Co2 Reactor Vs Co2 Misting?

[snowballs99]

About once a year, I get super curious and wanna test out reactors again.
Usually I end up going back to CO2 misting for whatever reason I forgot.

But what's your opinion on the cons and pros? I just have farm tanks so I give 0 consideration to aesthetics.
I personally just plop the entire reactor into the tank and lightly attach it onto a powerhead.

Do these reactors work better with large poewrful powerheads due to Pressure increase?
Kind of like how they carbonate soda, water enters into a higher pressure system where co2 more easily dissolves.
Would it work even better if we were to restrict the outflow as well to increase the pressure inside reactor even more?

This what I have now for comparison.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

I use horizontal reactors on all my tanks now, and I'll never go back to diffusers. Except for nano tanks.

Reactors just have great pros vs cons IMO compared to diffusers. Both options work, and can work well -- I just prefer reactors.

The #1 thing for me, honestly, is the lack of CO2 mist in my tanks. I love being able to actually see the plants and fish, not the bubbles.

 

[snowballs99]

I use horizontal reactors on all my tanks now, and I'll never go back to diffusers. Except for nano tanks.

Reactors just have great pros vs cons IMO compared to diffusers. Both options work, and can work well -- I just prefer reactors.

The #1 thing for me, honestly, is the lack of CO2 mist in my tanks. I love being able to actually see the plants and fish, not the bubbles.

I do get the itch to try out the yugang style horizontal reactor as well.
Do you know a really cheap diy way to make one to test out efficiency before moving on to a pre-assembled one?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Easy and Cheap DIY Horizontal reactor (Yugang Reactor) from an existing vertical reactor

Closest I've got!

 

[Koan]

Here's a very detailed parts list and description for a DIY reactor build:

S

Post in thread 'Horizontal CO2 Reactor - Yugang 鱼缸 Reactor'

Oct 5, 2025

For anyone else struggling to find where to buy clear pipe and the appropriate fittings for building one of these Yugang reactors DIY, hopefully this will save you all some time and work.

I'll be making a journal at some point about this build that this belongs to, but no commercially made reactors would even remotely fit in my stand so I decided to build this per the guidance of @Jeff Miotke .

Please make sure to select a pipe length appropriate for your tank per: Yugang CO2 Reactor - A Guide

As per Yugang's guide, clear pipe isn't strictly necessary, but I find it helpful...

• ScaperHaynes

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And another

Journal Post in thread 'Experiment Tank || 90x50x36cm, 39gal, Horizontal Reactor High-energy Aquascape Journal'

Jul 30, 2025

Hi everyone!

I wanted to provide another case for Rocco's homemade reactor using the Netlea Prefilter.

Going to preface that I am a very inexperienced aquascaper, and have had to bother the living daylights out of both Rocco and Jeff, so thank you both for yalls patience. This will be a VERY ELI5 rundown.

First, I removed the prefilter's equipment and foam. Then take off the filter top.

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You will see a disk here! You want to remove it gently so it pops off, exposing nothing but the head, some ribbing, and a red seal. This red seal LOVES to slide off, so ensure you dont...

• JohnPilon

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[snowballs99]

Easy and Cheap DIY Horizontal reactor (Yugang Reactor) from an existing vertical reactor

Closest I've got!

couldnt u have just ugh...not drilled the hole and just let the reactor sit horizontally to test?
lol, seems like it does the same thing no?

What do you think about just using this one but horizontally sitting in the tank?
Do you think this looks long enugh for like a 10-15 gallon?
I'd imagine the top portion still functions like yugang, and it even comes with suction cups.

 

[Koan]

Do you think this looks long enugh for like a 10-15 gallon

The math is pretty straightforward:

1. Multiply your tank length times width: that's the square inch surface area of the tank.
2. Divide this number by 17.7 if you want a 1.5 ° pH drop, or by 35.2 if you want a 1.2° pH drop etc.
3. This result is the number of square inches you would need in your reactor surface area to achieve this drop.
4. Measure the reactor you have, length times diameter. This is the maximum surface area of the water inside your tube will when it is filled to 50%, at it's maximum diameter.
5. Compare 3) to 4)

That will tell you if the tube you're discussing is bigger or smaller than the surface area you would need to create that pH drop in your tank

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

couldnt u have just ugh...not drilled the hole and just let the reactor sit horizontally to test?

You must not be familiar with my other work Just kidding. But I did exactly this in my experiment tank, it's been running for a year now:

Netlea prefilter bottom right is just on it's side as a horizontal reactor. Works great. I do have to purge it manually every few days, as it's not setup in "overflow" mode, but it's been excellent.

 

[snowballs99]

The math is pretty straightforward:

1. Multiply your tank length times width: that's the square inch surface area of the tank.
2. Divide this number by 17.7 if you want a 1.5 ° pH drop, or by 35.2 if you want a 1.2° pH drop etc.
3. This result is the number of square inches you would need in your reactor surface area to achieve this drop.
4. Measure the reactor you have, length times diameter. This is the maximum surface area of the water inside your tube will when it is filled to 50%, at it's maximum diameter.
5. Compare 3) to 4)

That will tell you if the tube you're discussing is bigger or smaller than the surface area you would need to create that pH drop in your tank

Interesting.
I gave chatgbt the long reactor length, which is around 12 inches length, and I'm guessing 2 inches in diameter?

Here is the results.

Compared to your 20 long:

• 1.5 pH drop target: 360 ÷ 17.7 = 20.3 sq in
• 1.2 pH drop target: 360 ÷ 35.2 = 10.2 sq in

So with a 2 inch diameter reactor, laid horizontally, you'd still have:

• 26 sq in available
• which is still above the 20.3 sq in needed for the 1.5 drop

So yeah, still enough by that method.


Rough margin:

• 26 ÷ 20.3 = 1.28
• so about 28% more area than the 1.5-drop requirement

Only caveat:
that assumes you really get close to the full 13 inches of usable water-contact length. Even if usable length were only 11–12 inches, you're still probably okay:

• 12 × 2 = 24 sq in
• 11 × 2 = 22 sq in

Still above 20.3.


So that reactor should give a 20 gallon long over a 1.5 ph dropish if I got the diameter correct at 2 inches.

Does GPH over the reactor matter for these very much? My pump is only like 50gph.

 

[Koan]

Still above 20.3

So too big to use overflow mode, if you have livestock.