Re: [APD] CO2 Reactor placement question

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

I've used the spray bar style of biowheel on an aquarium
that I later set up with CO2.

There was a considerable but not necessarily unacceptable
loss of CO2 due to the biowheel spray bar. I was not then
using a reactor so reactor output was not going directly to
the biowheel.

I don't have the data handy but the CO2 loss was roughly in
the neighborhod of about 50% or more. Or to put it another
way, my CO2 tank lasted about twice as long with the
biowheel. I don't know if the loss will be higher if the
water to the biowheel is coming directly from the reactor.
How much water goes through the biowheel will probably also
affect the equation.

Depending on the cost to you of CO2 (and trips to the
refill station) you might or might not find the loss
acceptable.  After all, a reactor should get you about 100%
absorbtion of CO2 at least until the water hits the spray
bar. And CO2 is relatively cheap.

You might want to try things with the biowheel in place --
and if you don't like how long the tank lasts, then remove
it. If you do it both ways and take any notes, please  post
the info for the next person that asks :-)

In a well planted tank with a canister filter running, I
don't think you'll have a filtration problem running
without the biowheel. Of course, for a very heavy fishload,
the biowheel might matter more.

Fwiw, I've heard that the underflow style of biowheel won't
shed as much CO2 and the spray bar style, but those only
come on the Penquin filters.

Only to mention the obvious that any of us might forget,
check your reactor for leaks before you install it. If you
have any leaking joints that are threaded, consider using
some teflon tape, but be careful not to overtighten -- it
can be lot easier to overtighten with the tape.  The danger
of overtightening is possibly cracking one of the joined
parts.

Good luck building the reactor,
Scott H.

--- David Nesom <david at nesom_net> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I'm building a DIY external CO2 reactor which I'm
> planning on putting on the
> output of a magnum pro canister. Currently the output is
> diverted between a
> spray bar below the water surface and a biowheel. . .
> 
> My concern is whether I will lose a great deal of
> efficiency with half of
> the output going through the biowheel since there is some
> agitation to the
> water surface at that point. 

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