# problems dissolving CO2



## danmil3s (12 Feb 2011)

hi guys im having a few problems dissolving co2 in my 750l. by problems  i mean the methods i use never seem to fully dissolve the gas, and i end up with bubbles coming out from my spray bar.ive just fitted a sera Flore Co2 Active Reactor 1000. before that i tried a Fluidized Bed with out the media, so almost an aqua medic 1000. both these where powered by a 2000 lph pump. and both blow bubbles after filling with gas. i also tried the pipe in my fx5 but i didn't like the noise it made. my waters super hard i think im right in saying that wont help. so does any one know of a product or  diy method that's up to the job. running a second sera Flore  Reactor in line is some thing ive thought about. or trying a AquaGro CO2 Power Diffuser 1500 any thought's on those options. anyway thanks for any help.


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## Always Broke (12 Feb 2011)

You are going to struggle with that one.
I have spent a good few weeks messing with in line diffusers running into reactor chambers.  
I used 4 in parallel in the end with one supply feeding them so I was trying to dissolve the same amount of gas in 4 x the water then injecting the end product into my 10,000 ltr hr return pump in my sump.
You can get it set up so it will visibly dissolve the gas so you do not see it entering the tank but in no way was that enough CO2 to support my tank.

When you find the answer let me know ,as I am fed up messing with it.

Good luck
simon


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## mdhardy01 (12 Feb 2011)

You could try the same as londondragon and feed your co2 into a atomiser like the up aqua or the boyu then have that feed a reactor so you are only feeding micro bubbles or mist into the reactor which then has longer to dissolve , if anything escapes it's only a fine mist not bubbles which then stays in the water longer not rising directly to the surfice and escaping
Just an idea
Matt


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## danmil3s (12 Feb 2011)

that might work its a lot of gas to force through an atomizer. can it be done?  at the moment its injected right after the pump and travels 300mm before entering the reactor. so the bobbles are smallish.


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## GHNelson (13 Feb 2011)

Hi Dan
The more Co2 you pump into the UP atomiser the faster it will run...so you wouldn't have a problem there.
Actually it runs better when upping the dosing rate.
Or you could run the UP atomiser on another external filter with very little media inside to get as much flow as possible.
Or use one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Aquarium-Fish ... 4156bdc9d8.
Ive never tried one with Co2....the drawback is another piece of equipment in the aquarium.
Just a few of my thoughts.
Regards
hoggie


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## danmil3s (13 Feb 2011)

so hogan you think i could run an up atomizer under my co2 pump then through the reactor. it does say the thing is only good for tanks up to 150l though. if you can still force gas past it is the same possible with the boyu im not sure how these work. the pump im using is like this 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Submersible-Aquar ... 29ff93bd13
thanks for the ideas guys im sure we can work this out simon do you mind posting your set ups so i know what not to try.


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## Always Broke (13 Feb 2011)

I did not take any pictures but I used a small sump pump of about a 1500ltrs hr  with a 16/22 mm up atomiser fitted to it.
The output of this went into a length of 22mm speedfit pipe .
This pipe had 3 "t" pieces in it and a 90* elbow on the end. This gave 4 outputs from the single pump output.
The outputs from the 22mm was reduced to 15mm which via short bits of hose were connected to 4 calcium reactors with no media inside them. These reactors are about 18" tall and 3 1/2" diameter. 
The output from these reactors was again all joined together as the input was and fed to the input of my sump return pump.

It would without doubt reduce a lot of the misting in the tank, but what would not dissolve into the water would turn back into big bubbles by the time it got back to the main display.
I have found using a single atomiser on my tank is that I need it to go past the mist stage.
So I would need to run a pair of them , this would then allow me to run them producing a mist instead of fine bubbles.
This then could be fed into a pair of reactor chambers where it might well dissolve better.
As it cost me 45 quid each for the reactors I am not to keen to buy 4 more.
The other thing is while messing around with all this it caused huge fluctuation's of Co2 in my tank which has done no good at all.
I have ordered a second up atomiser and I will set this up alongside the one I have running. Once I have the CO2 flow rate correct for my set up using a pair of them then I will play with running the outputs into some reactors. To start with I will just run one of them into my 4 reactors , if this then gets rid of the misting from that one and no bubbles reform on the way back to the tank I will do the second one.
But on a side note if fitting a second in line atomiser reduces the bubble size to a mist then perhaps fitting more atomisers may be the answer and make the mist finer from each one ??
From my experience getting good Co2 round a 7x2x2 tank with lots of plant mass, huge bits of bog wood  is a never ending battle.

Hope that helps you in some way

Simon


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## GHNelson (13 Feb 2011)

Hi Dan
Can you not run the Co2 straight into the pump using the small air in feed connector?
Or is it the micro bubble effect/misting your after?
I think that pump would do a reasonable job at distributing the Co2. for you.
I don't think you can run the UP atomiser in conjunction with this pump as its only for external use.
There could be a way but that would cause more plumbing and headaches  
But the  above method should work.(Can you not run the Co2 straight into the pump using the small air in feed connector?)
Can you not fit a atomiser to the FX5 i know these have ribbed tubing which can be a pain in the butt.
Regards
hoggie


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## danmil3s (13 Feb 2011)

thanks guys interesting what you said simon as an in line atomizer and multiple reactors was my next move, so wont be trying that now. the idea of to multiple atomizers is some thing i thought about. i considered running them in-line maybe 2 or 3 followed by a single reactor. to help i figure the more gas i need as plants grow i just add more atomizers 
hogan53 the pump is already powering an external reactor through a hose. so i should be able to fit a boyu  and the air connection is  unfortunately  on the out flow side. the fx5 has 1" hose so cant really fit a standard atomizer did try to diy some thing the resulst wernt as good as i hoped here is the post
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=14096&start=30 
the thing just got to dirty to quick and the problem with such large volumes of gas counting bubbles is impossible. so adjustment is hard. starting to wish id gone low tec. but not ready to give up yet.


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## GHNelson (13 Feb 2011)

Hi Dan
Here is a site that does tubing that should fit your outflow pipe of your FX5 filter.
http://www.kiowa.co.uk/ACLP2531
The UP atomiser is attached to the outflow not the inflow.
I'm sure you could get far better Co2 distribution doing this.To get a good misting of Co2 you need to up the bubble rate.....it runs better at over 1.7bar.
Regards
hoggie


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## danmil3s (13 Feb 2011)

thanks for the link hogan. i think the atomizer on the fx5 might throttle it bit1" down to 1/2". and the subresible ive got has a higer out put than the fx5 anyway so that can only be a plus. might get some of the hose for the new plan the stuff ive got is supper thick walled. 
 ive ordered 2 of theses http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0129013242
so the plan will be to use the submersible pump run a hose to the atomizers set up in line with the c02 split between them, then to the sera reactor to brake up any larger bubbles then in to the spray bar. if this still get a build up in my sera i might just add more atomizers? have to wait and see should know by Wednesday.


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## GHNelson (13 Feb 2011)

Okay Dan
Keep us posted....how about a few pictures as well.
hoggie


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## danmil3s (13 Feb 2011)

ill keep you posted but there is nothing to take pitchers of yet really.


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## danmil3s (19 Feb 2011)

so a quick up date tried running 2 boyus in line with the sera reactor which improved diffusion then had to turn the gas down poor fish. but its still not dissolving all the gas still getting large noisy bubbles from the spray bar. so ive ordered 2 more boyus im going to try and run them in line to see what effect that has. my next plan is to split the pump flow in to 4 and have the for outputs come out in front of my power heads instead of through the spray bar in the hope ill get a mist effect which seems to work for people.


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## mdhardy01 (19 Feb 2011)

I swapped recently to the up aqua on my 500l 
I had gone from using a eheim2075 to a Eheim 2180 and found the 2180 was too powerful for my aqua medic 1000 just pushed the gas out even with 1ltr of siporax in.
Now with the up aqua I can see the distribution because of the mist the plants are growing better than before and I've had to turn my bubble rate down
My dc is always a lime green 
Why don't you try without the sera reactor just to see what happens? 
Matt


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## danmil3s (19 Feb 2011)

ive tried it with out the reactor still blows bubbles but must be more efficient as ive had to turn  down the gas rate again. i don't really see a mist coming from the boyus just large bubbles. im hoping with 4 ill get a mist effect. might help me sort out my flow pattens.


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## mdhardy01 (19 Feb 2011)

The ceramic tube in the boyu apparently isn't as fine as the one in the up
Could be worth getting an up to try I know the up is more expensive but even when I really push the gas through I still only get mist not bubbles
Matt


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## danmil3s (19 Feb 2011)

oh and ive turned my reg up to 2 bar


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## danmil3s (19 Feb 2011)

i probably should have tried the up but ive already ordered the boyus and didn't see the ones for a fiver till i paid £9 each   ill see how all 4 work together then if im still struggling ill think of a new plan.


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## mdhardy01 (19 Feb 2011)

The boyu doesn't need the same output pressure as the up
Try it with the pressure at about 1.5 and see if you get a finer mist the more pressure the bigger the mist/bubbles 
Matt


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## danmil3s (19 Feb 2011)

turned the pressure down bubbles seem small but could that just mean less CO2 is getting through.


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## mdhardy01 (19 Feb 2011)

Does it look like there are more but finer bubbles? 
If it looks like less bubbles open needle valve a bit more
I found it took a little while to get the right pressure mix with the right needle valve setting
The way I started was was to turn the pressure down until no bubble then slowly increase pressure until fine mist then open needle valve until good mist
Worked for me might be worth a try
Does take a bit of fiddling until you get it right but you will get there
Matt


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## danmil3s (21 Feb 2011)

mdhardy01 tried your suggestion did seem to make the bubbles smaller and less of them, still no mist guess i need an up atomizer. unfortunately ive now got 4 boyus so might have to wait   plus im getting all sorts of algae. might have to make do for5 now im getting maximum gas in any way that's the main thing.


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## mdhardy01 (22 Feb 2011)

Good luck and keep us posted
Matt


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