[APD] Re:CO2 Reactor Questions -- or - Scratching the

["Robert H" <robertph3 at comcast_net>]

>>Not much pont to the reactor then. The canister and the
reactor are pretty much the same thing, in a sense, a
chamber where the CO2 and be absorbed into the water
running through it. But you don't *have* to use the air
connector type fitting. You could drill a hole jsut large
enough that you can squeeze an length of airline tubing
into it, seal it with epoxy airline. You just might want to
seal with epoxy even if you use the fitting. ;-)<<

I can't say how well a cannister works, because I have never done it, but
the point of a reactor is to hold the gas and the water together long enough
so that the gas stays in contact with the water and becomes absorbed. If C02
bubbles are allowed to escape, they float up to the water surface and
disapate. I have pumped C02 into a powerhead and can see many little bubbles
rising to the surface.

>>I have a reactor from Tom Barr that works that way and it
cut my CO2 use by about 4-fold compared to some other
devices I had tried. 5 pounds of CO2 can easily last more
than a year.<<

Scott, you also have at least two Aqua Medic reactor 1000s that I know of!
Whether you use a homemade reactor like Tom's or Ghazanfar's, or a brand
name like Aqua Medic, it basically works the same. The gas comes into the
reactor chamber along with water and is forced thru bio type balls or some
other material where the bubbles are broken up and churned around until they
are absorbed. Any reactor will cut C02 use 4 fold compared to a diffusor, an
airstone or such device. How good a job a cannister filter does in
comparison I have no idea. Could C02 bubbles get trapped somewhere in the
filter and not get absorbed? Like air gets trapped?

>>I didn't think he meant that, but you're right. Surface
turbulence can knock an awful lot of CO2 out of the water.<<

There is a difference between water movement and surface tension or
splashing. I think it is doubtfull that a water current set below the water
surface would burn off C02. George Booth even claims somewhere on his WEB
site that Bio wheels do not interfere significantly with his C02. If you
were just bubbling your C02 into the water, like with Eheims ceramic
diffusor, then it may have some affect, but using a reactor, minimal surface
movement wouldn't have much of an affect.

Robert Paul Hudson
www.aquabotanic.com


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