# Emergency Help! Aquamedic Reactor 1000



## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

Hello need some quick help! i just hooked up my aquamedic external reactor 1000 to my canister hose's input after much frustration and trial/error. Still having 2 problems:

1) My flow indictor on the eheim pro2 is almost halved!! I already remove all the bioballs inside the reactor 1000, so it should not even affect the gph flowrate but now it's halved, why?

2) The reactor is like a bottle of boiling water, there are tons air(?) bubbles inside going crazy, the instruction said you can open the air valve to let the air out but as soon as i open the air valve the water level inside the reactor started to go DOWN. How do i get rid of the air bubbles? (see pic)

man this is a bad idea all around but now it's past point of no return since my hose is already cut in half


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

bubbles are gone now, i guess it just takes time!! but flow rate is still half.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

The reactor should be on the canister output (not input) with the filtered water going down through the top of the reactor and out the bottom of it and back to the tank.


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

Laith said:


> The reactor should be on the canister output (not input) with the filtered water going down through the top of the reactor and out the bottom of it and back to the tank.


is there any difference positioned output vs input? because i already have the inline heater on the output. Also since the water is going UP on the output, you need to bend the hose to go down first then up making a zigzag which is difficult to do.

On the input the water is already going DOWN, so just need to hook the reactor up to the hose normally.

The flow rate stablized around 75% of original after all the air bubbles went out. I kind like how it looks now, just need to see how well it will work after my pressurized co2 set is here


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

The reactor is designed for use on the output side of the filter as Laith already mentioned. Most reactors work best on the output and it does take some extra plumbing to get them hooked up properly. You shold be able to find the correct plumbing parts at either Lowe's or Home Depot or any other store that handles plumbing parts. You should be able to switch your heater and reactor quite easily or possibly even use both on the output. 

Any inline reactor is going to decrease the flow since you are going from a smaller diameter tubing to a large diameter reactor. The bioballs decrease the flow also but they are needed to break the larger CO2 bubbles into smaller ones. I don't think it will work very well without them. 

The idea is for the CO2 gas to remain in the upper portion of the reactor and have the water force the CO2 into the bioballs and break them up. By placing the reactor on the input side the CO2 may not have enough contact time with the water. You may get a lot of large, undissolved CO2 bubbles inside your filter and possibly "vapor lock" the filter. Vapor lockng a filter causes it to run dry and may damage the impeller. 

I think you would be best to hook up the reactor in the proper orientation prior to your CO2 system arriving. However, experiements are always good and you may find out the rector works fine in this orientation. Just be keep an eye on the filter and make sure it doesn't vapor lock.


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## scott53326 (Sep 17, 2006)

Hi Newguy,

My fear is you might get your reactor clogged if you have that on the input(that is if you put the bio-balls back in). I believe the balls gives the reactor most if it co2 disolving ability(I could be wrong because I am newb myself). 

I have my aquamedic fed by a aquaclear powerhead with a prefilter on with some hose I picked up from home depot.

-Scott


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## NE (Dec 10, 2004)

Another thing about having the reactor on the in-side:
You will not be able to dissolve as much and fast on the in-side as the out-side because of the over pressure vs under pressure.
For me it made a huge difference.


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

thanks guys i will give it a try first once the co2 sys arrives since i already have it setup, if it doesnt work then it's back to the drawing boards  The reasons i went with this plumbing configuration are because:

1) Had very good results just putting the co2 tube directly into the intake pipe, which is similar to attaching a reactor to the input hose right?

2) I did some research on the planted tank forum and was told the bio balls are not needed unless you are going for huge co2 output on like a 300G tank. And it seems to make sense - let physics take care of itself. The water flows downwards while the co2 bubble tries to go up the reactor, so the waterflow should suspend the co2 bubble in the current (kinda like a fish swimming in the same place against current) and gradually dissolves.

3) Never done any plumbing and scared to mess with it too much and have 50 gallon water on my floor (and my downstairs neighbors apt).


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

WOW sorry you are having trouble getting this thing going. The unit will need to be on the outflow, mainly because you dont wanna decrease the input flow to you eheim filter. If the filter is working too hard it may burn the unit out eventually. I dont think it will air lock from the co2 bubbles getting past the reator, but I still think its a bad idea. I also dont think the bio balls in it cause any issues with flow so why not just leave them? I was a little scared when I plumbed in this reactor and a uv sterilizer behind my tank also, concerned for leaking. Just make sure you mount each item as you dont want gravity pressure pulling hoses off or collapsing them. You can PM if you need more help. Good luck!


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

dang you guys are making me nervous :retard: how exactly do i wire this to the output using a zigzag? here's all the plumbing parts, what do i need. Thanks!

Fish : Plumbing Supplies


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Since a picture is worth a thousand words here is how I set my unit up. It is no longer set up so the pics were taken on an empty tank for easy access 

Here is the input pic. The return tubing from the filter goes into the end of the el at the top of the reactor:










The output pic. The tubing from the el on the bottom connects to the tubing goinig into the tank:










All the miscellaneous parts you will need:










All of the miscellaneous parts can be found at Lowes or Home Depot. You will need four of the elbow fittings (~.79 each), four short pieces of tubing (free since you only need about 8" of tubing) and ten hose clamps (a couple of bucks).


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## zeek (Jan 5, 2005)

Here's what I've been playing with the past few days...









The yellow square is a limestone diffusor, although it's probably overkill.

I posted this to show you the plumbing. You will need to modify this slightly, as you can't find fittings to replace the barbed connectors on the AquaMedic 1000. This should give you an idea of what can be accomplished.

PVC plumbing is very simple. To join a pipe to a connector you just prime the pipe (apply a liquid to the joints), slap on some rubber cement, and slide the pipe into the fitting. Give it 24hrs to fully cure, and you're ready to go. Home Depot or Lowes has everything you need, and the store associate can set you up and provide assistance if you need it.

Side note- Like I said, you can't find fittings to replace the barbed hose adapters. Weak. I was going to buy a 2nd AM1000 and plumb them each on a separate Eheim ProIII (215 gal), but they're only 3/8" hose connections and I need 3/4" and can't re-engineer them- I'm going to build my own.
I've got two 1ft sections of 3in clear PVC pipe ordered, and I'm going to hard-plumb when they come in.

Isaac


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

wow thanks guys for the pics and walkthru. i am going to print this out an bring it to home depot lol. the only change is my tank is acrylic so i need to wall mount the reactor instead of hang it on the tank as there is no edge to hang the thing.


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## vic46 (Oct 20, 2006)

*CO2 diffuser*

If worse comes to worse, here is a tried and true DIY diffuser. Goes on the outflow/return side of the cannister filter. From filter to the top of the diffuser. The top of the diffuser is the end with the CO2 inlet. Water flow is therefore down through the filter. This enhances the CO2 diffusion. The diffuser should be hard mounted vertically.
Cheers;

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...y-inline-reactor-plans.html?highlight=Reactor


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