looks good, but I don't think the diffuser is going to stay stuck to the sidewall of the pipe with just the suction cup... IME suction cups don't stick well to concave surfaces.

[Ibn]

Thanks. Considering dabbing the suction side of it with epoxy to hold it into place.

Here's the current look to the reactor.




It's tipping the scales at 23" barb to barb, which is pushing the height of the stand (30"). Gonna see how it looks in the stand later on tonight (after I get the halides up ).

[Georgiadawgger]

Great idea/concept...but how would you clean the diffuser?

[Ibn]

Here's the finished product plumbed into the output side of the 2128. Got it up and running last night. Working well so far. No signs of even the minutest bubbles entering the tank, until I'm crank it up (don't know how many bps...more than I can or want to count ).




The diffuser is actually sitting in the middle where the tee is. To clean it, all you have to do is to unscrew the cap there, and pull the diffuser off. Here's a shot of the diffuser sitting inside of the tee (it rests on a bed of bioballs).

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Ibn

No signs of even the minutest bubbles entering the tank, until I'm crank it up.

It looks really nice. But IF you are trying to inject those bubbles, needless to say those bio balls are going to compromise that. I suspect the presence of the bio balls will spell the difference between whether this is a "diffuser" or a "micro-bubbler".

[AussieTanker]

Hey Ibn ...

that reactor looks great .....

what size CO2 tubing are you using ... it looks larger than the tubing that i am using on my reactor ..... more like the homebrew size ... can you please tell us what the transparent gizmo that the airline attaches to as it feeds into the reactor is please ...is there any chance of getting a clear pic of that please ..

also ... are the two halves that slip into the tees glued ......

thanks .. it looks like a great design

regards
aussietanker

[Ibn]

Originally Posted by scolley

It looks really nice. But IF you are trying to inject those bubbles, needless to say those bio balls are going to compromise that. I suspect the presence of the bio balls will spell the difference between whether this is a "diffuser" or a "micro-bubbler".

Steve, the flow of the water is water flows into the bottom and then fills all the way to the top before exiting the top back into the tank. The bed of bioballs is just for the diffuser to sit on basically and for catching any large particles that the filter missed. Tried glueing the suction cup of the diffuser to the side of the PVC, but none of the glue that I used would work (weld-on 16, PVC cement, and aquarium silicone).

[Ibn]

Originally Posted by AussieTanker

Hey Ibn ...

that reactor looks great .....

what size CO2 tubing are you using ... it looks larger than the tubing that i am using on my reactor ..... more like the homebrew size ... can you please tell us what the transparent gizmo that the airline attaches to as it feeds into the reactor is please ...is there any chance of getting a clear pic of that please ..

also ... are the two halves that slip into the tees glued ......

thanks .. it looks like a great design

regards
aussietanker

Thanks, AT. By CO2 tubing, are you referring to the blue tubing? That's just co2 tubing that I picked up awhile back. It's pretty thick in general and works well (shouldn't really matter on the inside, but will on the outside of the reactor). As for diameter of the reactor itself, the clear polycarbonate is 3", and the PVC connectors and endpieces are actually 2 1/2" (goes to tell you how much different the outer diameter of them are).

The clear piece that the airline attaches to is just an airline connector, that you can find at any store. If you need a bigger pic of it, I'll dig one of the connectors out and snap one later on. They're basically these:

http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart....cstore+Froogle

Yup, the two halves are secured to the PVC via lots of PVC cement. Then on the exterior of it, weld-on #16 was applied to cover the seams (sealed like 4 times).

Here's a shot of the hole on the tee. A small hole was drilled through the tee and then a larger diameter drill bit was used to create a countersink for it.



Here it the airline connector glued on.



What it looks like on the inside.



Both halves of the reactor without the tee. You can see some of the glue on these pieces.

[plantbrain]

PVC glue also works as well as the 16#.
It does not shrink as much as the 16# either.

But looks uglier.

It's a diffuser inside a reactor, what would we call that?
Reactafusser?

Hummm sounds pretty German.........


Regards,
Tom Barr

[[RK]]

Originally Posted by Ibn

Steve, the flow of the water is water flows into the bottom and then fills all the way to the top before exiting the top back into the tank. The bed of bioballs is just for the diffuser to sit on basically and for catching any large particles that the filter missed. Tried glueing the suction cup of the diffuser to the side of the PVC, but none of the glue that I used would work (weld-on 16, PVC cement, and aquarium silicone).

Hmm.. i dont get this. I thought this was like a normal reactor where the co2 would get disolved inside it. Only difference being that the diffuser would make the disolving quicker by supplying micro bubbles into the reactor. But youre saying is the water enters from the bottom? So water goes past the diffuser, carrying the microbubbles up and into the tank. Whats the point of this reactor then? Or did you just want to have the diffuser out of the tank?

I thought the water would come in from the top, pushing the micro bubbles down, while theyre trying to rise to the top, thus disolving. Then exiting the bottom of the reactor, into the tank?

P.S i hope i dont sound negative or offensive, im just kinda confused and curious thats all