[Nlewis]

I hooked up my newly built reactor yeseterday and I'm having some troubles. First, the main thing is I had to reduce my flow considerably so the co2 didn't shout straight out of the reactor. With that the flow in my tank is way lower than it should be. Should I have put something in the down tube to break up the bubbles? My co2 has been on for hours now and the drop checker hasn't changed at all. I know there is a whole thread on these but I'm trying to fix it now while doing my Sunday maintenance.

I plumbed the filter housing opposite of what was indicated on it. I feel like it should be plumbed in the indicated direction.

Do I need to install something within the reactor like a sponge?

 

[Patriot]

Do you have a picture? Did you push the intake tube to far into the top of the filter housing?

 

[latchdan]

Why would you do it opposite? That means the exit is at the top instead of the tube at the bottom of the reactor.

 

[Nlewis]

Do you have a picture? Did you push the intake tube to far into the top of the filter housing?

The hose I used is larger and actually went around the port in the top of the housing.

Bump:

Why would you do it opposite? That means the exit is at the top instead of the tube at the bottom of the reactor.

Because all of the ones I had seen were plumed opposite of the flow show on the filter housing. Was I supposed to plumb it in the direction indicated on the housing?

 

[Fiala06]

The idea is to trap the air up top and suck the water out of the bottom.

This way the co2 dissolves since air bubbles don't travel down.

 

[loach guy]

I cut a piece of rough filter pad so that bubbles couldn't get to the inlet of the down tube. This is held up higher in the reactor by a sponge for a pre-filter (think upside-down top-hat). The reactor is supposed to be plumbed so that the "in" of the reactor is at the top of the housing, and the "out" is through your tube that took the place of a filter. If you have a tall enough housing, no bubbles can make it down to the inlet of the tube. I couldn't fit a large housing like that in my cabinet, hence the use of the filter pad. I can bump the CO2 to the point that there is no way to get a bubble per second count and I get zero bubbles in my tank, with minimal flow loss.

 

[Fiala06]

Here is a random image I found and added some arrows. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[exv152]

If you bought a whole house water filter (or similar product), it should be plumbed so the flow runs backwards to what to how it’s designed to be used for drinking water. You shouldn’t have to put any foam in a cerges reactor if your flow is right it will disolve co2 properly. The foam will just get dirty and it’ll further inhibit the flow unnecesarily. But reduced flow is one of the downsides to using any co2 reactor. But it’s well worth it.

 

[Nlewis]

If you bought a whole house water filter (or similar product), it should be plumbed so the flow runs backwards to what to how it’s designed to be used for drinking water. You shouldn’t have to put any foam in a cerges reactor if your flow is right it will disolve co2 properly. The foam will just get dirty and it’ll further inhibit the flow unnecesarily. But reduced flow is one of the downsides to using any co2 reactor. But it’s well worth it.

That's what I did and it's not working. I can watch the co2 come out in large bubbles and exit the spray bar. From what you said I have it correct but others are stating its wrong. There's some confusion here somewhere. I will be pulling it down tomorrow and reversing the way it's currently setup.

 

[latchdan]

Weird mine has an arrow and it flows same as the picture shown water comes in through the top and exits through the cpvc tube.

Bump:

That's what I did and it's not working. I can watch the co2 come out in large bubbles and exit the spray bar. From what you said I have it correct but others are stating its wrong. There's some confusion here somewhere. I will be pulling it down tomorrow and reversing the way it's currently setup.

I have the same filer housing as this one with the blue top and i run my opppsite than yours is showing

 

[loach guy]

I do see something that may be causing a problem. Your outflow line is going down. The plumbing needs to be such as the flow needs to keep working it's way up.otherwise small bubbles in the line can gather other small bubbles to make bigger bubbles. Get all of the bubbles out by having that line go up all of the way to your u tube.

 

[Nlewis]

I do see something that may be causing a problem. Your outflow line is going down. The plumbing needs to be such as the flow needs to keep working it's way up.otherwise small bubbles in the line can gather other small bubbles to make bigger bubbles. Get all of the bubbles out by having that line go up all of the way to your u tube.

I'll make sure to fix that tomorrow when I reverse the flow.

 

[Nlewis]

Alright, I switched the direction of the plumbing today. I can say it is working better but I am still losing co2. I can see bubbles making it to the up pipe and through the spray bar. Also it's been running this way for hours now and the drop checker has barely changed and my bps is higher now than with the atomic diffuser.

 

[Patriot]

Alright, I switched the direction of the plumbing today. I can say it is working better but I am still losing co2. I can see bubbles making it to the up pipe and through the spray bar. Also it's been running this way for hours now and the drop checker has barely changed and my bps is higher now than with the atomic diffuser.

