# In Line Reactor - Aquamas



## Superman (31 Jul 2008)

I noticed that our JamesC bought an in line diffuser from Aquamas when I was searching the forum..

http://www.fishforums.net/content/Plant ... -Reactors/

Looks like something I'm interested in getting, but couldn't find them on ebay, however, their product is at
http://www.aquamas.de/products/Reaktore ... Liter.html

My external filter says that it has tubing of 16/22mm and it seem that the reactor fits that size?

Is this still the mutts nutts of in line reactors? Doesn't seem bad for about Â£65.

I would assume that the water flow goes from top to bottom when the co2 is injected at the bottom so that the bubbles rise up against the flow?


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## TDI-line (31 Jul 2008)

Hi Clark,

i've ordered one of these from Aquamas, with the bypass, but jut waiting for it too arrive. 

I emailed them once i had set up an account, and then payed by payapl. 

I just wish it would hurry up and get here though, been 2 weeks now.


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## Superman (31 Jul 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Hi Clark,
> 
> i've ordered one of these from Aquamas, with the bypass, but jut waiting for it too arrive.
> 
> ...



Oh right, when James ordered back in the day when they were on ebay, it came rather quick. Have you spoken to them?


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## Aeropars (1 Aug 2008)

I also have one of these but i am having problems with the amount of flow thats put through. I get mass gass buildup which is aparently caused by not enough flow through the reactor.


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## Superman (1 Aug 2008)

Got an email from Aquamas, they said that they'd be able to dispatch on Tuesday if I ordered before then.

Aeropars, does that mean you don't have enough flow going through it?


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## TDI-line (1 Aug 2008)

Superman said:
			
		

> TDI-line said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Still waiting for a reply. Grr.


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## Superman (1 Aug 2008)

What about this Aqua Medic 1000?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AQUA-MEDIC-CO2-RE ... otohosting

Would of thought that as the in and out lines aren't at right angles there might not be as much flow loss? I understand that the water going through the balls in the reactor mean that there'll be loss of flow but maybe not as much?


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## TDI-line (2 Aug 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Superman said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Just got a reply..

Hello,

I'm sorry, because it lasts so for a long time. The reactors are again
 available on Tuesday. We did not have sufficient in stock, and the
 supplier made holidays.

best regards

Frank Masurek 


Well, hopefully i will have it soon.


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## TDI-line (2 Aug 2008)

Superman said:
			
		

> What about this Aqua Medic 1000?
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AQUA-MEDIC-CO2-RE ... otohosting
> 
> Would of thought that as the in and out lines aren't at right angles there might not be as much flow loss? I understand that the water going through the balls in the reactor mean that there'll be loss of flow but maybe not as much?



I looked at his one, but dismissed it because of the pipe sizing.


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## Superman (2 Aug 2008)

oh yes, is it 12/16 inside/outside?


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## TDI-line (10 Aug 2008)

Quick update...

Still waiting.


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## TDI-line (11 Aug 2008)

Ok, Aquamas CO2 reactor arrived today.

Was very impressed with the packaging and the whole reactor is off excellent construction with 16/22 mm tails.

Pics will follow.


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## Superman (12 Aug 2008)

I'm wondering if I should put the reactor on the in our out pipe of my filter?


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## JamesM (12 Aug 2008)

Out I'd imagine mate.


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## Dave Spencer (12 Aug 2008)

You fit it to the outflow. The water goes in the top, and out the bottom. The CO2 is injected at the bottom, against the flow of water.

Mine has been fitted to the outlet of an Eheim 2213, with a gas bubble building up over the period of injection. I will soon be fitting it to the outlet of a Tetratec EX1200. Hopefully the extra flow will prevent the gas build up.

Dave.


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## JamesM (12 Aug 2008)

Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> You fit it to the outflow. The water goes in the top, and out the bottom. The CO2 is injected at the bottom, against the flow of water.
> 
> Mine has been fitted to the outlet of an Eheim 2213, with a gas bubble building up over the period of injection. I will soon be fitting it to the outlet of a Tetratec EX1200. Hopefully the extra flow will prevent the gas build up.
> 
> Dave.


Really? I thought these reactors weren't gravity ones, so water and co2 go in at the base, travel through the reaction chamber and out the top together...

 :?


