DIY CO2 Reactor
- Thread starter kzang1976
- Start date
I'd recommend starting here:
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/.
Any time spent poking around The Krib is time well spent.
Cheers,
-fpsiv
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/.
Any time spent poking around The Krib is time well spent.
Cheers,
-fpsiv
Stuff on hand?
I think the important thing is to use stuff you have, not to go out and buy all new stuff -- that quickly gets to me more money than just buying one new.
If you have a water pump, very small, like a Rio50 or Rio90, you can make an imitation of the PlantGuild reactor, and internal reactor. Requires water pump with suction feet and a clearish plastic jar something like 1.5 to 2" diam, 5 or 6 " tall, and a new cheap kitchen scrubbie or some new balletskirt type netting from Walmart or some fish safe sponges.
If you have a powerhead and a large clear tube like a gravel vac tube or something similar, you can make an internal reactor from that. IMO, the weakest powerheads ought to be the best, based on my experiances with the plantguild reactor.
If you want an external reactor, then you want to have some PVC parts layiing around, snd some bioballs or some sort of plasticy stuff to break up a powerful flow of water. It seems that there is some guesswork involved in matching the flow rate to the length of the unit, be aware that the higher the rate, the less time for absorbtion.
I think the important thing is to use stuff you have, not to go out and buy all new stuff -- that quickly gets to me more money than just buying one new.
If you have a water pump, very small, like a Rio50 or Rio90, you can make an imitation of the PlantGuild reactor, and internal reactor. Requires water pump with suction feet and a clearish plastic jar something like 1.5 to 2" diam, 5 or 6 " tall, and a new cheap kitchen scrubbie or some new balletskirt type netting from Walmart or some fish safe sponges.
If you have a powerhead and a large clear tube like a gravel vac tube or something similar, you can make an internal reactor from that. IMO, the weakest powerheads ought to be the best, based on my experiances with the plantguild reactor.
If you want an external reactor, then you want to have some PVC parts layiing around, snd some bioballs or some sort of plasticy stuff to break up a powerful flow of water. It seems that there is some guesswork involved in matching the flow rate to the length of the unit, be aware that the higher the rate, the less time for absorbtion.