How to plumb my external reactor

[omartinez]

Hi,


i currently have an small red sea 500 reactor that i used on my 50 gallons, now i have a 90 gallon and i want a better reactor, with the red sea cant pass 3 bps.


I will be getting a cerges reactor build and a rio 800pt (needle Wheel impeler) pump to move water to the reactor. I've a Wet/dry/sump filter but i prefer to use an additional pump and not the return pump to avoid flow issues.


now my question is, do i place the exit hose of the reactor next to the return pump, as i've read on this fórum most do, or add a tee just after the return pump and with some fitting place the hose from the reactor there?


any advice welcome

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

Can you clarify what you mean? Are you asking about the direction of flow into the reactor?

 

[omartinez]

this is the original plan : RIO 800PT NW ----- reactor ---- sump chamber where the return pump is


or


RIO 800PT NW ----- reactor ---- tee after the return pump.


normally i have read just to place the hose from the reactor in the same chamber and as close as posible to the return pump...but i ask if its better to cut the tubing just after the pump, place a tee there and some fittings so i can connect there the hose from the reactor. The co2 will travel directly up to the aquarium

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

I don't understand. What is the purpose of the tee?

 

[omartinez]

here is a really bad drawing of what i mean...this is how i want to plumb the reactor

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

Oh I see. It'll be more efficient without the tee since the return pump produces negative pressure in the reactor.

 

[omartinez]

so i just place the hose from the reactor next to the return pump?

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

You can do that. The issue I see is that the reactor pressure will be low which means slower CO2 dissolution. If you can create slightly more pressure in the reactor, CO2 will dissolve faster.

 

[omartinez]

how do i increase the preassure?

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

Head height - place the reactor on the floor so the return tube from the reactor is high. This means a separate return tube from the sump return tube.


Restrict flow on the reactor outlet - with a ball valve, smaller diameter outlet, longer outlet tubing (greater tube-water friction), etc.

 

[omartinez]

ok..thanks i will place a ball valve on the outlet of the reactor and longer outlet tubing to test how it goes

 

[Solcielo lawrencia]

You only need one. What's important is pressure, however, is you restrict the outflow too much, there won't be enough circulation in the reactor. It's a delicate balance. Higher pump flow can counter the flow restriction. If your sump pump is powerful enough, you won't need a separate reactor pump.

 

[shoggoth43]

I would feed them separately vs off the main pump or trying to T in after the main pump. My main pump and head pressure could easily reverse the flow through my reactor if there were any restriction upstream of the reactor. Also, depending on the reactor design and how quickly the return broke the siphon you could have large amounts of air drawn into the reactor during a power outage leading to trouble restarting it.

 

[gsjmia]

I have a separate pump, I put the co2 hose through a hole drilled into the nipple in the outlet of the pump (this is after the pump-I don't like the noise of the co2 hitting the pump), then it goes to a 20x4 cerges reactor, then an outlet hose back to the sump. The end of the outlet hose is wrapped in foam filter pad to catch the bubbles. Its probably better to place the output of the reactor as close as possible to the intake of the sump.

 

[omartinez]

thanks for the advice, I already used an additional pump, for the momento its working