Horizontal CO2 Reactor - Yugang 鱼缸 Reactor

[sootshe]

Ahh I see. Yes you have an uphill battle with that sump for sure. In all honesty though, that is an overkill setup for a planted tank. Not taking away from your hard work and desire to have as much filtration power as possible though.
Ah, but I'm trying to do the impossible, as it's not just a planted tank. I have 10 x 4" fish & 50 x 1" fish as well.
My tank started out as a fish only tank & now I'm trying to add plants into the equation. I'm going for easy care types such as Amazon Swords, anubias & Java ferns.

Your calculations will include both surface area of your tank and the sump added together.
Thanks.

The reactor pump was just a spare pump I happened to have on hand. You literally need something with enough power to run water through the reactor, that’s it. Too much splashing will allow co2 escape unnecessarily and make the reactor noisy.

OK, so I'm thinking maybe a 500 - 600 LPH, which won't be too expensive & I have plenty of room in my sump to run the whole thing in the return chamber.
Thanks so much for your help.

 

[JayP]

That's a lot of fish for 50g, but I'm sure you're aware of that.

For those types of plants, you' don't really need a lot of CO2. While a Yugang reactor is more efficient, perhaps a simple inline diffuser would meet your needs, as long as you don't mind the micro-bubbles.

 

[sootshe]

That's a lot of fish for 50g, but I'm sure you're aware of that.

Hence the need for the Fluidized bed sump.

For those types of plants, you' don't really need a lot of CO2. While a Yugang reactor is more efficient, perhaps a simple inline diffuser would meet your needs, as long as you don't mind the micro-bubbles.

Yes, I agree, but I just can't live with the bubbles in the tank.
So far I've used a ceramic diffuser, a limewood diffuser, an in tank passive diffuser (see attached) all run from a soda stream bottle via a regulator/bubble counter & no matter how hard I run the CO2 the drop checker is always blue.

 

[sootshe]

Just did a few quick calculations to determine the reactor size & this is what AI has come up with.
By upgrading to a 90mm pipe, you can significantly reduce the physical footprint. Your horizontal Yugang reactor section now needs to be a minimum of 52.5 cm (20.7 inches) long. To safely handle your high 1.0 pH drop without the gas pocket backing up, use an adjusted length of 63 cm (24.8 inches).
This appears to be getting too large to accommodate into my system & too complicated for what I need. It also recommends a 3000LPH flow rate.

 

[renesis]

Just did a few quick calculations to determine the reactor size & this is what AI has come up with.
By upgrading to a 90mm pipe, you can significantly reduce the physical footprint. Your horizontal Yugang reactor section now needs to be a minimum of 52.5 cm (20.7 inches) long. To safely handle your high 1.0 pH drop without the gas pocket backing up, use an adjusted length of 63 cm (24.8 inches).
This appears to be getting too large to accommodate into my system & too complicated for what I need. It also recommends a 3000LPH flow rate.

That appears to be in-line with the calculator I posted yesterday in terms of size, flow rate seems high though I'm no expert. 4" sch 40 would need a min length of 52.3cm. You can shorten it if you go higher in diameter.

Yugang CO2 Reactor - A Guide

 

[sootshe]

Finally settled on this reactor, see attached.
Drilled more holes in it & put a 185Lph powerhead that also powers the undergravel filter a little way away from it to increase the water flow through it.
Works a treat!
It's only about 70mm in diameter & 80mm high, so very unobtrusive when hidden at the back of the tank.

Very simple & costs virtually nothing. No plumbing, no disruption of the existing filter system.
Sometimes the simplest thing is the best.

It's in the rear back corner where you can see the green CO2 tubing. The return spray bar is at that end at the top & the overflow is at the opposite end at the rear at the top.
This gives the CO2 a chance to absorb a little into the tank before exiting & going into the sump that has the fluidized bed in it, which I assume will remove most of the CO2 due to the turbulence from the wavemakers.

 

[Kwyet]

What ppm of CO2 do you get with that?

 

[sootshe]

Good question.....but I don't have a CO2 test kit, purely because the plants I keep don't require a lot of CO2 & my filtration system removes a lot of it anyway.
I'm lead to believe that you should get 10-15ppm in a plant only tank. See here....https://aquariumscience.org/15-6-1-low-tech-co2/

 

[Koan]

I don't have a CO2 test kit

If you want to find out what CO2 level your reactor design is putting out, this will do it

https://hannainst.com.au/product/carbon-dioxide-chemical-test-kit-hi3818/