Cerges' Reactor - DIY Inline CO2 Reactor

[AlanLe]

Do ou need to use some sort of glue to glue the pipe inside the canister?

[AlanLe]

Originally Posted by RedDelPaPa

Hey guys. I've been following this thread for a while now. Seems to me people are having the same problems with the 20" units that they're having with the smaller more manageable 10" units. And that is noise and micro bubbles escaping the filter housing. So here is my solution, and a very simple one in that. It requires no filter sponge at the bottom of the reactor which WILL clog and WILL eventually require maintenance. Control your flow rate through the reactor with a built in bypass line using a simple two little fishes ball valve that connects from your pump outlet, to the outflow line of the co2 reactor. Fire up the system and let come up to operating equilibrium. If you have micro bubbles exiting the reactor, simply crack your bypass valve until the micro bubble discharge stops. Problem solved. No need for a huge bulky 20" unit with internal sponges and other BS, less noise, and your pump is allowed to run at full capacity. Good luck.

Can you post some pictures?

[puopg]

If you like I can post exactly what I used to build mine. I get 0 micro bubbles. dead silent as long as oxygen does not enter my canister filter and then into the reactor. otherwise too much o2 buildup and a bit of trickling since O2 does not dissolve very easily in water.

Everything can be purchased from Home Depot.

[SlammedDC2]

I also put a ball valve on my return to cut down on noise and micro bubbles. It only had to be dialed down a little bit and it took care of everything.

[AlanLe]

Here's mine! Where do you put the ball valve?

[planted-tank]

I am in the process of building my reactor and have a few questions.

Is it best to avoid using 90's? I have 2 90's on each side of my reactor, I could remove one of them, or does it not matter?

Should I buy a reducing tee rather than using the hole that on top of the reactor for my CO2?? Would that be safer?

Do I still need to use my bubble counter since I will be able to see bubbles going into reactor?

Anyone know how to find bracket for 3G-STANDARD-CLEAR-34-PR10 Pentek Whole House Standard 10 inch Filter Housing? Mine did not come with one, or some other way to make a bracket? Not sure what to connect it to the filter with, but I would like to get it off the bottom of my stand.

Thanks so much.