Flippers versus UP brand reactor

[peterkoh]

Hi folks,

Saw some recent threads on the Nutrafin DIY CO2 system which comes with the flipper. I'm currently using the UP brand reactor with 3 bioballs. To be honest, I had a hard time setting this up as I don't want to use a 2nd powerhead in my 2 ft tank to drive water into the reactor and I went thru a lot of trouble finding matching elbows and tube before I found a way to divert some water from the current powerhead into the reactor. The downside of the reactor system is the tube and reactor will get choked with debris over time and efficiency seems to drop as it gets filled up with CO2 and the bioballs stopped spinning.

I'm tempted to get the flipper but I'm not sure if it is more effective than a reactor.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Thks.

Cheers,
Peter

[Goondoo]

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On 1/28/2003 5:03:10 PM

Hi folks,

Saw some recent threads on the Nutrafin DIY CO2 system which comes with the flipper. I'm currently using the UP brand reactor with 3 bioballs. To be honest, I had a hard time setting this up as I don't want to use a 2nd powerhead in my 2 ft tank to drive water into the reactor and I went thru a lot of trouble finding matching elbows and tube before I found a way to divert some water from the current powerhead into the reactor. The downside of the reactor system is the tube and reactor will get choked with debris over time and efficiency seems to drop as it gets filled up with CO2 and the bioballs stopped spinning.

I'm tempted to get the flipper but I'm not sure if it is more effective than a reactor.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Thks.

Cheers,
Peter


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According to some articles, reactors are capable of dissolving 100% of CO2 into the water and unlikely flipper are capable too unless the output of CO2 is very small and your tank is very higher(the two "very" might be indirectly propotional). In other words, more likely to waste more CO2 using flipper than CO2 Reactors...

However, if using DIY CO2, more advisable to use flipper as reactor might suck up the ingredients from the bottle unless you are using a relatively hard container, like the Nutrafin.

Just my two penny worth...

[chia2k]

flipper for diy is better . my 5 cents worth (no more 1 cent liao)

[tawauboy]

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However, if using DIY CO2, more advisable to use flipper as reactor might suck up the ingredients from the bottle unless you are using a relatively hard container, like the Nutrafin.
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a reactor being connected to the output of a filter will have positive pressure so there will not be suction from diy co2 bottle.

even, if for some reason there is a suction, the suction pressure will be great enough to deform those soda bottles.

[juggler]

I use only one of the three bioballs given. There is no instance that the ball stop spinning.

[Addie]

Hi,

Just want to share my 2 cents here.
I've been using a mini flipper for my 1.5ft tank. Flipper is not 100% efficient. The bubble size and the length of the bubble travel path are already fixed by the flipper design. The higher the flipper the better for CO2 diffusion.

[Irn-Bru]

is there a thread or an FAQ that compares efficiency of reactors, flippers and those ceremic diffusers?

[tawauboy]

have a look here

[Irn-Bru]

there's no mention of flippers in the thread, is it not a good option at all?

shucks! just got a Dennerle Mini-flipper yesterday to replace my Bioplast diffuser...

[hoppinghippo]

I think reactor is definitely beter than any other thing but takes up a lot of space and doesn't look nice. as for flipper, the fact that you can see the bubble gonig up means co2 isn't dissolved completely, after collecting in the bell at the top, dissolving is only limited to the water near the surrounding area which might not have much of a water current to bring "fresh" water to dissolve more co2. dissolving is the same as diffusion and the higher the diffusion gradient the better, so if there is little water current, the rate of diffusion of co2 from the bell will decrease as the water surrounding it gets more saturated with co2. plus co2 dissolves slowly in water.

with a reactor, it is essentially a closed up bell. all co2 is collected at the top. water from the filter constantly rushes in providing the "fresh" water to allow co2 to dissolve at an optimum rate. the current plus the spinning ball helps to further increase rate of dissolving thru agitation. any undissolved co2 is left collected at the top, hence there is zero wastage, hence in a sense co2 is 100% dissolved.

I don't agree that there is net positive suction head/pressure in the reactor that "sucks" co2 from diy bottles. yes there will be positive pressure if the co2 is connected directly to the filter outlet tube as the speed of the water creates lower pressure than atmospheric pressure and hence sucks air in from outside. but in the reactor, the outlet is merely connected to an enclosed container that is relatively large in volume and hence speed of water slows down in the reactor and hence not so much low pressure. if the reactor was a cylinder of very narrow width then yes there will be positive pressure. when I used a reactor last time connected to co2 bottles (b4 changing to co2 tank plus diffusor cuz reactor took up too much space in my 2ft tank), when I disconnected the tube to the diy bottles, tank water would come out so I had to put a check valve in place.

if you ahve the ker-ching $$$, get an external reactor, most efficient plus does not take up space in the tank, plus no big ugly green cylinder stuck to the wall!

[hoppinghippo]

ooops paiseh tawauboy, read wrongly, you also said the reactor won't suck in air. just that the term used is a bit not correct I think, positive head/pressure is when water can come out of the co2 tube, negative pressure head is when co2 gets sucked in.