[jccaclimber]

Yesterday was the first full day run of my CO2 system. Running about 1bps in to the tank. I'm using a homemade reactor as shown in the picture. Things of note are:
A) Small pump driving the flow through the reactor.
B) Stream of water running through CO2 followed by a bunch of CO2 bubbles.
C) Big pump driving the filter.
D) Exit from the diffuser.

For the first half of the day the bubbles build up in the reactor, but the water keeps them all churning about and dissolving. However, it seems the CO2 is entering the reactor faster than the water can take it. As a result, a large CO2 pocket builds up in the top of the reactor. The CO2 stops at night, but it took most of the night to dissolve the CO2 in the reactor. My drop checker is green and my fish aren't gasping at the surface, so I don't think I'm saturating the water. Adding too much more flow seems to just blow the bubbles out the bottom of the reactor, but I'm up for trying to play with that if needed, or stick a sponge there.
What else can I do to solve this issue and make it dissolve faster? I have a small diffuser, but the smaller bubbles from that seemed to get blown out the bottom of the reactor more easily than the large ones straight from the airline. I'm trying to avoid having a cloud of bubbles exiting in to my tank.

 

[fresh.salty]

Any clue what the flow through the reactor is?

 

[jccaclimber]

Not much of one unfortunately. The pump I have on it is much smaller than a 130 gph pump on another tank, so it's going to be something less than that, but I haven't measured it, and there are no useful labels. The 130 gph pump was blowing large bubbles out the bottom of the reactor, although I didn't have it tilted at the time so that may help.

 

[jccaclimber]

I should add that this is a 75 gal tank with ~60 gal of water in it.

 

[fresh.salty]

I had to add a second reactor to my 90g to get where I wanted to be. If I upped the BC on the single one I'd get a good amount of gurgling after a few hours. Mine are each driven by their own XP3.

 

[jccaclimber]

I just tried putting the 500gal/hr pump on it (restricted, but not much), and it wasn't pushing the bubble out the bottom. I find this a bit confusing since the 130 gal/hr pump did the other day, but I'm not going to question a good thing in this case. I'll try plumbing it straight into the larger pump that drives the filter and see if that fixes the issue. If I need to add another reactor I suppose I can.

 

[RainSong]

A larger pump will cause higher flow. This will bring more water in contact with the CO2 and hence cause more CO2 to dissolve.

The smaller pump results in less water coming into contact with the CO2 and hence the undissolved CO2 will collect on top and/or come out the bottom as bubbles.

 

[jccaclimber]

Well, it turned out I had accidentally throttled my pump back, which is why it wasn't blowing the CO2 out the bottom, which it now is. Either a medium sized pump, or a larger diameter diffuser chamber seems to be in order.

 

[willknowitall]

Well, it turned out I had accidentally throttled my pump back, which is why it wasn't blowing the CO2 out the bottom, which it now is. Either a medium sized pump, or a larger diameter diffuser chamber seems to be in order.

both , you need more flow and wider chamber so as to not blow out
or reduce bc

 

[btimmer92]

that reactor isnt inside the tank is it?

 

[jccaclimber]

It is, what's the problem with that?

 

[btimmer92]

The only problem I guess, is that it takes up a ton of space in the tank and is unsightly. If it's not a problem to you, it's not a problem. I have never seen anyone put it inside their tank. I was just making sure you don't think that it has to go inside the tank.

 

[jccaclimber]

I'm using a fairly large corner filter, so it's hidden behind that along with the heater, and formerly an airstone. Admittedly, the corner filter ended up much larger than I needed to make it, but it works for me. Some people don't like things in their tank, I don't like hoses and boxes hanging over the edges of mine. If there was an easy way to bring an electrical connection for my pump in the bottom instead of over the side I'd be doing that too.