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Cerges' Reactor - DIY Inline CO2 Reactor

441K views 906 replies 222 participants last post by  iltwort 
#1 ·
Have to thank our Russian friends for this one. After playing with the Rex Griggs reactor I wanted to try something else. Principal and cost are about the same design is different.

http://translate.google.com/transla...yjj_reaktor_so2.html&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

What you will need:

Omni OB1 Series A House Filter
2- 1/2" Male Threaded Adaptors with Barb end
2- 3/4" 90 degree Street fitting
2- 3/4" PVC Male Adaptor
2- 3/4" x 1/2" PVC Bushing
1- 3/4" CPVC Coupling - Note this has to be CPVC not PVC as the PVC fittings are too big
1- 6 3/4" x 3/4" CPVC Pipe - Again has to be CPVC and not PVC
PVC Primer and Cement
CO2 Tubing
Teflon Thread Tape
Scissors
Needle Nose Pliers
Filter Tubing
Drill and Drill bit for your CO2 Tubing

Total cost as ~ $23 each about the same as the Rex Griggs inline reactor if you don't use clear pvc.

Filter Housing:





Start by removing the Priming Button via the screw on the inside of the lid for the housing:




Drill out the hole to accept your CO2 tubing this hole shpould be smaller then your CO2 Tubing so it creates its' own seal.



Cut the CO2 tubing at a sharp angle so you can stick it through and pull it with the needle nose pliers. This should be slightly tough to pull through as it will create a seal as you pull the tubing through.





Cut the CPVC pipe off at 6 3/4", if you are using a different filter you may have to adjust the cut off length. I cut mine so it was about 3/4" off the bottom. Push the CPVC coupler over the nipple in the lid, should fit really snug. Then push the CPVC pipe into the coupler. I didn't glue this together as it was a snug fit and should be under little pressure.




Lay out and glue the fittings together, with the fitting I chose you won't need any extra 3/4" pipe as all the fittings go together.





Attach the fittings to each side jsut make sure you hook them up according to the Flow marking on the lid. Finished Product.



I will update tomorrow once I install these as to how effective they are, but based on looks they should function really well. According to the article I linked to about he got a .5 PH change in a matter of minutes.

Craig
 
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#4 ·
Can't wait for the update. I have seen other threads on these and they seem to work real well. aquariumplants.com seem to think so to:https://www.aquariumplants.com/AquariumPlants_com_s_Own_External_Reactor_p/ext5000.htm

The only difference is that they use a power head in the bottom to create more movement. They also add a sponge to keep the bubbles in the canister. Even if you went with the clear housing it would still be cheaper than the price they have listed.
 
#10 ·
Interesting. Never thought to use one of those things for a reactor. I wonder how flow will be affected, if any, by this reactor. I hate how pvc reactors decrease the flow of the pumps. Please report on how efficient this reactor is. I got one in the shed that I used to use to polish my water.
Having them both installed I don't notice alot of flow reduction, as far as efficency I will watch the tank tomorrow and see what happens.

Craig
 
#13 ·
Day 1 a couple of observations:

Flow seems much higher then when I was running the Rex Inline Reactor. I have Indian Almond Leaves in my tank that used to sit on the bottom now they are all jumbled around, may have to crank my 2217's back a little bit.

CO2 seems to disolve better at the same bubble count as before. My drop checkers which remained nice and green have now taken on more of a yellowish tint to them. I will confirm this later this week as I will replace the fluid in both counters out of a fresh 4 DkH Indicator from Cal Aqua.

Craig
 
#19 ·
One reccomendation, no need to drill into the housing, a simple inline tee/barb setup on the inlet hose would have dragged the CO2 into the filter just as effectively. Some media in there to brak up the bubbles and you have a filter/CO2 reactor.

Very cool though Craig.
Unfortunately with the space restrictions and really short tubing I have there was no room. I'm really impressed with this setup as a reactor, flow is much less restricted and CO2 diffusion is just as good if not better then the PVC reactors I was using.

Why use two elbows on the filter head? You would get less head loss with straight fittings, with the hoses curved over a large radius. (Assuming you have enough room to do that.) This almost has to work very well. and it should keep the CO2 bubbles from escaping at a higher bubble rate than the usual DIY reactor does. If I used CO2 now I would definitely make one of these.
The 2 Elbows was a space issue. With everything plumbed through the bottom of the tank I have very short hoses and little room to work once I have everything Eheim 2217, CO2 Reactor, Inline heater plus the UV.

