Where to place the CO2 Reactor

[Jamie]

OK, I know I'm being a pain in the butt with all of these ?'s. I've determined that I don't need a protein skimmer for my plant tank and instead I"m going to put in a CO2 system. After much research, I'm going for a DIY pressurized system. I decided to splurge; I will get the co2 reactor from FL driftwood. I know this sounds silly- but I am having the tank buiult with overflows and a sump/wetdry setup. I like having everything hidden. Can I put my reactor in my sump and still get the saturation that I need? I hope so, otherwise I'll have the big reaction chamber (cords, chamber,pump) sitting in plain view, taking away from a nice planted scene.

[carpguy]

I took a quick look at Florida Driftwood's site and it seemed to me that the reactors they're selling are for in tank use. If there's room for them in the sump then I'd guess they could go in there just as easily, but I think you'd get better results putting an inline reactor on the return line.

My impression is that the inline reactors are more efficient and it seems to me that CO2 loss would be minimized by introducing it into the flow as late as possible. I saw a post recently by RTR that said it was possible to do wet/dry without much CO2 loss, but even so…

If you take a look at Aquabotanic's (http://www.aquabotanic.com/abstore/index.html) CO2 Systems you'll see the Turbo Jet Reactor, which seems similar to Fl Driftwood's. Just above it is an external Reactor 1000. If you can't sort out how it works from the picture, this handy DIY article (http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/co2reactor.htm) should help.

And while I've been plotting and scheming and researching for several months now, I've never actually run a sump, so you may want to wait for a more experienced opinion. Just my own 2 cents…

HTH and welcome to the funny farm :D

[Dabbler II]

The only thing you have to watch is you have to keep your water level up in the overflow (like 2-3") from your tank level so the water doesn't splash around when it goes over the over flow other wise you will loose all your co2 (it took me a few months to figure that out:D ) I keep all my stuff in the sump including the reactor.


Edit :removed an extra tank

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Jamie
.........., otherwise I'll have the big reaction chamber (cords, chamber,pump) sitting in plain view, taking away from a nice planted scene. You can place Ancharis, Rotala, some Vals, others.. in front of the power reactor (I have the same one..), and effectively hide it. :cool:

[Jamie]

I thought about that Joe- If I have to put it in the tank for efficiency then I'll probably do that- Thanks for replying.

[Dave Cushing]

I looked over the DIY article posted above. Does anybody have any comments about the solvents in the plummers glue. I realize we use the same stuff for home water systems, I just want to make sure there is no leaching into the tank.

Dave

[Robert H]

Aquamedics Reactor 1000 is easy to hook up directly to a sump or cannister filter. It has ceramic beads for maximum C02 diffusion, and its made of heavy duty material. Its the best thing they make in my opinion