I turn the green 402 reactor upside down... CO2 gas coming in from the bottom...looks pretty nice ... bubbles goes up round and round the bioballs.

Increase the CO2 to 3-4bps ( how to see if it is 3-4 bps ) the CO2 bubbles quite fast and after a while, the reactor water level drop and the bioballs stops spinning.

Last time using DIY CO2 using the same 402 reactor I also managed to get most of the plants to bubble... Now with a CO2 cylinder... it didn't bubbles...

How do I know the CO2 reactor is working properly ??

Is it the output of the water flow ?
The spinning of the bioballs ??
Other factors ??

What to look out for ???

Usually the best indicator without using a tester is that most of my plants are bubbling under the leaves... but so far... nothing after a day or two..

Tried the powerhead... too noisy and took up too much space... no good..

What other CO2 reactor do you recommend ??

Thanks


Stanley

Seems the most natural way to introduce CO2 into the water is by using glass diffuser which dispenses the CO2 thru a ceramic plate into micro bubbles. You can see the bubbles becoming smaller as they rise up thru the water.

My aunt also has the 402 reactor and the same problem occured. The reactor water level dropped and the balls stopped spinning just like your case, but my aunts tank is only a 2.5 feet, so still can inject sufficient CO2 into the water, not sure about yours, well I think you need to change to a different reactor. either that, your filter output is not enough, whats the flow rater of your filter? If you don't see that much bubbles that is coming out of the 402 reactor, it is already working, but normally with this type of CO2 reactor, you will always see some CO2 bubbles coming out. When you were using DIY CO2 the reactor was probably sufficient, but now that you've change to pressurised CO2 injection, the reactor probably can't take the amount of CO2 coming in to mix with the amount of water which is coming in from the filter. Again, what is your filter output?

My pump output is 500l/h ....

Any suggestion on other types of CO2 reactor that other hobbyist used and find it really efficient to dissolve the CO2 gasses..

The ceramic diffuser looks pretty nice... but is it that efficient ???

any brand to recommend or avoid ??



Stanley

Dennerle CO2 reactors are most effective, I'm using a Cyclo500 for my own tank at the moment. The ceramic diffusers are basically wasting CO2 as the bubbles are just flowing to the top, besides they do get clogged with algae and stuffs and get even more inefficient. I've tried lotsa brands before, but settled on Dennerle, had to really save up for it though.

overdrive,

Thanks for the replies.. must be really expensive...

How do you clean the Dennerle CO2 reactors when algae is growing inside it.. ??

bleech it ??

Thanks

I went to check out the prices of multiple CO2 reactors..

- Dennerle CO2 reactors - RM200+ ( geez - that expensive!!!! )

- Greeen CO2 reactor similar design to dennerle RM40+ ( 1/5 the cost )

- Green CO2 reactor with ceramic on lower half and turbo spinning action RM50+

- External/internal CO2 reactor - RM50+ ( save space inside the tank and totally hidden )


Anyone using any of these care of give some comments... ??

Thanks


Stanley

Actually I haven't cleaned my Dennerle reactor before, hehehe, but just some slight brown algae growth, doesn't effect the performance.

i m using - Green CO2 reactor with ceramic on lower half and turbo spinning action. Bot from jln pasar for RM30.

Just an update...

I got the Dymax difussor ( green one with separator to hold the CO2 longer, similar to dennerle design ) and after a day.. most of my plants are bubbling...

Tested the water yesterday just to see the water condition...
pH7
kH 5

CO2 is around 16ppm according to the CO2 chart..

This dymax reactor, looks simple but pretty efficient... have an atomizer to produce tiny co2 bubbles that goes up the diffusor and also due to strong water current, some tiny bubbles is being blown into the tank.. I can see tiny tiny co2 bubbles all over my tank..

Stanley