I increased pressure in my reactor utility I got 100% diffusion. Do you have ball valve on the output side of your reactor? If so close it somewhat to increase pressure.

 

[Nlewis]

I increased pressure in my reactor utility I got 100% diffusion. Do you have ball valve on the output side of your reactor? If so close it somewhat to increase pressure.

No I do not. I was trying to not decrease flow as much as I could. Should I have not bread all the air out of the top of the housing. I feel if the is a pocket at the top it would create more turbulence.

 

[Patriot]

Here is my reactor minus the sponge inside. I have a ball valve on each side. Only the output side is somewhat closed. Having two allows me to clean reactor while water going everywhere.

 

[Patriot]

No I do not. I was trying to not decrease flow as much as I could. Should I have not bread all the air out of the top of the housing. I feel if the is a pocket at the top it would create more turbulence.

Yes bleed as much air as possible. I held the button until water came out.

 

[happi]

not sure if you corrected this

 

[Hardstuff]

I am running my outflow from my Ehiem 2215 apposite plumb according to flow arrow. The difference in mine than any of the images on this thread is: I run a Green Leaf atomizer inline to deliver my CO2 which makes fine bubbles but not dissolved yet. Than it enters the cerges unit goes down a counter current pvc pipe which has about 7 or 8 1/8 inch holes drilled at the bottom. The water swirls around inside and hits 2 sponges. I can see many very small bubbles at this point. If you look at my spray bar you can still see a small amount of tiny bubbles that do exit the spray bar. However, if you follow the bubbles they begin to vanish mostly and some just wonder around the tank.

My cerges goes on 2 hours before lights and the ph drops pretty close to 6.6 estimate and stays that way throughout the lighting cycle. From a distance of just 2 or 3 feet no CO2 bubbles can be seen and the water looks clear. I do not have any BBA growing anywhere especially since I stopped dosing CSM+B.
Thats all I care about. Am I getting 100% enrichment probably not. I do not care. My plants grow well and algae is almost none existent.

I feel from the photos that most folks are not delivering the CO2 efficiently as well since it looks like most units are using unatomized gas anyway. eventually the gas will build up too much inside the reactor and cause resistance becuse of gas buildup anyway causing filter flow fluctuations. My guess I could be wrong. I just feel it is better to get the bubbles smaller before even entering into the chamber. However in all fairness there probably is several different ways to run a cerges properly, just depends on which way you go. I like blowing down the counter current tube it keeps almost zero gas from developing in the head and the flow stays consistent.
It sure is better than a straight Green Leaf atomizer with 20 million zillion bubbles blowing all over and clouding the water, but the atomizer sure helps in getting a jump start on enrichment into the cerges.

 

[loach guy]

I am running my outflow from my Ehiem 2215 apposite plumb according to flow arrow. The difference in mine than any of the images on this thread is: I run a Green Leaf atomizer inline to deliver my CO2 which makes fine bubbles but not dissolved yet. Than it enters the cerges unit goes down a counter current pvc pipe which has about 7 or 8 1/8 inch holes drilled at the bottom. The water swirls around inside and hits 2 sponges. I can see many very small bubbles at this point. If you look at my spray bar you can still see a small amount of tiny bubbles that do exit the spray bar. However, if you follow the bubbles they begin to vanish mostly and some just wonder around the tank.

My cerges goes on 2 hours before lights and the ph drops pretty close to 6.6 estimate and stays that way throughout the lighting cycle. From a distance of just 2 or 3 feet no CO2 bubbles can be seen and the water looks clear. I do not have any BBA growing anywhere especially since I stopped dosing CSM+B.
Thats all I care about. Am I getting 100% enrichment probably not. I do not care. My plants grow well and algae is almost none existent.

I feel from the photos that most folks are not delivering the CO2 efficiently as well since it looks like most units are using unatomized gas anyway. eventually the gas will build up too much inside the reactor and cause resistance becuse of gas buildup anyway causing filter flow fluctuations. My guess I could be wrong. I just feel it is better to get the bubbles smaller before even entering into the chamber. However in all fairness there probably is several different ways to run a cerges properly, just depends on which way you go. I like blowing down the counter current tube it keeps almost zero gas from developing in the head and the flow stays consistent.
It sure is better than a straight Green Leaf atomizer with 20 million zillion bubbles blowing all over and clouding the water, but the atomizer sure helps in getting a jump start on enrichment into the cerges.

I do not mean to hijack the thread. I just see someone that could possibly use some help. I have zero bubbles entering my tank and I do not have an atomizer to maintain. The smaller bubbles are probably able to penetrate your sponges where larger bubbles bounce off a sponge and go to the top of the reactor until they dissolve. You might want to try running your system for a day without the atomizer and see if you get zero bubbles.