# Best reactor for 500l tank?



## Lindy (18 May 2016)

I have been trawling through old posts but have not been finding anything conclusive or recent (in the case of the AM1000). I'm hating the misty look created by my precision atomiser from co2 Art. Have looked at the Sera 1000 but lots of reports of noise and not doing the job. Anyone have the AM1000? Opinions? Other suggestions? (please no diy)

Cheers, Lindy


----------



## Julian (18 May 2016)

I used to have this reactor. I wouldn't call it noisy, but you can hear a slight water trickling sound, it's quite minimal though.

It's large so you'll need to make sure your filter is powerful enough as it will reduce flow quite significantly. I'd say it requires a filter rated for at least a 200L tank.


----------



## Lindy (18 May 2016)

I have ehiems rated to 500lph, 600lph or a jbl 1400lph....


----------



## Eduard18 (18 May 2016)

Why not use an in-line diffuser?

Envoyé de mon SM-G935F en utilisant Tapatalk


----------



## Paulus (18 May 2016)

i use the am1000 in (below  ) my tank 

photos: http://www.aquablog.nl/597-aqua-medic-reactor-1000/


----------



## Lindy (20 May 2016)

Eduard18 said:


> Why not use an in-line diffuser?


Because apparently you still get the misty effect.


----------



## Lindy (20 May 2016)

Paulus said:


> i use the am1000 in (below  ) my tank


Are you happy with it? Have you had to change anything to make it better?


----------



## tim (20 May 2016)

You could use a diffuser running into a pre filter as lauris does 
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/escape.40308/page-3
Something I will get round to trying eventually.


----------



## alkm (20 May 2016)

I'm with you on the misty look and I can confirm from experience that you do still get that effect with an in-line diffuser. 

I found a solution using the Sera 1000 reactor (see picture below).  The reactor is noisy though and it will drive you mad unless you modify it, which is straight forward.  The noise is produced by the motion of two internal rotor blades but these can be easily removed (you open the reactor and they slide out) and then operation is silent.  I've filled the top and bottom sections of the reactor with bio balls of about 1 cm diameter - I split these in half so they would fit - to aid the the break up of gas as it enters the reactor.  I'm not sure if you even need the bio balls but if you buy one you can experiment with it.

I believe I'm getting excellent dissolution with this system and do not need to use an excessive amount of CO2 (between 4 - 5 bps) to get to an acceptable level in my 160 L tank.

Alex


----------



## Paulus (20 May 2016)

ldcgroomer said:


> Are you happy with it? Have you had to change anything to make it better?



I have used different types of CO2 diffusors. The "ADA" glass versions, DIY versions or the atomic versions:





With the atomic versions you get a misty cloud in the tank. Same with the glass versions.
I use a couple of years the AM 1000 now and it gave me the best results for plant grow and no mist in the tank.
The only adjustment i made was a simple tube on the air outlet so when its open to long the water will flow in the tube/bucket instead of the cabinet 

But for me (and a lot of other dutch people i know) the AM 1000 is the best to use without any problems.

Of course you can make a DIY version of it which will give the same results 

Plants love the AM 1000:


----------



## Eduard18 (20 May 2016)

Hello everyone ! I disagree regarding the mist effect for all the in-line diffusers; I use the JBL model and there is no such thing

Envoyé de mon SM-G935F en utilisant Tapatalk


----------



## Daveslaney (21 May 2016)

Hi
I to use the same inline diffuser. Didn't like the misty look either. All I did was moved my canister filter( tetratec 1200) to the other end of my cabinet below the aquarium and installed the diffuser a couple of inches away from the filter outlet side. This gave me about a extra meter of pipe on the filter intake and outlet. It properly does decrease the filter flow slightly due to the longer pipe runs. But the extra meter or so of pipe run on the return to the tank does allow the co2 to dissolve into the water more and decreases the misting effect to near zero. Hope this makes sense and helps.


