Atomizers, reactors, diffusing CO2 in general

[Jim Miller]

I had my wife time me filling a 2L container when I made all my measurements. It was interesting to see the difference in elapsed times when it was actually difficult to see much difference in something coming out of a tube.

So it sounds like water passes through the ceramic tube and the CO2 passes from outside to inside i.e. reverse of the "normal" direction?

Thanks

Jim

[Jim Miller]

Any update?

jim

[fjf888]

Actually, it appears to be working quite well.

The mist coming out of the return tubes is extremely fine, and it is mist no bubbles.
The bubble counter is indicating a much lower bubble rate as well. I attached a couple pictures. The first one is the pH test result immediately after CO2 turned on. The adjacent tube is two hours later. So it seems to be working. The second is the hookup, which is real easy.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd65 ... 5-1555.jpg
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd65 ... 5-1557.jpg

So far I am very pleased. I seem to have better CO2 dissolution, no flow slowing cerges reactor, it saves a ton of room, and anyone can do this The english on the box about the product is not translated particularly well but so far the product is exceeding what I expected.

I suspect you would need two in a tank larger than 90g.

[Jim Miller]

I think I'm going to get one to play with. Did you get yours via the ebay link you posted earlier?

Thanks

Jim

[fjf888]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmyELbgqK8A

Quick video of the up aqua atomizer in action.

[hbosman]

Unfortunately, the house filter has two 90 degree bends internally. If you can get rid of the the external one, that may be enough improvement.

[fjf888]

Unfortunately, the house filter has two 90 degree bends internally. If you can get rid of the the external one, that may be enough improvement.

Got rid of it entirely, atomizer still going good. I actually did get rid of the 90 elbow before installer the atomizer, and that helped, but the flow from the atomizer is essentially unencumbered. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I have the regulator set at 40 psi, need a minimum working pressure of 30 to work with the atomizer, so there's considerably more working pressure.

[hbosman]

Unfortunately, the house filter has two 90 degree bends internally. If you can get rid of the the external one, that may be enough improvement.

Got rid of it entirely, atomizer still going good. I actually did get rid of the 90 elbow before installer the atomizer, and that helped, but the flow from the atomizer is essentially unencumbered. The only thing that makes me nervous is that I have the regulator set at 40 psi, need a minimum working pressure of 30 to work with the atomizer, so there's considerably more working pressure.

I've been using an UpAqua since December. I too, am having good results with it. Fine mist not bubbles, like I used to have with the Boyu style of inline duffuser. I'm using my UpAqua with 22 PSI. You might be able to reduce your CO2 pressure as well. If you need to use 40 PSI, you might want to do a leak check.

For people interested in trying an UpAqua, there is a US Ebay source available so, delivery will be much quicker than Hong Kong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-tank-CO2-A ... 483e1e2c3e

[sfarkhan]

I purchased one of these through GLA - it's well built - straight shot and small compared to the bazooka shaped reactors that are over a foot long. I believe the same company builds it for GLA and the Ebay vendors. I haven't set up the new tank yet so I don't have first hand experience, but Orlando at GLA said it's fantastic, he said you won't have to use as much CO2 because... I'll let you know when I have mine set up.

This is what I was thinking about.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Up-aqua-CO2-Atomize ... 0666877975

Its cheap, some people rave about it in the forums FWIW.

[Rick Dotson]

I just inject into my large canister filter. It is a generic brand that does 500 gph. Every once in a while it burps.