# Easy CO2 reactor plus additional filtration



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

I've experimented a little with CO2 in the past and looked at lots of threads involving all sorts from the elite mini to inline reactors.
CO2 can get quite complicated so when looking at increasing my mechanical filtration a little more... I had other things on my mind.

I've experimented with using a bamboo skewer on the end of a straight airline connector and I must say that this is one of the cheapest diffusers to place in direct water-flow.

I honestly don't like the idea of releasing CO2 into a pump though - so when I saw the RESUN Magi-200 everything clicked into place. (Search

This little 200L/h filter is perfect for making a little diffuser with minimal fuss.

Firstly, it comes with a pretty useless spray bar - BUT nice 90 degree elbows that you can push silicone hose onto.

So you place the filter in the tank, position the elbows so that they point straight down and push a silicone hose onto the elbow. Then you push your bamboo skewer into the top of this hose at 90 degrees to the pump flow and bingo - near perfect CO2 > tank water absorption.

You could also easily push a gravel vac onto the end of the hose to increase the dameter of the outflow, giving the CO2 a little more time to dissolve in the water. I just need a new gravel vac to try it!

cb


----------



## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

Pics!!


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

OK... I'll get some pics but it's work in progress OK? It's also really hard to get pics of tiny bubbles coming out in a 200lph stream of water... I'll try and get super-fast flash at 1/2000s or something.
cb


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

There simple photos. I took the pics into photoshop to get an idea of the bubble size. The skewer is about 3mm the bubbles are about 8 pixels wide in the shot and the skewer measures 119 pixels across. This gives a measurement of about 0.2mm for the bubbles - tiny!
That's just the hose from the gravel vac there. I did modify the vac taking out the one-way valve and the grate - very easy no tools job.

I do get tiny bubbles escaping out of the other end of the tube - maybe 1-2 every second but this is tiny in relation to how much is coming out of the bamboo skewer.

As mentioned, the pump is rated for 200litres and I reckon that I'm not obstructing the flow very much at all.

Interestingly enough, I had to take it apart to fit the gravel vac and the poly pad was already looking slightly orange (Good thing I reckon) but on re-assembly, the pump did not like operating in air/co2 at all and therefore, with the CO2 running this is likely to fail after a power outage unfortunately.

While not perfect, I do find this quite elegant and besides the bamboo skewer can easily be assembled from LFS supplies.


Enjoy? Comments? It's not that ugly?

cb


----------

