Re: Aqua Medic CO2 reactor -- I am afraid of killing my fish

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

David S Brown said, in part:

>     I am pushing water through the reactor with a Power
> Head 402.  Unless I 
> use a lot of CO2 pressure, the water pressure from the
> Power Head will not 
> only prevent CO2 from reaching the reactor, but it will
> even force water up 
> my CO2 tube, back toward the regulator and cylinder. . . 
> I am concerned that in the event of a power outage or
> pump failure, I'll 
> pour excessive CO2 in the tank and kill all my fish due
> to lack of oxygen.  
> For this reason, I am considering just using a ceramic
> diffuser, which has 
> worked well for me.    

I'm confused. Isn't the 500 the one with the spiral channel
that sits inside the tank and doesn't have a water flow --
it just forces the CO2 bubles to travel the long length?

Supposing that you're talking about reactor chamber that
has a CO2 inlet *and* and water inlet and outlet, then I
offer this:  If the water pressure is exceeding the desired
CO2 pressure, you can reduce the water pressure at the
reactor by putting the reacto on a bypass water line,
allowing a virtually unrestricted flow on the mainline. 
Add a valve is you want to fine tune.  The amount of water
that needs to go through a reactor to get 100% CO2
absorbtion is surprisingly less than I thought before I
actually tried them.

If you use one of Tom's with the CO2 delivered on the
suction side of the powerhead, this issue won't even arise
-- even if the electric company takes a nap.  You don't
need high CO2 pressure at all.

I hope that helps,
Scott H.

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