Cerges' Reactor - DIY Inline CO2 Reactor

[hbosman]

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[Gatekeeper]

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.

[Hoppy]

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.

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by Gatekeeper

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.

Originally Posted by Hoppy

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

[hbosman]

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?

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by hbosman

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

[hbosman]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

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

Ok, you convinced me! I have to try this. Thanks alot.

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by hbosman

Ok, you convinced me! I have to try this. Thanks alot.

Let me know how yours comes out. I really like teh flow rate increase I got wiht mine.

Craig

[hbosman]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

Let me know how yours comes out. I really like teh flow rate increase I got wiht mine.

Craig

I will definitely post my results. I have space issues to deal with as well so, It will take some head scratching.

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by hbosman

I will definitely post my results. I have space issues to deal with as well so, It will take some head scratching.

Nice thing is it doesn't take up much more space then the Inline PVC reactors do.

Left side:





Right Side:





Craig

[hbosman]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

Nice thing is it doesn't take up much more space then the Inline PVC reactors do.

Left side:





Right Side:





Craig

Man! It would be hard to make it look better than that, just awesome.

[enlender]

how would this do if i threw a heater in there? any ideas on that?

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by enlender

how would this do if i threw a heater in there? any ideas on that?

You could try it and find out....

[farmhand]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

You could try it and find out....

I'd say we would all like you to try it so we could find out.

[CL]

Neat. Reminds me of how my Rena canisters are designed.