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## milla (12 Aug 2008)

Yes water in at the top on this reactor . If you look at the picture in the link at the beggining of the thread the top hose connector is labelled einlauf translated this reads inlet and connected to the outlet of the filter.
Otherwise the netting in the reactor gets clogged with all the debris that should go in the filter.

Sorry to say Dave but even with a EX1200 you get gas build up, i have been struggling to push towards the yellow with mine.  I have had to knock back the amount injected as increasing had no eefect but to increase the gas build up, it sounded like a waterfall at times. Ended up adding a second line and diffuser to get co2 levels were i want.


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## Superman (12 Aug 2008)

I've got mine, water in at the top, co2 at the bottom rising against the flow.
I have noticed since running it, there does seem to be some bubbles not getting stuck in the spongey bit. Some do.
I've got it set at 1 bubble per second at the minute, see how it goes.


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## TDI-line (12 Aug 2008)

Will be setting mine up this weekend with hydor in-line heater, what do you think would be the best place with the reactor?


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## Superman (19 Aug 2008)

My reactor is straight behind the filter.

I've been watching the reactor over a few days and have come to some conclusions about it.

The bubbles rise up from the input at the bottom and rise up against the flow as they're rather large. Some get stuck in the wool like things that is in the reactor.

However, some rise straight up to the top of the reactor but after a while, these get small enough to be then pushed back into the reactor and get stuck in the wool again/for the first time.

I was worried that when I upped the CO2 rate that there'd just be a massive bubble of CO2 at the top of the reactor - which is still could be the case as I can't see into the actual top. But now, I'm rather confident that if I were to increase the CO2 the bubbles would be diffused very well.

I have no bubbles coming through into the aquarium, which must be a good thing.


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## JamesM (19 Aug 2008)

Coolies, I might have to invest in one of these soon...


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## Ray (5 Sep 2008)

Mine works well - 100% dissolved - but is annoyingly noisy - I'm running at 2 (large) bubbles per second and each one goes "pop" as exits the tube and enters the reactor body.  I can count bubbles by listening without having to open the cabinet!

Is it the same for other people using this?  Is there a trick with pressure settings or tube orientation or something?


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## TDI-line (5 Sep 2008)

Ray, 

the only thing that i can think may need doing is to bleed the reactor at the vent point.

Mine was extremely noisy at initial setup, but after i removed all traces of air from the unit, she then become very quiet. 

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs, but you don't have any kinks on your hoses do you?

Mine also has the bypass, so i had this opened when setting up, but turned it off for normal operation.


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## Ray (6 Sep 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Ray,
> 
> the only thing that i can think may need doing is to bleed the reactor at the vent point.
> 
> ...


All seems in order hose wise - no kinks, no bypass, I can bleed any air out but the noise happens when the bubble exits into the cylinder so having air at the top is not the issue.  How many BPS are you running your at?  I'm running at 2 per second at the moment but it does go quieter if I throttle back slightly.

I wonder if Clarke and James are OK with thiers?


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## TDI-line (6 Sep 2008)

Hmmmm.

Mine is running around 2 per second also.

Is your flow in at the top, and out at the bottom?


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## The Green Machine (7 Sep 2008)

The Aqua Medic is a large reactor that is perfect for the larger tank. We use them on our "big boys" in store and find them highly efficient. By replacing the plastic balls with Sera's Siporax a HIGHLY efficient secondary biological filter is created and both flow and CO2 dispersion rates seem greatly improved.Its also quite nice to free up space in the tank by mounting inline inside the cabinet.


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## Ray (8 Sep 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Hmmmm.
> 
> Mine is running around 2 per second also.
> 
> Is your flow in at the top, and out at the bottom?


Yes, now - must admit I did plumb it in wrong to start with    Cue another half hours swearing inside my cabinet.  How long are you getting out of 2kg on 2bps with this reactor?  Its got noisier, I wonder if a clean would sort it.  Or wack the CO2 right up to clear any blockage!

My other complaint is that if my filter vents a load of gas (it does from time to time - the bacteria are working hard on all that ammonia from the AS) it collects at the top of the reactor.  I actually wonder if it would not be better plumbed into the filter input rather than output!



> The Aqua Medic is a large reactor that is perfect for the larger tank. We use them on our "big boys" in store and find them highly efficient. By replacing the plastic balls with Sera's Siporax a HIGHLY efficient secondary biological filter is created and both flow and CO2 dispersion rates seem greatly improved.Its also quite nice to free up space in the tank by mounting inline inside the cabinet.


