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Re: followup on CO2 reactor
Roxanne,
As far as your question :
"Given this increase in efficiency, what more could I expect from a unit
either inside or outside the aquarium designed to mix CO2 such as the
Hydrologix, Tom's incredible unit sold by SDP's, or the Mixer J sold by M3?"
More than likely you would not get any more efficiency from these units as
injecting into the intake of a filter is a very good way to get the CO2
dissolved into the water and nothing ( that I am aware of) is going to be
100% efficient. . My only problem with doing that was that the CO2 would
seem to build up inside my canister filter ( Eheim 2226) and every 3 or 4
hours it would "burp" a mass of bubbles into the tank. My concern was that
this could lead to the filter loosing it's prime when I'm not around to
catch it. I used this method for a couple of weeks while I looked for a
better ( for me) solution and never had a problem actually loosing the prime
in the filter. But...with my luck I figured it was only a matter of time. I
had seen the HydroLogix reactors at an aquarium society gathering and at the
time thought they were too expensive. I finally realized that I had already
spent that much experimenting with different diffusers and still did not
have what I wanted, which was efficiency, low maintenance and- ( very
important)-appearance-I just didn't want to have more things in the tank to
take away from it's natural beauty. For me an external reactor is the best
way to achieve this.
Bob Buettner
In sunny, chilly northwest CT
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 15:20:22 -0700
> From: "Roxanne Bittman" <rbittman at dfg_ca.gov>
> Subject: followup on CO2 reactor
>
> You people are amazing; thank you to all who answered so thoughtfully and
thoroughly re: CO2 reactors.
>
> Here's a little followup question:
> I did a little experiment yesterday and today. I had two tanks running
with virtually the same setup including Eheim cannister filters, pressurized
CO2, and ADA scintered glass diffusers. Both have been at a pH of exactly
7.0 for awhile.
> I disconnected one ADA diffuser and put the CO2 outlet into the inlet of
the Eheim intake (I sqashed the green silicone tubing right into the inlet
"cage" of the Eheim - very DIY).
> 24 hours later, the pH had dropped at least 0.4 (used the brom. blue
reaction; it's not terribly accurate) to 6.6. That's quite a drop!
> In other words, the Eheim is much more efficient at mixing the CO2 than is
the ADA diffuser; many of you are snickering out there...
>
> Question is: Given this increase in efficiency, what more could I expect
from a unit either inside or outside the aquarium designed to mix CO2 such
as the Hydrologix, Tom's incredible unit sold by SDP's, or the Mixer J sold
by M3?
> Is it worth the expense to go further?
> Perhaps the CO2 damages the bacterial cultures in the filter with the
increased acidity?
>
> Thanks again,
> Roxanne Bittman
>