Reef Discussion

[Buddy]

Does anyone know of a way that I could stop my zeovit reactor from blowing bubbles from the outlet? The salt creep this creates is really annoying.
It has a hole in the lid for a plunger so the reactor is never air tight.
I was thinking of drilling a hole in the elbow for air to escape, but I am not sure if this would work.

 

[slin1977]

Add more flow rate?

 

[Buddy]

Add more flow rate?

I can't because it needs a specific flow rate for the amount of media in the reactor. 800lph in my case.

 

[Lesley]

@Sam Parker

 

[Sam Parker]

Hmm I'm not sure with it not being air tight. Will always suck air in and need it to go somewhere. I don't think the hole above the water line will do much/anything. Not sure man, you could make a type of baffled exit that contained the bubbles to a smaller area to reduce the creep?

 

[slin1977]

That's wierd as I run 350 liter / hr
Same pump same reactor - Does this happen with less flow for instance.

 

[Buddy]

That's wierd as I run 350liters
Same pump same reactor - but my pipe work does not loop above the waterline as my pump is horizontal and connected to the reactor with a short piece of constantly submersed pipe.
Perhaps the loop is where the air lock is trapping the bubbles ???

Do you get bubbles from the outlet of your reactor?
The pump you see there is my DC12000 return pump which is also pumping water through the reactor. I know there is definitely no bubbles entering the reactor from the pump.
From what I see online, all of these zeo reactors have bubbles. I can see that there are some automatic reactors which don't blow bubbles but they are completely air tight.

 

[Buddy]

Hmm I'm not sure with it not being air tight. Will always suck air in and need it to go somewhere. I don't think the hole above the water line will do much/anything. Not sure man, you could make a type of baffled exit that contained the bubbles to a smaller area to reduce the creep?

Yeah I was thinking of something along those lines as a last resort. I wonder if something like what we do with a durso pipe would work...

 

[ReeferRob]

Cut a piece of pipe that is larger than the diameter of the outlet pipe and slide it up and over the outlet to trap the bubbles. It should overflow that like a bubble trap in the sump does. The old air driven Sanders skimmers were bad for spewing bubbles everywhere and that's how I beat it finally.If one doesn't work, you might have to do it with 2, increasing the diameter so there's some space in between the pipes.

 

[Buddy]

Cut a piece of pipe that is larger than the diameter of the outlet pipe and slide it up and over the outlet to trap the bubbles. It should overflow that like a bubble trap in the sump does. The old air driven Sanders skimmers were bad for spewing bubbles everywhere and that's how I beat it finally.If one doesn't work, you might have to do it with 2, increasing the diameter so there's some space in between the pipes.

Sounds like a good idea! What keeps the pipe in place since there should be a gap between the pipes?

 

[ReeferRob]

I use smaller pieces of plastic that I've cut off other projects as spacers. I forgot to put in the other post that if you need a second one, make it a little shorter than the first one so it has to tumble over the edge into the next one.

 

[gtrxu1]

I have the same problem with my Reactor.

There was a thread on Zeovit forums about the issue, they recommend to put a valve on it or use a reducer to make the pipe smaller.

I wasn't sure how effective that advice would be or if it would cause other problems so I didn't bother and have just put up with it, but dam its annoying.

 

[Buddy]

I have the same problem with my Reactor.

There was a thread on Zeovit forums about the issue, they recommend to put a valve on it or use a reducer to make the pipe smaller.

I wasn't sure how effective that advice would be or if it would cause other problems so I didn't bother and have just put up with it, but dam its annoying.

I will have a play around during the week with @ReeferRob method and let you know how it goes.

 

[ReeferRob]

You want a stair step effect Buddy. If you can get it close to the level of the water in the sump, the better so you're not making a splash in the tank and the bubbles will pop out in the middle to hopefully lessen the creep.

 

[Buddy]

How about you make me a highly technical drawing in Microsoft Paint @ReeferRob :D

 

[ReeferRob]

Oh man, you asked for it, complete with your very own Bronze Whaler. :D

 

[Sam Parker]

Is the shark a critical component? :P

 

[ReeferRob]

Is the shark a critical component? :p

Yes, it stops all of the inevitable fiddling with it after it's been installed. ;)

 

[ezza]

What about a funnel turned upside down with your pipe going into where the skinny bit of the funnel is? You'd need either a big enough funnel to just cut the bottom off, or a not so big one and cut a bit of the funnel to fit it with knead it to seal

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[Buddy]

Problem solved! I used a piece of 70mm pipe and drilled some holes near the bottom for the water to escape.
It needed 6x 10mm holes to get the water level right. I think it should work pretty well but I can always lower the water if I still get a bit of creep.
@ReeferRob my sump shark is on order but its too hot to ship at the moment!!!