Re: Check Valve

["Daphne Freeman" <daphne_freeman at charter.net>]

Thanks for replying Tom.

The sponge prefilter for an external reactor is a terrific idea, I didn't
think of that to keep the gunk out.  Also, I was just using the basic tubing
from Home Depot, I'll check the silicone variety out.

I never tried hooking the reactor up inline with my canister.  It is a Pro
II Eheim (with media baskets) and it seems like it has such a low flow that
I didn't try it.  I did try injecting into the Eheim a couple of different
times but  it never worked very well and couldn't maintain a stable pH.  It
ran 24/7 but still couldn't keep up oddly enough, even with a fairly rapid
bubble count.  From what I've heard though, it works like a charm with the
other Eheims.

I did pull the extra check valve off today and things seem to be working
much better.

I'll put the drip loop in anyway though, I always used one with my air pumps
on non-planted tanks before but hadn't in this case.

This reactor is the spiral path one.  I can't explain why this unit works so
well in a 92 gallon but it does. I had some serious reservations about it
keeping up also.  The key was to adjust the flow rate on the powerhead to
find that magic setting.  Too much flow and it all went out the bottom or
too low and it just filled up with CO2 and sat there.   It doesn't work
quite as fast as the external but it works quite well.  The external is one
of yours Tom and it works extremely well, I highly recommend it and was
thrilled with it's performance.  The previously mentioned issues, which had
nothing to do with the reactor itself, had just driven me from using it.
That is really nice of you to offer to swap it out.  I think I have
everything solved at this point but I do appreciate the offer.

Daphne