----------



## Chris Jackson (23 May 2016)

You'd be surprised at just how effective simply using your filter(s) can be. Wedge a cigarette filter (Swan Roll Up Filter) in the end of your CO2 outlet tube to create a mini diffuser and insert in the filter inflow tube (I drill a hole in the pipe about an inch below water level so that it is not intrusive and I don't have to worry about leaks). The reactor design referenced in my signature is also very effective but requires rather more in DIY skills.

This tank is 400lt and runs this way on just 1 bps into an Ehiem 600.


----------



## HarrietHippo (24 May 2016)

Hi Lindy
I was using an Up inline atomizer on a 200l tank and while it provided good CO2 injection, I disliked the very light mist in the tank. The mist kept reminding me that the tank was in fact lightly carbonated! When the CO2 was off viewing was much more pleasant.  I looked through reactor threads too and settled on a "CO2 Aussenreaktor AR-US50 Plus, mit Blasenzähler" from US-Aquaristik


 
I've had one for couple of years without issue. It mixes the CO2 very nicely and now I can view the tank in all its glory while CO2 is going in which has been great. I put a dedicated eheim pump on mine to ensure sufficient water was going past to mix effectively.


----------



## amy4342 (24 May 2016)

I'm using two AM100's in a 450 litre tank and think they're brill. I initially used a AM100 on one side and an UP inline diffuser on the other - soon had to ditch the UP due to the bubbles. There is a faint trickline noise from both the AM100's, but I don't hear them when shut inside the cabinet.


----------



## Lindy (24 May 2016)

Thank you so much for all the replies and when I get back from my hols I think I will be investing in an AM1000.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


----------



## Daveslaney (29 May 2016)

Hi
Does no one run thier inline diffuser on the filter intake pipe? I asume this would clear the mist problem? Are there more problems than the advantage running the diffuser this way?


----------



## rebel (29 May 2016)

Daveslaney said:


> Hi
> Does no one run thier inline diffuser on the filter intake pipe? I asume this would clear the mist problem? Are there more problems than the advantage running the diffuser this way?


I hear cavitation can cause impeller problems for the filter.


----------



## Chris Jackson (29 May 2016)

Daveslaney said:


> Hi
> Does no one run thier inline diffuser on the filter intake pipe? I asume this would clear the mist problem? Are there more problems than the advantage running the diffuser this way?



I've done this and it does reduce the mist a little but not as much as you might expect. The problem with running the Co2 into the filter (by any method) is that you can get a build up of gas around the impleller that makes it noisier and can also lead to "burping" as larger bubble are released. I've not had trouble with this using ehiem filters however


----------



## Daveslaney (29 May 2016)

Thanks for the replies, I suspected that would be the problem running the diffuser on the intake line.
IMHO a inline diffuser is the best way to distribute co2 evenly around the tank,Just hate the misty look it causes.At the min i have found longer pipe runs to try and dissolve more co2bubbles before they hit the tank, running co2 at lower levels to be ok.But if i increase co2 still get the mist.
I have been told that reactors give better dissolved co2 rate but are very flow rate dependant?,To much flow still get co2 mist?.So distrbution around the tank can suffer as a result of lower flow rate?


----------



## Chris Jackson (29 May 2016)

Some argue that plants do bet with mist as they can access this CO2 directly... might be true but as many have shown you can get superb results with a reactor and no have CO2 mist. 
If your reactor is mounted on the return from you filter then it may indeed restrict flow quite severely so you either have to upgrade your filter to cope, add a powerhead device to your tank to supplement flow or ideally power the reactor independently on it's own pump which then also gives you more freedom to optimise dissolution in the reactor by adjusting the flow independent of the filter and does not effect filter flow. Too much flow through the reactor and you don't get enough dwell time, too little and you may get excessive gas build up and not enough turbulence within it to dissolve the CO2..


----------



## Daveslaney (11 Jul 2016)

Did you end up getting the Aquamedic reactor?
What are your thoughts on it?are they very flow restrictive?
Thinking of looking into getting on myself.But can only find them in 12/16 pipe fittings at the min.My pipework is 16/22.


----------