Craig
 
#18 ·
Why use two elbows on the filter head? You would get less head loss with straight fittings, with the hoses curved over a large radius. (Assuming you have enough room to do that.) This almost has to work very well. and it should keep the CO2 bubbles from escaping at a higher bubble rate than the usual DIY reactor does. If I used CO2 now I would definitely make one of these.
 
#21 ·
Craig,

Do you not have a large CO2 bubble build up under the lid? Kind of like what happens when you inject co2 into a canister filter? Did you adjust your bubble rate any when you went from a PVC reactor to a Cerge reactor?
Nope left the bubble rate the same, drop checker jsut get slightly more yellowish then before, flow is probably 20% greater though as it was picking up all my IAL that were on the bottom of the tank and blowing them around which never happened with the Inline PVC Reactor. Only time I have gotten a build up was yesterday when I had the filters off but forgot to turn the CO2 system off with the tank mostly drained for 2 hours while catching out my Albis. It went away about an hour after the filters were on, the water comes in at the highest point in the filter I'm using so any CO2 that would build up is constantly meeting the incoming water so I don't see it being possible to build up much excess CO2 there.

The fish didn't mind the slight increase in CO2 so I just left it turned up, I could probably turn it down some but don't really see the need unless I absolutely have to.

Craig
 
#32 ·
I made one of these reactors at the first of the week and was impressed with it. I did go with Gatekeeper's suggestion of an inline tee instead of drilling into the housing. It was easy to put together and it actually increased the flow out of the canister. I used it for a day and then decided to try using my canister as a reactor with the inline tee on the input side of my filter. It's working well too and I'm sticking with that at least for now.

I said all that just to say if you're wanting to try an inline reactor then give this a try instead of a PVC reactor. It was very easy to set up and pretty efficient along with maintaining better flow, at least for me.
 
#38 ·
CO2 reactors can build up a big bubble of CO2 and other gases, often in one day. If you have a heater in there, much of the heater may be in gas, not water, which would cause it to overheat, or shut down. For that reason I don't think combining this reactor with a heater in the same housing would be a good idea.
 
#48 ·
it may appear rather straight forward from reading the thread. but i've yet to set up a CO2 system for my tank and am in the process of doing research on the best solution... this one appears to be the easiest and one of the more efficient set ups.

however, most of "how to's" are really lacking in a detailed description of how they are set up. "you put this in there and you're done", but i'm not sure what this or there is.

a simple drawn diagram, similar to an electrical diagram for a car's wiring system, would make things a lot simpler to follow for someone like myself... and probably a lot of people. I think it'd be a great service to the community as well, and i'd be happy to do one myself if i knew what i was doing.

from what i can tell from the pictures, water goes into the filter, then out and into the CO2 reactor, which fills with the filtered water and CO2 and then that "mix" exits the reactor and goes to the tank? is it really that simple and straight forward?
 
#54 ·
it may appear rather straight forward from reading the thread. but i've yet to set up a CO2 system for my tank and am in the process of doing research on the best solution... this one appears to be the easiest and one of the more efficient set ups.

however, most of "how to's" are really lacking in a detailed description of how they are set up. "you put this in there and you're done", but i'm not sure what this or there is.

a simple drawn diagram, similar to an electrical diagram for a car's wiring system, would make things a lot simpler to follow for someone like myself... and probably a lot of people. I think it'd be a great service to the community as well, and i'd be happy to do one myself if i knew what i was doing.

from what i can tell from the pictures, water goes into the filter, then out and into the CO2 reactor, which fills with the filtered water and CO2 and then that "mix" exits the reactor and goes to the tank? is it really that simple and straight forward?
It's actually just that simple. The concept is that water coming from the return (back into your tank) on the canister is sent through the top of the reactor and out through the bottom. However, the CO2 is fed in through the side either at the top, middle, or bottom, and the CO2 bubble is then pummeled by the water, thus breaking it up and dissolving it.
 
#49 ·
Why would this have less of an impact on flow vs a DIY reactor?

From what I can tell the water enters at the top, slams into an internal elbow and down the added PVC extension. Water comes out of the PVC and slams into the bottom of the canister and then exits out the top going through a second internal 90°.
 
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