Cerges' style reactor on a by-pass manifold

eatfood · 01-21-2013, 04:29 PM

Cerges' style reactor on a by-pass manifold.

This is my modification to a diy reactor design that has been out there for a little while now. I can "dial" in the flow rate through my reactor so the co2 is being dissolved correctly. My fx5 has a lot of flow for one of these reactors and would just push the bubbles through, not to mention the head pressure reduction on the filter output. So the by-pass is born (probably done many times by others). The idea is I can close off the ball valve some on the main line between the in and out lines from the reactor so enough back pressure is created to cause the water to flow through the reactor while still allowing flow through the main line. the ball valves on the reactor lines are always open all the way unless i want to take the reactor housing apart for maintenance.

I plumbed this all up this weekend and my bypass works like a charm. I haven't really played with the co2 yet to see how much I need to choke it back to get the proper flow rates yet. If I turn it all the way on to reactor I lose about 1/2 of my flow and I am worried about backpressure on my fx5. I am assuming I can get away with only maybe 1/4" turn on my manifold, so that 3/4 is just going straight through and maybe 100 gph through the reactor (creating an overall 1/8 to 1/4 reduction of flow from my fx5). I guess I will have to see how much flow it takes to dissolve 1-2 bps of co2. Has anyone here ever put an inline filter / heater / reactor on their fx5? should I be worried about motor life reduction or a leaky filter from backpressure?

eatfood · 01-21-2013, 09:24 PM

so to simplify - do you think a 25% flow reduction on my fx5 is going to cause problems?

eatfood · 01-22-2013, 01:53 AM

Sort of a one sided conversation, but I wanted to update that I have full flow and water is ripping through the reactor. I figured out that if I close it about 30% the flow at my return (pointed at the surface so I can see the ripple) stays the same and I can see the bubbles spinning around like crazy at the top of the reactor - woo hoo

KTern · 01-22-2013, 02:13 AM

nice to hear everything work out. nice mod and very clean plumbing. i need to make one.. i have the 20" housing that don't fit under the tank

jart · 01-25-2013, 03:45 PM

Looks like you did a neat job on that.
I suppose the other thing you could have done would be to split the return, and run two reactors.

eatfood · 01-25-2013, 11:08 PM

yeah I wanted the bypass so I could dial in the flow rate through the reactor - the zero loss in flow rate was just a bonus. I mean I was hoping that would happen, but no way to tell before lol.

01-21-2013, 04:29 PM	#1
eatfood Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Billings, MT Posts: 46	Cerges' style reactor on a by-pass manifold Cerges' style reactor on a by-pass manifold. This is my modification to a diy reactor design that has been out there for a little while now. I can "dial" in the flow rate through my reactor so the co2 is being dissolved correctly. My fx5 has a lot of flow for one of these reactors and would just push the bubbles through, not to mention the head pressure reduction on the filter output. So the by-pass is born (probably done many times by others). The idea is I can close off the ball valve some on the main line between the in and out lines from the reactor so enough back pressure is created to cause the water to flow through the reactor while still allowing flow through the main line. the ball valves on the reactor lines are always open all the way unless i want to take the reactor housing apart for maintenance. I plumbed this all up this weekend and my bypass works like a charm. I haven't really played with the co2 yet to see how much I need to choke it back to get the proper flow rates yet. If I turn it all the way on to reactor I lose about 1/2 of my flow and I am worried about backpressure on my fx5. I am assuming I can get away with only maybe 1/4" turn on my manifold, so that 3/4 is just going straight through and maybe 100 gph through the reactor (creating an overall 1/8 to 1/4 reduction of flow from my fx5). I guess I will have to see how much flow it takes to dissolve 1-2 bps of co2. Has anyone here ever put an inline filter / heater / reactor on their fx5? should I be worried about motor life reduction or a leaky filter from backpressure?

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01-21-2013, 09:24 PM	#2
eatfood Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Billings, MT Posts: 46	so to simplify - do you think a 25% flow reduction on my fx5 is going to cause problems?

01-22-2013, 01:53 AM	#3
eatfood Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Billings, MT Posts: 46	Sort of a one sided conversation, but I wanted to update that I have full flow and water is ripping through the reactor. I figured out that if I close it about 30% the flow at my return (pointed at the surface so I can see the ripple) stays the same and I can see the bubbles spinning around like crazy at the top of the reactor - woo hoo

01-22-2013, 02:13 AM	#4
KTern Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (2/100%) Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: California Posts: 37	nice to hear everything work out. nice mod and very clean plumbing. i need to make one.. i have the 20" housing that don't fit under the tank

01-25-2013, 03:45 PM	#5
jart Wannabe Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: NS Canada Posts: 1,358	Looks like you did a neat job on that. I suppose the other thing you could have done would be to split the return, and run two reactors.

01-25-2013, 11:08 PM	#6
eatfood Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Billings, MT Posts: 46	yeah I wanted the bypass so I could dial in the flow rate through the reactor - the zero loss in flow rate was just a bonus. I mean I was hoping that would happen, but no way to tell before lol.