[APD] Re: Plant Guild Power C02 Reactor

[Chris Hotte <ecwh at cogeco_ca>]

> Brett,
>
> The Power Reactor from http://www.plantguild.com is excellent(same site as
> the link you posted).  I have 1 in each of my tanks wiht HP CO2 and SMS 122
> PH controllers.  I would guestimate that I am only using 25% of the co2 most
> of the other people out there are using with other reactors I have been
> using the same 5lb tank for over 15 months on two 46 gallon tanks and
> maintain 22PPM 24/7.  The Fluidized bed acheives near 100% CO2
> dissolvement(is that a word?).  
>
> The prices are reasonable and the shipping charges are more than reasonable.
> Bill ships ALL orders wihtin 24-48 hours and ships them USPS priority.
>  
I don't mean to crush a sale here or anything, but is it really 
necessary to conserve CO2? I built myself a C02 reactor because feeding 
it right into the intake of my Ehime I found to be a little wateful, but 
still light years ahead of mixing up yeast batches (yuck). To achieve 
the PH/Co2 ppm that I wanted, I was using a rate of .5 bubbles/sec. A 
few weeks later I took out 20 minutes to build an inline reactor out of 
PVC pipe, filling it with some some large pebble. I eventually found the 
same effective infusion at a rate  .2 bubbles/sec. That was last 
January. I was expecting my 5lb tank to last say, 3-6 months? What does 
5lbs of CO2 cost? ~$10? (Canadian). Is commercial reactor really worth 
the investment? How long will it take to pay for itself? 10 years?  I'm 
now creeping upto the 12 month mark and I'd have to say that the C02 
savings are not really outpacing even my cheap reactor.  Also, inline 
reactors have no footprint in the tank, use no power and provide more 
surface area for benificial bacteria. Cons: Cleaning them out without 
having quick disconnects.

The 5lb tank (filled), regulator and needle valve I all bought from a 
local welding supply shop for ~$175. Add ~$18 for the inline reactor I 
made. $200 Total and I'll never have to mix sugar water and yeast 
together again. Now _that_ was worth the investment in saved work and PH 
stability. *grin*

The point is... I'm really tight with my cash because I have to be, but 
even *I* wouldn't worry about the replacement cost of C02, considering 
how long it lasts.  Then again if you don't care about cost and got to 
have all the toys just for the sake of it... Go for it! Forget all of 
the above. *laugh*  Besides based on what I can see from plantguids' web 
presence, they look like a good company. Best someone supports them lest 
they dissapear.

Chris.


_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants