# CO2 Reactor - Advice/help etc



## andyh (7 Sep 2010)

Hello UKAPS

I am considering getting Aquamedic Reactor AM1000 for my 180l Setup.

Would any of you like to share some photos of how you have them setup?

I am intertested specifically in how you have them installed in your cabinets, photos of your installations would be welcomed?  

Do you use your external filters to power them or a dedicated power head?
I have heard rumours that people remove the black balls? Why?
Any info would be appreciated  

Andy


----------



## viktorlantos (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

The balls slowing down the flow a lot. Also AM1000 in default can handle 950lph because of the tubes.

So for example if you put this to a large eheim 2080 you have the power to push through the balls, but you will loose lot of lph because of the tube limitation.

small filters will have problems because of the balls. still you can replace to mesh and other stuffs which takes less from your filter power. just like thr aquamas does: http://www.aquamas.de/products/CO2-Zube ... Liter.html

to eliminate the large filter slow flow issue you need to use bypass. which will save you the lost power.
http://www.aquamas.de/products/CO2-Zube ... plett.html

The AM1000 reactor is good otherwise on an affordable cost.


----------



## andyh (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*



			
				viktorlantos said:
			
		

> The balls slowing down the flow a lot. Also AM1000 in default can handle 950lph because of the tubes.
> 
> So for example if you put this to a large eheim 2080 you have the power to push through the balls, but you will loose lot of lph because of the tube limitation.
> 
> ...




Hey Viktor, hope your well? Not seen you on the Xbox for a while?

My german aint that good, but the second on with the bypass looks great. How do you run it then? Does the flow go half through the bypass and half through the reactor? Never seen Aquamas ones before, have you used them?

Andy


----------



## a1Matt (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

As Viktor says the media slows the flow down.
My recommendation is to remove the bio balls and not replace them with anything else.


----------



## andyh (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*



			
				a1Matt said:
			
		

> As Viktor says the media slows the flow down.
> My recommendation is to remove the bio balls and not replace them with anything else.



hey matt, i understand that more media slows the flow down, but what i am not getting is what is the benefit of a by-pass like the nice looking ones Viktor has shown:


----------



## Burnleygaz (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

The more you open the by-pass valve the less flow is directed thru the reactor, therefore the impact on your filters flow rate is lower, but the obvious trade off is poorer or slower CO2 dissolution(if thats the correct term) as the bypass is opened further and further.


----------



## viktorlantos (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

bypass only needed if you use large filters like 2080 eheim with 1650lph or so. for regular ones a simple reactor would work without balls.

Aquamas is good but more expensive than AM.


----------



## LondonDragon (7 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

This is how mine looks inside the cabinet:





TBH I don't like it and think its a waste of money, reduces flow of the filter, removed the balls but the CO2 still builds up inside the reactor, also should be at least 10cm longer. 

I have since installed an UP Atomizer before the AM1000 to diffuse the CO2 further before it reached the AM1000.


----------



## andyh (8 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*



			
				Burnleygaz said:
			
		

> The more you open the by-pass valve the less flow is directed thru the reactor, therefore the impact on your filters flow rate is lower, but the obvious trade off is poorer or slower CO2 dissolution(if thats the correct term) as the bypass is opened further and further.


Cheers gaz, i get it now!


			
				viktorlantos said:
			
		

> bypass only needed if you use large filters like 2080 eheim with 1650lph or so. for regular ones a simple reactor would work without balls.
> Aquamas is good but more expensive than AM.


So no balls then, i plan to use on a 1250lph filter so wont require the bypass.


			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> TBH I don't like it and think its a waste of money, reduces flow of the filter, removed the balls but the CO2 still builds up inside the reactor, also should be at least 10cm longer.
> I have since installed an UP Atomizer before the AM1000 to diffuse the CO2 further before it reached the AM1000.



So you feed your CO2 into an UP Atomizer then connect your return into the reactor etc?

Paulo, are you saying?   
1. Dont get a reactor of any type and stick with the UP atomizer you are already using Andy.
2. The Aquamedic doesn't meet your performance specifications, and you wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
3. Consider an alternate Reactor and power it with a stand alone non submerged pump.
4. None of the above, i would rather be down the pub  

Cheers
Andyh


----------



## CeeJay (8 Sep 2010)

*Re: Aquamedic AM1000 Reactor - Advice?*

Hi Andy.

Here's another take on it.
Whilst I don't like disagreeing with others (especially LD)   here are my findings.
I did find a reduction in flow, but this did improve once I took the media out. The AM 1000 has 16mm pipe connections these days, so if you have 16mm pipe in and a 16mm pipe out it follows that, there will not be a major reduction in flow rate caused by the reactor itself. Whilst you would lose some velocity as the water enters the bigger chamber of the reactor, it follows that, if the pressure remains the same, the velocity would increase again when it squeezed back out through the outlet. The reduction in flow is merely caused by the fact that we pump the water in to the top of the reactor and go back out to the tank from the bottom, so the drop in flow rate is because the filter has to pump downwards before it goes upwards. As they say, you don't get something for nothing these days.
As to the 'build up' of gas, that's what they're designed to do, they keep the CO2 in the chamber until it is all dissolved, which it does quite well I might add. All the water going back to my tank does not contain a single CO2 bubble as it is all dissolved in the chamber. The only bubbles in my tank are O2 bubbles   . After about half an hour of the gas going off all the bubbles are gone from the reactor, so it's doing it's job, saturating the water with CO2.
Some people leave the media in so the bubbles get bashed about and the bubble size gets reduced even further but the price you pay for that is impeded flow.
Mine is only running on a 1200lph filter and works fine without the media.

