A Very Good Little Internal DIY Reactor

[jcali10]

I just wanted to share this, because it is a neat little booger that really performs.

I found it in the DIY section of the APC forum. It's very easy to set up, and consists of nothing more than an Eheim Elite internal filter, (I bought mine at a Petco).

I drilled a small hole in the side of the filter bottom, the small plastic part that normally houses the filter media, for the CO2 line. The filter media goes on the outside, over the filter's outlet.

It's quiet, until the CO2 bubble hits the impeller, than you hear a little tick sound. If you don't have a bubble counter, it could double as one for you. You have to be within 2 or 3 feet to hear the ticks.

And the mist is fine, finer than the bubbles out of either of my glass diffusers. So fine you can hardly see them at all.

I am pretty pleased with it. I may even get myself another one.

Here's a link with a pic.
http://www.petco.com/product/13796/Hage ... ilter.aspx

[krisw]

Neat idea! I'm not sure if you'd have room for it, but to get rid of the tick sound when I feed the CO2 directly into the filter, I often place an airstone on the end of the airline. Any way you could jam a small airstone into the hole you drilled? (Of course, if the tick doesn't bother you, no matter.)

[jcali10]

The ticking doesn't bother me, it's really not that bad. I just wanted to make it known, in case it was an issue for anyone.

[seiji64]

I did a similar mod to a Duetto Mini DJ-10 with my yeast CO2 system. This filter is about 2.5" taller than the Hagen. I drilled a hole in the bottom and attached a Sweetwater airstone to the tubing inside where the filter sponge normally goes. I then took one of the pieces of filter sponge and pushed it into the intake area to prevent my baby shrimp from getting sucked in. I still hear a little noise from the bubbles getting chopped up even more finely, but it doesn't bother me. It works really well for distributing the co2 "mist" and the output can be directed horizontally. I clean the filter sponge once every week or two.
Doug

[jcali10]

The Hagen Elite Mini Underwater Filter is pretty small.
Dimensions: 1.5"L X 1.75"W X 3.5"H
Aquarium Size: For Tanks Up To 3 Gallons

It costs $7.99 at petco.com and maybe around
$10 at the store. Mine was solid black in color.

I don't know why I called it an Eheim Elite in my
first post. My bad. It is a Hagen product.

[DelawareJim]

I don't know why I called it an Eheim Elite in my
first post.

Just wishful thinking. You really wanted to get an Eheim.

Cheers.
Jim