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Help me choose a new reactor/ diffuser

hi,
yes in my experience it works better.
If you take a look at the specifications, the 1000 version is recomended for 600 liters and above.
Maybe thats why the smaller works best in my case.
Sera also states that 500 means that you can disolve till 500 bubles per minute, it gives 8.3 bublees per second.
The 1000 version can disolve the double!
cheers
 
I'm basically choosing between the Sera 500 and the Aqua Medic 1000.

Pros of the Sera 500:

Won't kill flow as much as the Aqua Medic

Cheaper

Pros of the AM 1000:

Better build quality

Quieter (??)

So basically the decision depends on this:

How much more will the AM 1000 kill the flow than the Sera 500?
 
my sera 1000 is very quite never hear it. But yes they are less robust. Mine has just reached equilibrium so now im in the process of upping the lights 🙂 at 70% so far so good 🙂 nice light green dc on lights on.
 
What do you mean "reached equilibrium"? My LFS has the Sera 500 for £22.50 so think I'm going to pick one up later today.
 
I mean the co2 level is light green at lights on and stays constant all day until co2 is turned off just before lights off. Took me weeks of fiddling with my bps to get this right and nearly gassed my fish to boot! 🙂
 
Sacha said:
What do you mean "reached equilibrium"? My LFS has the Sera 500 for £22.50 so think I'm going to pick one up later today.
Click to expand...
Just make sure you get a co2 proof one way valve to connect a 4" section of co2 piping to the sera so you never have to mess with the piping connection to the sera again. That part on the sera is known to be fragile and if you try to remove the co2 pipe from the sera once on you run a huge risk of breaking it. Rest is good choice!

Is the water tubing on the 500 16/20 as your Eheim? That's why I chose the 1000 so that it fits without any adapters... The 1000 is also 16/20 as my eheim.
 
I was aware of the breakability of that Co2 nipple on the reactor, thanks for the tip.

Yeah it's 16/20 pipework so fits perfectly.

Just one issue. 24 hours after installation and it's still quite noisy. I have turned the reactor upside- down several times to release trapped air, and I have turned the filter off and then back on while holding the reactor upside- down, to help release the air. But it's still making quite a loud trickling sound. Any ideas how to go about silencing it?

Apart from that, seems to be working well. Zero bubbles in the tank, and a green drop checker. Will have to wait until evening to see if I am getting good pearling.
 
Try increasing the flow to it. Mine makes more sound when the prefilter to the pump feed gets clogged with debris. Once cleaned off and the flow is more there is less sound. With my cabinet door closed there is zero sound for me. Great that you managed to get straight to green on the dc. What bps did you have to use as mine is mental! Impossible to count almost a straight line of gas lol

Do you have the spindle wheel at the top with the finest spindles positioned down on that wheel?
 
I'm at about 2 bps right now, but I'm going to slowly increase it over the next few days to find that sweet spot.

Increasing the flow to the reactor might be a bit difficult, the filter is already pretty empty. Also, it's a 1250 lph Eheim so I think it should be providing enough flow!
 
Wow only 2bps! I've really got to check mine again for leaks. Already checked twice and none showing but it's like I'm flooding co2 into it to get light green.

On turning it upside down did you get all the air out before you started feeding co2? Once the co2 is turned off and the last of the co2 is dissolved does it still make too much noise?
 
It does still make noise after Co2 is off, but I'll have to double- check again after the Co2 goes off tonight.
 
Just to see if it's a build up of gas causing the noise or the water flowing through the fly wheels...
 
Yep, like you said, the reactor is completely silent when the Co2 is off. When the Co2 is on, it makes a trickling noise. I'm guessing there is no way to avoid that.
 
Is it not in a cupboard? I really cant hear mine when the door is shut. Not sure how you could stop that trickling sound. Maybe build a sound proof box to sit it in 😉
 
Yeah it is inside the Juwel cabinet, but I can still hear it with the door shut. Just have to live with it I guess. It's not too bad, just sounds like the trickle of a stream like someone mentioned in the other thread.
 
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