DIY Plastic Soda Bottle External Vortex CO2 Reactor

[Nolapete]

DIY Plastic Soda Bottle External Vortex CO2 Reactor

I have this idea that I'm going to work on this weekend, but I wanted to post it here first to get some feedback. This particular design model sits on top of the aquarium hood.

I don't have a scanner, so I can't scan my drawing and I suck at drawing in Paint, so you'll have to use your imagination. I think I'm wordy enough to put the picture in your mind.

Materials:

1 or 2 litre soda bottle

2-3' of plastic flexible hose that snugly fits through the opening in the soda bottle

2-3' of plastic flexible hose that fits on the end of your powerhead of choice

Super glue

6" rigid plastic tubing

Aquarium silicone

Square rubbermaid or tupperware lid slightly bigger than the outside of the soda bottle

Powerhead

NOTE: I just realized that with the powerhead turned off this will make a great bubble counter as well.

This can either be done with a 2 litre or 1 litre plastic soda bottle with the label removed.

Thoroughly rinse out the soda bottle.

Cut the soda bottle top off 1.5" below where the sloping part meets the widest part of the bottle. This cut must be precise as this will form the base.

Slide the hose for the return through the bottle opening from the inside out. You will need enough of the hose through to form a U shape inside the other half of the soda bottle.

Place the bottom half of the soda bottle over the U shaped hose and down over the inverted neck piece to see how it fits.

NOTE: Don't worry, I'll be adding pictures of each step this weekend. Just want to get this all down while it's still in my head.

You can take these apart now as we'll glue them together later

Use an icepick to poke a hole in the bottom of the soda bottle offset from the middle about an inch then force the rigid plastic tubing through this hole. You want the tubing to be very snug, so don't make the hole too big initially. It should be difficult to get the tubing through the hole.

On the opposite side wall of the bottom part of the soda bottle, make a hole 1/8" smaller than the thickness of the powerhead hose. We want this to be snug too. Force the end of the powerhead hose through this hole until 2-3" are inside.

Cut a circle in the rubbermaid/tupperware lid using the neck part of the bottle as a guide. Make the circle about an 1/8-1/4" smaller than the widest part of the neck piece. (This is a guess, I'll clarify it when I actually do it.

Assembly, gluing, and sealing instructions to follow.

 

[rwilliams254]

Interesting idea.

 

[Nolapete]

I may have to modify this as I think the return hose is going to form a siphon and drain the bottle.

NOTE: After assembly, we'll make a hole in the side of the base for the return hose.

 

[legendaryfrog]

IM a little confused as to what you want to do, but i cant wait to see how it turns out.

If you're looking for an exterior reactor, buld one of these instead:

http://rexgrigg.com/diy-reactor.htm

Its a proven design and is very compact.

 

[Nolapete]

It's based off of this: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/41471-super-vortex-reaktor.html

 

[legendaryfrog]

ohhhhhhh.....now i see what you're doing. It looks awesome

 

[Nolapete]

I think I have all the parts I need at home except the super glue. I'm going to try to get it all mocked up tonight.

 

[Nolapete]

Here's a pic that I found that gives a general idea of the way the neck part of the bottle is inverted into the bottom part.

 

[legendaryfrog]

Awesome, I'll be following this thread........i want to see what comes out of this.

I wonder if instead of co2, a regular air pump could be fitted to this to dissolve whatever was in the air into the tank water. I have a 27g planted tank that is constantly short on oxygen, but I hate using airstones to agitate the surface, in the process diffusing co2.

 

[Nolapete]

I'm sure if you just hooked up the venturi on the powerhead it would do what you are talking about. You could probably even get an O2 cylinder and inject oxygen.