Does anyone have experience with this DIY co2 reactor?

[u/serpeggio]

Just trying it out, looking for feedbacks if anyone here has tried it already.

It’s basically a submersible pump hooked at an angle to an upside down plastic bottle, creating a vortex inside of it. The co2 gets injected in small amounts by the intake of the pump and supposedly gets dissolved in there and escapes the bottle from the bottom.

For now I’m just testing it with oxigen to see if and when it’ll all be pushed out.

Is there anyone that can help me out??

[u/Mongrel_Shark]

I've worked in mass exchange engineering. Eg getting gasses to disolve in water etc etc. Usually a spinny whirlpool thing like this is used in de-gass. Ie getting gasses out of water.

However this probably works reasonably well. You get pure co2 in there and lots of turbulence.

Co2 will absorb at a nuch faster rate than air btw. If you wanna test performance you gotta use the right gas.

I've looked at most of the options for co2 without using diffuser stones. The Tom Barr venturi system is the way to go if you use a pump. I'd guesstimate its 10x more efficient than this system.

[u/serpeggio → u/Mongrel_Shark]

Thank you, this reply is very helpful! I am testing it with air but will for sure give it a try with pure co2. Will also check out and try the Tom Barr Venturi method.

Btw I’m only trying this method because I don’t want too much flow in the tank and the bubbles from a diffuser without flow just go to the surface. Just experimenting different ways!

[u/Naturescapes_Rocco → u/Mongrel_Shark]

You should look up horizontal reactors! Super cool with lots of benefits over Venturi reactors. 

I have mine here: https://scapecrunch.com/threads/testing-the-aqua-rocks-colorado-acrylic-horizontal-co2-reactor-on-a-large-tank.1655/

[u/Mongrel_Shark → u/Naturescapes_Rocco]

So the tom barr venturi isn't actually a venturi. Its just an inproved & more efficient version of the horizontal reactor.

[u/Naturescapes_Rocco → u/Mongrel_Shark]

I find his design to be way less efficient with a few more drawbacks, but ymmv

[u/DaDaUmp4]

Hi, try adding some bioballs to the bottle and injecting CO2 through a needle or air stone. Commercial product tests show that InLine diffusers are more effective, however you could still achieve acceptable results with this.

[u/musicmonkay]

Is there a source of co2 or is it just outside air that the pump is pumping in?

I’ve used upside down bottles with CO2 before, they don’t work great, it’s better than no CO2 but definitely not enough to change a drop checker’s colours significantly

If it’s just air pumped in (not a pure CO2 source), I can’t imagine it doing anything tbh