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That is helpful Matty!
So the powerhead is suction cupped to the side of the tank then the reactor is just wedged under it Or is the reactor hanging from the powerhead which allows the water to be pushed out the bottom And it's just one piece of foam you have in the bottom or is the entire reactor filled with it? oh and one more question ...what's that thing that's right over the...errr...what did you call it "fish tail"


^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Weeeeellll,
I made something.
It's not as well manufactured as mattyboombatty's, mainly because the gravel vac I'm using was cracked.
Design is for the most part the same, powerhead @the top, airline tube going down. I've filled the tube with onion bag netting to help slow the rise of the CO2 bubbles, and have the powerhead aimed down to keep them in the tube longer, but since the top was cracked and I didnt have the right size tube to fit the powerhead and airline tube are placed inside the crack in the tube.
ah well, we'll see how it works.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"There’s an emptiness inside her. And she’d do anything to fill it in.
And though it’s red blood bleeding from her now. It's more like cold blue ice in her heart.
She feels like kicking out all the windows. And setting fire to this life."

mine is more of a trap, whereas hers is an actual bell diffuser setup more or less. it works about the same, but mine doesn't require that there be any pressure on the system to keep it running correctly

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Thanks Miss Moppet, isnt' that essentially similar to what moondog posted? Something to hold the co2 as it comes out of the unit and keep the bubbles from rising to the surface too quickly?

^_^

[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

This is the CO2 bell/diffuser I will be using for my 10 gallon tank. The whole thing should cost be less than $5 to build. I have the same sort of thing on my 29 except that the bell came with my jungle fizz factory system.

You will have to have a fairly steady production of CO2 from your reactor for something like this to work, but I find it works well in keeping the saturation level where I want it. It uses pressure to force the CO2 into the water column so it's very important that all of your seals are pretty much air and watertight or else it won't do anything at all.

Bonke suggested the use of the cheap plastic wine glass in chat because it will be fairly easy to use and hide. I would suggest using something with a "frosted" texture so you don't have light reflecting off it. I may even use a coloured wine glass to help camouflage it better. I'm going to write an article about the setup when it's finished....How To Set up a Planted 10 Gallon Tank for Under $50....The full DIY CO2 unit will only run me about $10. and I got my lights for $16 at the local hardware store. :%)

Miss Moppet attached this image:

Babel, I didn't make my unit but I bought it (I was lazy). It wasn't too expensive at about $ 15,- or so, and came with suckers (uhmmm, is that the correct english word for them, it sounds weird, those things that makes them stick on your glass )

Here's my unit:
http://www.sera.de/english/produkte/CO2-Reaktor.htm

edit: made link clickable

Last edited by Dr. Bonke at 18-Feb-2005 01:37

A Treatise on DIY CO2 Systems for Freshwater-Planted Aquaria
by John LeVasseur

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

Let's see...

Yes, the powerhead is suctioned to the side of the tank. I know the AC powerheads come with the mounting which is what I use.

The outlet of the powerhead is connected to the gravel vac tube where the hose usually attaches to the gravel vac tube. They are connected with the 3/8" tubing, the same stuff that is used as hose for the gravel vac.

The filter floss is bigger than the opening of the tube and must be bunched up to snugly fit into the tube. This prevents bubbles from leaving, but allows water to pass through. There is only a small piece at the bottom, not the entire way up.

And yes, let's not forget the most important part of the reactor, the fish tail. This part is left out by most amatures, and is vital to the setup.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I use a cannister filter.
The CO2 outlet tube goes into the filter inlet tube. I drilled a 1/8" hole in the top of the strainer and stick the tubing in that.
Even though the cannister outlet is below water level, it is turbulent, which is not the best application. That is, it is not as efficient as it could be. However, it was cheap, easy, and convenient.
-Wayne

.

Hmmm so, I found my old gravel vac tube that was broken (and kept :%)) so I'm thinking of using that for a diffuser. I had been using the small soda bottle but I'm not sure it was really very effective. I've seen a number of different ones including the ladder that comes with the hagen unit. If people don't mind posting pics or sketches of their diffusers I'd appreaciate it.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

Here is my reactor if you are still interested. The big tube is just a regular gravel cleaning tube.

mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hmmm
Welll so far I've got two powerheads that were found in our server room one is 106 gph one is 117gph, a broken part of a gravel vac, cotton wool, spare filter sponges, gravel, airline tubeing, and a hopefully useable tube of silicone.
Lets just hope I dont' make a mess >.<

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

I've had something similar looking to Dr. Bonke's. You can make it yourself from that old gravel vac. The co2 comes out at the bottom of the tube, and floats up while the stream from the powerhead forces it to go down. There should be something stopping the bubbles from escaping the tube at the end, but which would let the saturated water out. basically, you can use any filter sponge.

I don't know what Dr. Bonke use his with, I assume with a pressurised system, but I tried using mine with a DIY co2, and it didn't work that well because the pressure caused by the water current stopped the co2 from bubbling out. Also, if your tank is smallish, this setup is quite big and is hard to disguise.

This is my experience with that kind of reactor, but so far it seems like my experience is the complete opposite from other people's experience, so maybe you should try it.

looks to me like it's supposed to be holey on the bottom

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Hmmm okay, so reactors are compleatly different than diffusers I'm assuming
I'd tried something similar to what moondog pictured but I dont' think it worked quite right .

Dr. Bonke what materials did you use for your tube, and is the bottom portion compleatly closed or does it have holes drilled in it

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

frank, babel is referring to using a small soda bottle like a bell diffuser, an idea i gave to her from [link=this article]http://www.plantedtank.net/co2diffuser.html" style="COLOR: #ff0044[/link] after i tried using a small bottle in place of the gravel vac that they show in their design. it works *very* well in my 10g, and helps buffer the ph when the diy mix runs out. here is a pic of it in action:




i also have a reactor on my 50g, using pressurized co2, here is a pic of that:

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

here's a schematic of mine, it's a unit from Sera, should be avaialble all over the world I guess

Dr. Bonke attached this image:

Hi,
There are two accepted ways of introducing CO2 into the
aquarium. The Reactor, and the Diffuser.
The Reactor can be of two types, internally or externally
mounted. These are cylinders, capped at each end with
ports (openings) for the attachment of the CO2 delivery
hose and water in and out.

These are pictures of various reactors:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?N=2004&Np=1&Ntt=reactor&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Nty=1

Diffusers are "fancy air stones." The best are made of
slintered glass and are designed to breakup the steam of
CO2 into thousands of very, very tiny bubbles. The bubbles
are so tiny that they are subject to the slightest currents
in the tank and are absorbed before they can reach the
surface and break.

This is a picture of a couple of diffusers:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?N=2004&Np=1&Ntt=diffuser&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Nty=1 (the slintered glass one pictured is THE one for
CO2 usage.

Because I use a UGF with a powerhead, the output of the
powerhead goes to the input of my internally mounted
reactor. If I wern't using a UGF, then I would use an
externally mounted reactor. They can be very unsightly
and the externals don't have that problem.


Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--