Flow Rate of EHEIM 1250 with UV and Reactor?

[Aftica]

Just planning some equipment out for my tank... and space for filters and CO2 bottles and the like is going to be at a premium. I am thinking instead of adding a second filter to my setup I figured on a pump. I have an Eheim 1250 hobby pump not in use that I could use to run the following...

CarbonDoser EXT5000 External Reactor
CarbonDoser External Probe Holder/Mount
Coral life Turbo Twist 9W UV Sterilizer.
Now the Turbo Twist is rated for a flow rate of 100 to 200 GPH... and the EXT5000 does not list a flow rate that I know of.

The EHEIM 1250 pump delivers a flow of 317 GPH and a max delivery head of 6'7"

Models 1046, 1048, 1250 Performance Curve


If I mount this near the floor... and the tubing for the inlet and outlet go up to the top of the tank, use an elbow and go down into the tank... and the top of the tank is about 4'3" from the floor. Lets say it goes down into the tank 18 inches. (Tank is 24" Deep) Does this actually give me 4'3" of delivery head?

If this is correct I should be seeing a flow rate of about 185 GPH rather than 312?

Then I add the 3 items inline... I should realistically be somewhere around 90 to 100 gph? (Guessing here)

Thoughts?

 

[Green Thumb Aquatics]

dont know if you have any experience with the EXT 5000, or what amount of CO2 requirements you have, but I was not able to get enough CO2 disolved in the water untill I got 450gph (rated) going through it. This was on a 75 gallon with high light and high plant load... and I had to modify the reactor, I would highly recomend doing this..
take off the little nipple where you attach the CO2 and put an air line through it.. then put in something that will give you really fine bubbles, I use wooden air stones as they are cheap and give more fine bubbles than reg air stones... however switching to a ceramic disc style in the next week... also you do not need that entire kitchen scrubber in there, just unroll it some, cut off what you have unrolled, tie it around the bottom of the pvc in the middle where the water goes out of the reactor.. this will allow the bubbles to be pushed farther down in the reactor, getting more CO2 in the water..
also take off all the 90 degree elbos, they considerably slow the flow.. only after all this was I able to get enough CO2 into the tank to keep up with lighting needs. 3.something watt per gallon of coralife lighting...
originally I tried to run it with a 2075 eheim, which as far as I know is one of the highest flowing canister filters they make.. better and cheaper to make your own.. house filters are I think what are used.. the tech from aquarium plants.com told me they get their supplies for them from a farming supply company
I know this is a bit off subject but I figured I would share my experience with these reactors as it was frustrating to say the least to spend the money on a CO2 system and not be able to get all the CO2 I needed into the tank...

 

[Aftica]

interesting ..... I have not bought the reactor yet.... and not totally sold on that model.... I used to use a aquamedic reactor 1000 and found it good.... I seen the design of the ext5000 and it looked interesting.....

 

[Left C]

.... I seen the design of the ext5000 and it looked interesting.....

Have you see the Cerges reactor which is a DIY version of the CarbonDoser EXT5000? The Cerges reactor is made from a home water filter like you use under your sink. I've never used one, but I've read some very good comments about it. It is mentioned that it doesn't lower the flow as much as a Rex Grigg type reactor.

 

[dutchy]

Based on my experience with inline equipment and Eheim filters I estimate you'd lose around half of the capacity.

 

[R.Anestis]

Hi all. I have a 180 gallon w/fuge set up underneath. Before everyone does eyerolls about the fuge- I'm a noobie to planted tanks & followed advice of a well known & respected LFS. That was before I had found the veritable encyclopedia that is the Barr report. Having said that, I'd like to make lemonade out of lemons at this point and keep what I have.


My most pressing problem at the moment is getting a measurable amount of co2 in the tank. I've been running a Redsea pro system for several months, and the drop checker has never indicated a change, nor have the plants, fish, or algea levels. Then I recently found out that that system is only supposed to be for tanks up to 125g...


So my questions are:


1) what is the best/most accurate measure of co2 level.


2) what diffusion method/reactor would handle the size tank I have? I was thinking about the CarbonDoser EXT5000, but not convinced after some reading on the subject.


Any thoughts/advice appreciated.


-Ron