[Wet Thumb Forum]-Changing CO2 Reactor

[goshawk99]

Ok, I have done my best to search for information before I asked this question. So I don't think I will sound too repeative.

I have a DIY reactor. The reactor chamber is about 10" long Using the output flow from my AC300 to diffuse the CO2 and the CO2 starts at the bottom of the chamber. It bubbles at about 3 per sec. It appears the bubbles dissolves by the force water that is being pass through the reactor.

kH - 7
pH - 7.6
gH - 3

Tank – FW 30 gal, 6 months old
Filter - AC300
Lighting – 3x20W, 5000k, 11.5 hours/day
Temperature – 78F
Fish - 6 White Skirt Tetra, 5 Cardinal, 2 Cory, 2 SAE, 2 CAE
Plants - Egeria Densa, Echinodorus amazonicusa, Hygrophila angustifolia, Hygrophila Corymbosa
Algae – controlled, nothing the CAE and SAE can handle
Nitrate – 0
Nitrite – 0
Ammonium – 0
PO4 - .1mg/l
Chelated Iron – >.1mg/l
Water quality – crystal clear

QUESTION:
Should I change my reactor to be a more forceful stream of water? Should I invest in a waterpump and what size would do?
From the reading, it also appears that my kH/pH do not jive, either I increase the kH or lower my pH, either way I need to introduce more CO2 to the system.

Michael

[This message was edited by Michael on Mon March 24 2003 at 04:05 AM.]

[goshawk99]

Ok, I have done my best to search for information before I asked this question. So I don't think I will sound too repeative.

I have a DIY reactor. The reactor chamber is about 10" long Using the output flow from my AC300 to diffuse the CO2 and the CO2 starts at the bottom of the chamber. It bubbles at about 3 per sec. It appears the bubbles dissolves by the force water that is being pass through the reactor.

kH - 7
pH - 7.6
gH - 3

Tank – FW 30 gal, 6 months old
Filter - AC300
Lighting – 3x20W, 5000k, 11.5 hours/day
Temperature – 78F
Fish - 6 White Skirt Tetra, 5 Cardinal, 2 Cory, 2 SAE, 2 CAE
Plants - Egeria Densa, Echinodorus amazonicusa, Hygrophila angustifolia, Hygrophila Corymbosa
Algae – controlled, nothing the CAE and SAE can handle
Nitrate – 0
Nitrite – 0
Ammonium – 0
PO4 - .1mg/l
Chelated Iron – >.1mg/l
Water quality – crystal clear

QUESTION:
Should I change my reactor to be a more forceful stream of water? Should I invest in a waterpump and what size would do?
From the reading, it also appears that my kH/pH do not jive, either I increase the kH or lower my pH, either way I need to introduce more CO2 to the system.

Michael

[This message was edited by Michael on Mon March 24 2003 at 04:05 AM.]

[ekim]

Welcome to the board!

Is your AC300 a hang on the back filter? I don't understand how you have a reactor hooked up to the output!
I found HOB (hang on back) filters to dissipate a lot of CO2!

I think you would be better of just bubbling the CO2 into the input of the filter... all though I could never get CO2 levels above 15ppm no mater how much CO2 I pumped in. 15ppm would be better than 0ppm though!

Yes, the water pump option is best, but I don't know what your reactor looks like.

[goshawk99]

Thanks for you input....

I have a HOB. The output flow of the water pours into a 2" tubing. The tubing sits under the "waterfall" of the filter. At the bottom of the tubing the CO2 enters and the bubbles float up to the top, but they appear to dissolve before they reach the top.

OK... so I have to buy a pump... what is the minimum size require?

Michael