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Reactor and Mist

Discussion in 'General Plant Topics' started by Bill, Feb 27, 2006.

  1. Bill

    Bill Lifetime Charter Member
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    I have a reactor on a 120g tank and the CO2 runs around 40 to 50.

    If I add mist with the reactor should I be able to see a difference in plants growth?

    Thanks,
    Bill
     
    #1 Bill, Feb 27, 2006
  2. fosteder

    fosteder Guru Class Expert

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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    what do you mean by CO2 runs around 40-50??
     
    #2 fosteder, Feb 27, 2006
  3. colonel

    colonel Guru Class Expert

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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    40 - 50 ppm i would Imange. And as far as seeing a difference if you ran the mist method I can not say for sure, I just swiched over to the mist method myself, but the general opinion if that it does improve plant health and growth over just getting those dissloved CO2 concentration's in the water colum, for the reason that you have pure Co2 bubbles floating all around your tank to come in direct contact with the plant leaves.
    I would say be the judge for your self, its easy enough to hook your CO2 line to a limewood stone or the like and toss it in a high current area in the tank!

    ~Matt
     
    #3 colonel, Feb 27, 2006
  4. Bill

    Bill Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    40 to 50 ppm

    I was wanting to keep my reactor going and just split my CO2 line after the regulator with two needle valves, one for the reactor and one to the limewood stone.

    I was going to put the limewood stone in the return line after the reactor. My return line is a 1/2" clear pvc line with holes in it running across the back-bottom of the tank.

    My reactor works well and all of the CO2 is disolved before returning to the tank, I was just curious to know if anyone else has tried this. I already push my CO2 as high as the fish can take so if I can add more and not affect the fish thats sounds like a good deal, as long as I still like the look with the bubbles.

    Bill
     
    #4 Bill, Feb 27, 2006
  5. handimn1

    handimn1 Junior Poster

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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    What kind of reactor do you have?
     
    #5 handimn1, Mar 20, 2006
  6. Bill

    Bill Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    I have an external reactor that I made out of 4" pvc. I have about 6" behind my tank that you don't see so I put it behind the tank, I got a little carried away because it's 4' tall but all of the CO2 disolves.

    My return pipe from the sump and reactor runs all along the rear bottom of the tank. I tried running the mist into return line but the small bubbles join back together to make large bubbles. Next I going to try to run the mist into the return line from my Eheim which is located at the top of the tank on the side blowing down. I'm hoping that if I inject the mist right before the output that it will stay in the mist form.

    If that doesn't work I guess I will run it thru a powerhead but I already have all of the water movement I want in the tank. All of my return pipes are black pvc so they are hidden very well and if I add the powerhead it will be visible .

    Bill
     
    #6 Bill, Mar 20, 2006
  7. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    Bill, several have done this in our local club.

    Red Sea makes the Berlin Skimmer limewood stones which are very small, about 1cm square and about 3cm long. They come 3 to a pack.

    You might try those.

    I think if you use a spray bar, and add the mist to that just behind the first hole, direct this spray bar into the plant beds, you will find that will work best.

    Smaller tanks or tanks with a spray bar: bubble the mist up right below the outflow.

    Try and keep the weeds down so that there is good current all the way around the tank.

    I'll see about the photo's, they used clear 2" PVC so they can see the mini glass diffuser.

    I've seen a dozen different hybrids of various sorts of reactors/diffusers etc.
    I came up with 20 or so back 5-7 years ago.

    A high quality venturi can also be used instead and they are very good, but require higher pressure/gph flow rates to run well.



    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #7 Tom Barr, Mar 20, 2006
  8. VaughnH

    VaughnH Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    The CO2 mist method also adds dissolved CO2 to the water, and it does it very well. So, if you have 40 ppm CO2 now, from using the reactor, and you add CO2 mist without reducing the bubble rate to the reactor, you will kill the fish. CO2 mist isn't a repeal of the physical laws that say CO2 dissolves easily into water.
     
    #8 VaughnH, Mar 22, 2006
  9. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    Precisely.
    That's the part that bugs some folks.
    It bugged me too.

    But I've watched those little bubbles rise up and slowly disappear and then when I added current, they didn't.

    Now why?

    I'm not sure, but you cannot have it both ways.
    This observation is counter intuitive.

    Other Gases diffusing into a bubble is a very slow process, much like CO2 and O2 diffusing from the air above, O2/N2 etc are not very souble, CO2 is.

    Initially the CO2 mist from current takes only a liittkle while to dissolve but so thereafter, once the CO2 level builds up, the mist starts top persist and near the end, the mist persist for long peroids(30-90 seconds etc).

    When I talk about persistence, I'm talking seconds..... maybe a minute or two, not days, hours etc. It's not long nor needs to be to have a strong effect.

    These are just the observations, and you can see the plant's response, Amano does something similar as well.

    I really like these tiny limewood Red Sea air stones though, these are the best stones yet.

    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #9 Tom Barr, Mar 22, 2006
  10. Bill

    Bill Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    >>>A high quality venturi can also be used instead and they are very good, but require higher pressure/gph flow rates to run well.
     
    #10 Bill, Mar 23, 2006
  11. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: Reactor and Mist

    Yes, give the tiny limewood stones a try, you will find them pretty useful.

    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #11 Tom Barr, Mar 24, 2006
  12. richr

    richr Junior Poster

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    #12 richr, Mar 27, 2006
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