I looked at this one and would have gone for it with matching Solenoid and Regulator except they only take 12/16mm tubing.  Can you get them yet with 16/22?  The filter idea is neat, but I guess it impacts flow somewhat?

The Aquamedic one also flows top to bottom against CO2 coming up from the bottom?  How do you stop it trapping air?


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## The Green Machine (10 Sep 2008)

there is a "bleed" valve in the top of the Aqua-Medic  reactor making the process very simple.


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## Ray (11 Sep 2008)

The-Green-Machine said:
			
		

> there is a "bleed" valve in the top of the Aqua-Medic  reactor making the process very simple.


OK, just like the Aquamas so you have the same problem.  Inherant issue with the reactor concept except perhaps the Cal Aqua one.  I wonder if a valve exists that bleeds air but not water?


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## JamesC (11 Sep 2008)

As long as you've got decent flow going through the reactor you shouldn't have any problems with gas build up. I run mine on the outlet of an Eheim 2028 and it runs almost silently with no gas build-up at the top. The only faint noise is of the CO2 gas bubbling in from the inlet tube. If this is a concern you could attach an airstone to a small length of airline and attach it to the inlet tube inside the reactor. May need a bit of thought to how it can be done, but should be possible. I have replaced the small length of tubing from the bleed valve and put a length of airline that runs in the top of the tank with the valve attached there. When doing a water change or maintenance and air gets in the system it's easy to vent off and not worry about any water that comes out.

IMHO the Aquamas reactor wins hands down over the Aqua Medic because of the size of the tube connectors. Most filters that people run with these reactors use 16mm tubing. Reactors are designed for large tanks which also require large filters so why on earth Aqua Medic decided to go with 12mm connectors that small filters use is beyond me. Aquamas will also if you email them first change the connectors for a different tube size if required.

James


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## Dave Spencer (11 Sep 2008)

I used my Aquamas with replacement 12mm fittings and an Eheim 2213. I had a large gas build up and a constant trickling noise.

I have since refitted the 16mm fittings, moved it on to a bigger tank and use a Tetratec 1200. It now runs like a dream without any noise or gas build up. They certainly need sufficient flow through them to work properly, but I find mine now to be very efficient.

Dave.


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## Ray (11 Sep 2008)

JamesC said:
			
		

> As long as you've got decent flow going through the reactor you shouldn't have any problems with gas build up. I run mine on the outlet of an Eheim 2028 and it runs almost silently with no gas build-up at the top. The only faint noise is of the CO2 gas bubbling in from the inlet tube. If this is a concern you could attach an airstone to a small length of airline and attach it to the inlet tube inside the reactor. May need a bit of thought to how it can be done, but should be possible. I have replaced the small length of tubing from the bleed valve and put a length of airline that runs in the top of the tank with the valve attached there. When doing a water change or maintenance and air gets in the system it's easy to vent off and not worry about any water that comes out.


Thank you James, that is extremely helpful.  Flow is certainly good through the Aquamas - mine is also on a 2028 and after 10 days operation with full media load, Aquamas reactor and Hydor inline heater this 1050lph filter can fill a 2l jug in 9 seconds which is 800lph real flow.  It is a bottom drilled tank, which might help.

GreenMachine - do you have the ear of Aquamedic?  Perhaps you could feed this back to them?  As I understand the top and bottom connectors unscrew from the Aqaua Medic Reactor so it would be child's play for them to offer both sizes or an extra kit with the other size fitting?

Thank you,

Ray


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## The Green Machine (12 Sep 2008)

We  are running our Aqua Medic inline reactors on large eheims with 17mm pipework so we are a little confused about them coming fitted for 12mm.our complaint is that they dont come fitted for the smaller pipework.
A good idea of James's though to fit a bleed pipe which runs into the tank directly.


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## JamesC (12 Sep 2008)

This is very strange, unless you have access to a special. As far as I'm aware Aqua Medic only do the one external CO2 reactor which is the Reactor 1000. On their website they even say it comes with 12mm hose connectors.

http://www.aqua-medic.de/freshwater/en/2/reactor 1000/

James


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## The Green Machine (12 Sep 2008)

James, this is a bit of a mystery to us although we do intend to ask Aqua Medic if they have manufactured in different sizes.We will let you know.


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