Are these pipings available at hardware shops?

[PeterGwee]

If you know any shops that sells them, care to state the address. Thank you. []

[geoffrey]

Pete, building your own external CO2 reactor?

I doubt you need the exact type of materials for it.
I/O nozzle and bio-balls - C328
PVC conduits and covers - most hardware shops have them but not the exact type.

[juggler]

It would be nice if the same parts can be found. Save the trouble of modification and some more not sure if safe or not. I showed the same pic to several h/w stores before but they say they don't have anything resembling those parts.

Peter: Remember to let me know if you found the parts. I am also looking forward to building one.

[vinz]

I was thinking of making an inline pre-filter based on that. Tired a brief look around too, but no luck. I think we have to try companies that supply contractors like the shops at Kelantan Lane.

Do post if you can find them.

[alweek]

can find these parts.

for the pvc piping parts, your regular home-fix or shopping mall hardware shop won't have them.. you need to go to some shops in the industrial areas... for example, i'm pretty sure that the one near my workplace has such items. the one i know is at woodlands link, block 20. there are quite a few hardware shops that sell such stuff.

another place that you can try for the hose fittings is at Kelantan Lane (near sim lim area) i think the shop is called hup seng huat or something... may be wrong ah... check it out in the yellowpages.

[PeterGwee]

Try my luck at those hardware stores near my house but could only find PVC pipings but no luck with the other stuff. Juggler, actually I have a good ADEC external reactor(bought at C328 auntie side) which should actually be mounted vertically but due to my space constrain, was unable to do so and hence I get some gas pockets along the top part of the length of the cylinder. The other problem with this reactor is it is quite heavy as the plastic is pretty thick but the overall design is very good.

I tried modifying the taiwan internal bioball reactor(green one with bioballs inside) with some additional elbow fittings and find it might work well but have not test its efficiency yet. Just hook it up to a powerful eheim internal/external powerhead to drive the reactor to test..the bubbles were created by an airpump(too much bubbles) and was force out real fast although the design should work if the powerhead or external filter is not so powerful such that it force the bubbles out before it can dissolve.

I was wondering if the water should enter along with the CO2 inlet on the top and then exit or other combinations? I have found that the entire reactor is not filled up except the lower portion...could that be a problem?

(The reason why I decide to DIY a reactor is because my current reactor might not be that efficient after all. I wrote to Tom barr regarding the theory of keeping the CO2 in the 20-30ppm range throughout the light period but find it hard to get it. It took my reactor nearly half the entire light period to hit the 20ppm spot...weird. Tom told me it should actually take half an hour to one hour to reach the range. Anybody manage to hit the 20-30ppm range half and hour to 1 hour after the CO2 came on along with the lights?)

[schema]

Sure have!
I got mine kicking....heehee
see pic
Most industrial strength shop will have these fittings
See my thread for details
http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...threadid=80641

Check back for more pic on my second piece with refinement(posting soon).

[nbk3]

these sure look professional enuff [] Personally i'm using a internal reactor , externally . Abit of silicone sealant and two hose clamps and its set

[Daz]

Peter, I am not too sure where do you stay. But if you are at Bukit Batok area, there is a shop that sell, PVC elbows, short pipes, etc. Maybe you can get them there.

I am not too sure of the address, but will get it for you if I pass by, it is at Bukit Batok West Ave 8, there is an OCBC bank there and the shop is just around the bank.

[juggler]

schema:

I really love your reactor design using clear PVC.
Did you input the CO2 from the top?
Can you show us how you connected the gadget to your Eheim tubings?
And where to get those parts?

I just check with DAMA Enterprise (Blk 3029A, Ubi Road 3, #01-99, Singapore 408661. Tel : +65 743 6100. Opening hrs: Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm) and they quoted me the following clear PVC tube prices:

40mm diameter - $20 per metre
50mm diameter - $23 per metre
60mm diameter - $30 per metre

So perhaps those interested in building one can pool together to buy.

[A.Rashid]

Juggler count me in.

[schema]

Pics have been updated!

see pic

This is my 2nd version with a position change for CO2 injection and painted red colour.

[PeterGwee]

Have you tested the effectiveness of the reactor?

[schema]

Ques: How to gauge effectiveness of reactor?

As of this morning, my PH has dropped to 6.5, with no visible bubble st the output pipe.
Checking the water column in the reactor, shows few bubbles past the 2nd bioball out of 5.

Still monitoring.........Cheers

[PeterGwee]

Erh...maybe you can time how fast does it drop 0.1 of the pH value?

[schema]

Not quite right too, cos time to drop by 0.1 oso depends on the CO2 bps, moreover I don't think your bubble is the same size as mine!