Here's a pic without media



You can just about make out the bubbles, which are always trying to go upwards against the flow, therefore they stay in the reactor until they are dissolved.

All in all, I don't think they do a bad job.




So now you have two opinions, one positive and one negative so I hope we haven't confused you too much.

Now if only they could teach me to scape like you and LD, I'd be well sorted


----------



## andyh (8 Sep 2010)

Chris

Thanks for taking the time out to put together such a detailed and factual response. I have to say its given me the best insight so far! Thanks dude!  

Next job for you is to get my hairgrass lawn looking as good as yours!

Thanks

Andyh


----------



## CeeJay (8 Sep 2010)

andyh said:
			
		

> Next job for you is to get my hairgrass lawn looking as good as yours!



And your next job is to get my scapes looking as good as yours


----------



## CeeJay (8 Sep 2010)

Hi Andy

I should have also added that by the very nature of the pipework, you are now introducing at least another 360 degrees worth of bends for the flow to negotiate. This will certainly impact on the flow rate too  .


----------



## LondonDragon (8 Sep 2010)

Mine does have 16mm connectors on it, maybe its not good with the type of filter I have, could be the reason, I have not tried it on any other filter so can't compare, seems to work for a lot of people and for others it doesn't, for me I have my doubts about it. There are some alternatives on ebay from a couple of German sellers that might be worth a look into.


----------



## CeeJay (8 Sep 2010)

Hi LD

Hope you didn't mind me sticking my oar in.
As you said, what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another, although I would have thought your filter would have been more than capable.
If nothing else, at least Andy has had both sides of the story, the good & the bad. That can only be a good thing when making decisions on new equipment   (I hope).


----------



## LondonDragon (9 Sep 2010)

CeeJay said:
			
		

> Hope you didn't mind me sticking my oar in..


No worries mate, I got mine because I saw you using it and you seemed to be happy about it 
Mine just builds up a pocket of CO2 at the top of the reactor, I have cleaned the filter, the pipe work, removed the bioballs, still builds up, unless if not capable of dissolving the CO2 I am pumping though it! Or I am being done and someone is selling me compressed O2!! lol
Also I don't want to give the impression that nobody should use them, it just doesn't seem to work for me!


----------



## CeeJay (9 Sep 2010)

Nice one LD   .



			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Mine just builds up a pocket of CO2 at the top of the reactor,


That's odd. 
As you may be able to work out from the photo (just), there is no build up of CO2 in mine, just small bubbles being bounced about. This photo was taken at about 9pm and the gas comes on at 2pm, so that's after 7 hours of use


----------



## Billypete (30 Sep 2010)

> LondonDragon said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



     Hi Ld .... nice setup !! Whats the black box on the left with co2 :?: tubes in / out  :?  what does it do  :?: 



			
				CeeJay said:
			
		

> Nice one LD   .
> 
> 
> 
> ...



      Hi Ceejay ... does that mean you have the lights on from 2 ish till  :?:    do you have any natural daylight in the room  :?:   
                Pete


----------



## Charlieh (4 Oct 2010)

Hi LondonDragon - just curious about you using the up atomiser before the reactor. Don't the tiny co2 bubbles get pushed straight through without dissolving?

I used to use a mazzei and then a modified Eheim 2000+ as a needle wheel but didn't like the huge amounts of mist in the tank. So I made my own reactor and put it on a seperate closed loop with the eheim and a venturi loop which feeds any gas build up back through the pump but I still get quite a strong mist by the end of the day. Closing the venturi stops the mist but increases gas build up !!  Just wondered if using the atomiser helps - I have a new one but haven't tried it yet.


----------



## CeeJay (8 Oct 2010)

Hi all.
Sorry for the delay in replying. Been away and just catching up on all unread posts (sad I know).



			
				Billypete said:
			
		

> Hi Ceejay ... does that mean you have the lights on from 2 ish till  do you have any natural daylight in the room
> Pete


Hi Pete.
There is no direct light from the windows getting to the tank as the tank sits in an alcove at 90 degrees to the window, so just low levels during the day
Gas on 2pm till  9pm. Lights on 4pm till 11pm (I'm trying to slow things down   )
I can't see the point in having the lights on (for the most part anyway), when I'm not there  , so this suits viewing in the evenings for me  

Andyh
Have you made your mind up yet?


----------



## andyh (11 Oct 2010)

CeeJay said:
			
		

> Andyh
> Have you made your mind up yet?




Yes i am going for a Reactor probably aqua medic, looking at getting one in the next few weeks

will keep you posted!


----------

