Bio-balls for CO2 reactor?

[cosmiccreepers]

I read on the aquatic plant mailing list that bio-balls are needed for a co2 reator. I've done the whole DIY thing and in all the instructions i found on the net, none mentioned this. Could someone please explain?

Cheers, Cassandra

[fishly]

Yes, if you do your DIY CO2 reactor, you needs some bioballs in the PVC pipe. The purpose of it is to diffuse the CO2 into the water using the turbulance created by the water inside the pipe.

Regards,

Tony

[Gigitt]

All the reactor is... is a device that can help improve the CO2 gas exchange into the water.

There are commercial units that you can buy that are fancy and work well, trapping the CO2 and keeping the CO2 bubbles in contact with water for long periods of time. They use a spiral inside a cylinder, as the bubles roll up around the spiral path they are hopefully absorbed by the water through rolling surface exchange. If these bubbles are too big then they move faster and less is absobed into the water.

You can also get a cheap bubble counter that zig zags the bubbles up a plate and it has the added benifit of getting more underwater exchange time for the CO2 bubble.

The key to CO2 reactors is the smaller the bubbles the better surface exchange into water.

Smaller finer bubbles will need to be created with a cintered stone or wood airstone. Something designed to create very fine bubles.

For a DIY Reator I just used a childs medicine mesuring cup inverted to trap the CO2 bubles. These bubles will create a CO2 air pocket and over time the CO2 will be absorbed into the water. It worked very well with my Coke Bottle CO2 Brewer. Since I was trapping CO2 i was not really wasting it untill the measuring cup was full - brew was at maximum generation!

Other designs use a small ice cream tub inverted and a sponge inside. The CO2 hits the sponge and gets smashed around while rising helping it to be absorbed into the water. There is a small hole in the top to let excess Air/CO2 escape.

This is where your Bio Balls come in. You can replace the sponge with Bio Balls to help smash up the bubles as they rise... I think sponge is better than Bio Balls as you can get really fine sponge that will hold the bubles longer under water. Bio Balls have rather larger gaps as oposed to sponge so I would asume you would get less exchange from Bio Balls than Sponge.

Another Idea I have for a reactor is using a sponge filled gravel cleaning syphon tube or an under gravel filter up pipe with the CO2 airstone at the bottom and just sit it upright at the back of your tank with an open top.

You could also use this design with just normal air from an airpump... since the normal air we breath has a percentage of CO2 anyway. I don't know how much CO2 will be absorbed by the water this way.

Hope this helps.

[fishly]

I think the CO2 diffuser that gigitt said is the internal one, but the one I meant is external reactor, which can support very large volume of water such as 1000Lt. For further info click on this link EXTERNAL INLINE CO2 REACTOR

If your tank is above 3ft, you better of using the DIY External reactor, but if it is less than that, you still can get away using the DIY diffuser as Gigitt said.

[Gigitt]

I think the CO2 diffuser that gigitt said is the internal one, but the one I meant is external reactor, which can support very large volume of water such as 1000Lt. For further info click on this link EXTERNAL INLINE CO2 REACTOR

If your tank is above 3ft, you better of using the DIY External reactor, but if it is less than that, you still can get away using the DIY diffuser as Gigitt said.

Yep mine are internal design.

Yes you will need some bio balls in this design...

[cosmiccreepers]

Thanks guys Thought i'd made it wrong

The tank is a 2ft. The airline tubing from the coke bottle goes straight into my AC200. I've fed it through the basket so the bubbles get trapped under the sponge it- kind of works like Giggits idea.

Cassandra.