Is it better to use a Co2 reactor or diffuser?

JosephMCorbett

JosephMCorbett

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Feb 7, 2005
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Northern California
I've got a 125 that I want to plant more heavily in (currently just a few plants). Before I do, I want to make sure that I've got a good "life support system". I've got about 2.1 wpg of pc light and was looking into pressurized Co2 to run off of a solonoid in time with my lights. As I'm considering the parts I'll need, I was wondering if it is better to use a reactor/pump combo. or just a diffuser? What's the best way to inject? Will they both get the job done or is one more wasteful than the other. The diffuser just looks the simplest to me....less plumbing and hardware.
 
The is reactor where the CO2 is produced by a biological compound or released from a carbon block, and the diffuser is what disolves the CO2 into your water.... right? So I think it'd be good to have both.
 
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I had the same question when i started my system 5 or 6 months ago. I quickly learnt that people prefer Reactors over diffusers, for the simple fact that they are sometimes more efficient and much easier to mantain. Diffusers if not cleaned regularily, can get full dirty (algae), and become less efficient or stop working all together. Reactors, while they too should be cleaned, require much less of it.

Just my two cents!
 
So, RTR, I think what you're saying is "Reactor". Don't sit on the fence, give it to me straight, tell me what you think (lol). So, I think I'll go with a Reactor. Thanks guys for the input.
 
Ok, this answers some of my questions from the other thread. Once again, unless you intend to increase the wattage, with a light plant load CO2 is not a necessity.
As to the diffuser question.....what type of filtration are you using?

Len
 
djlen, for filtration I have a Filstar XP3 canister and two Penguin 1140 powerheads with prefilters. Sorry to make you jump from thread to thread, but I created two - one for a parts question and one for an airation(?) question - maybe I should have posted two questions in one thread.
 
A diffusor is a glorified airstone, and simply bubbles the gas into the water. No matter how fine the bubbles are, much of it simply rises to the water surface and evaporates. It wastes a LOT of gas and makes it difficult to reach the more desired high C02 levels.

A reactor is a cylinder of some sort connected to a pump. The pump brings water inside the chamber where it is mixed with gas. The enriched water is then pumped back into the aquarium. No C02 is lost, you can then reach higher C02 levels and hold it at that level consistently using less gas. Much more efficient.
 
The in-line, cylinder type of reactor I referred to previously and is mentioned above is the most effective method for dispersing CO2 when you have an external cannister filter such as an XP3.
Having said that, I have an XP2 in use currently and simply use a power head to inject the gas. I do this because I'm too lazy to go get the parts and put together a cylinder, and also because I like the simplicity of injecting through a power head.
I like the diffusion I get with my power heads as well.

Len
 
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