Too much water flow for sump and CO2 reactor??

[30king]

Hi all,
I'm running a 90 gal, mod light, EI dosing. I run a sump, and inject my pressurized CO2 into the pump intake, which flows to a 3" diameter 20" tall reactor (to catch bubbles) before returning to the tank. My current pump is about 600 gph.

I modified the impeller by notching it, and drilling holes, but am not satisfied with my bubbles (too coarse, and blowing through the reactor). My impeller mod wasn't so good; the plastic was so thick, I couldn't cut it without it breaking. I settled for notches (looks like a comb).

I'm considering buying a Rio pump with a needle wheel conversion, I'm debating the size. While my current pump creates a great flow, I'm kind of thinking the flow may be too high (bubbles blasting through my reactor). Should I go with a smaller Rio, and supplement water movement with a power head?

My goal:
I'm trying to find a balance btwn CO2 infusion and limiting the seltzer water look. My plants are doing fine, but I have small battles with BBA as I mess with the CO2 (thank god for Excel). My thought is that a smaller pump with a needle wheel will diffuse CO2 better, and lower flow will capture more bubbles in the reactor. Lower overall water turnover means longer CO2 in the tank.

Any comments, suggestions???

Thanks
Adam
SAPS member

 

[Gerryd]

Hi Adam,

A NW pump MAY lose a bit of flow compared to the mfg rating...so go a bit higher in GPH with a NW pump than you would for a normal pump...

A big reactor like you have requires a good deal of flow.

Also, the NW itself should ELIMINATE the need for the reactor. Why not simply add a NW pump in the sump itself and remove the reactor? The sump pump will pick up the NW c02 enriched water and pump it to the tank. Out of sight and should be good to go.

Or, simply replace the sump pump with a new larger NW size. Still remove the reactor

Just some thoughts, and you DID ask.....

 

[jerrybforl]

I agree with Gerry. You also can't forget the how much head you have. What that means is the distance from the pump to the spray bar.

I have a 100 gallon and I have about 5ft of head on mine. The pump in my sump is 1150 gph.

So, you are roughly half of what I got plus you modified the impellar. You're probably losing flow with that as well.

I use the inline diffuser on my sump and it works great! I don't see the purpose of having both either. You should do one or the other.

 

[30king]

How does your water look with regards to tiny bubbles? I have heard and read of others who attest to having minimal bubbles floating around their tank, yet mine looks like a cup of 7-up. I run about 3-4 pea sized bubbles per sec out of my regulator/ bubble counter. I know there is variation in buble size but comparisons should be approximate????

I'm just re-evaluating my methods for CO2 delivery. Back to my original post, if I chop the bubbles finer at the beginning, with my extra large reactor, I'm hoping to cpture more bubbles. I thought a lower pump size might slow em down a bit.

 

[chopsticks]

I hate the 7-up look too, have a reactor after the NW in the sump, in my last experiment more flow reduced the bubble size, I still can see the bubbles bubbles though

Tom recently post about a thingy he's using to remove the bubbles, I asked for a pic but it never came

Regards,

Juan