Hi guys. Granted- I’m very to to adding co2. But here’s my current setup. 110gallon running a fx6. Co2 is running through a co2art pro se regulator into my ARC yuganag acrylic with the input/outputs set at half way up. Then using a Milwaukee mc122 ph controller. Upon initial installation, my bubble counter had a leak so I had to run it with no co for a couple days. Looking at the reactor, it was 100 full of water. No air at all. I set my regulators working output to 18 and adjusted the needle valve to start at 1 bubble/3sec. Just out of extreme caution. After being on for about 8 hours today, my ph never moved from the starting 7.7 and the bubble in the upper corner of the reactor was not very big at all. What am I missing here? Shouldn’t the water only be up to the height of the in/outlets? Or do I from have to wait for enough co2 to accumulate in the reactor? And if that’s the case, when my regulator turns off when the lights go out, won’t the reactor fill right back up with water? Sorry for the long rambling post
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Really having a hard time wrapping my head around proper setup on my Yugang acrylic reactor from ARC Help!
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JayP
Valuable Member
If you started at this injection rate based on the 1 bubble per second stuff you hear a lot about across the internet, throw that in the trash. For that size tank you'll need to crank that rate up much, much higher, to the point you likely can't count the bubbles per second.. Are you running the large or small ARC reactor?
Edit to add, can you also show us a video of the water flow rate through your reactor?
Edit to add, can you also show us a video of the water flow rate through your reactor?
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It’s the large one. And the reactor is basically full of water to to top - a maybe tennis ball size pocket of co2. I can upload a video when I get to the office in the morning but it’s so full I can’t “ see” flow.
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- #4
Actually. I did take this one earlier ….ignore the working output being so low and the rambling to my LFS about my check valve…..long day But you can see the reactor is totally full of water.
View attachment My Movie-540p30.mov
View attachment My Movie-540p30.mov
Kwyet
After every new tank—“This is my last one!”
When I was using a CO2Art regulator with an fx4 and a Yugang reactor on a 68 gallon, I had to keep the pressure at 30 for best results. The bubble count was too fast to count without taking a video. It’s fine that the reactor is filled with water to start with. I think you only have a small bubble during the day because your bubble count is so low. It’s just being absorbed before it can make a full-size bubble. It doesn’t hurt to check all the connection points for leaks though, using soapy water.
Also, that plastic check valve is doomed to fail. You need one like this:
Does your CO2 enter near the outlet of the reactor? I could be wrong, that’s just what the video looked like to me. If so, it would be better to turn it around so that the CO2 enters near the reactor inlet instead, so it stands less chance of being blown out immediately.
Also, that plastic check valve is doomed to fail. You need one like this:
Does your CO2 enter near the outlet of the reactor? I could be wrong, that’s just what the video looked like to me. If so, it would be better to turn it around so that the CO2 enters near the reactor inlet instead, so it stands less chance of being blown out immediately.
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- #6
Yeah already got a new check valve coming. That one failed out of the box. The co2 is coming in at the inlet. From the video it DOES look backwards. But it’s not. Is there a proper way to know where I need to set my bubble counter so I don’t overdo it?
Just for reference for bubble speed I need in the region of 5-10 bubbles of CO2 per second (too fast to count accurately) through the yugang reactor on my 150 gallon tank. That gets me a steady 30 ppm CO2.
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- #8
Wow ok. Good to know.
The trick to a Yugang reactor is , the water flowing through the reactor needs to be slow. Slow enough that the CO2 you are pumping into the reactor, at that high bubble rate, can have adequate time to back up and create the necessary absorption-surface gas pocket.
This means a very gentle flow through the reactor. Fast flow from a powerful pump, like your FX6, pushes all the gas out the other end before the CO2 gas pocket can develop.
No pocket
no transmission surface for your CO2 to be absorbed into the water, which is the purpose of this reactor.When you are using a powerful, fast flowing filter moving your water around, you have two ways to slow your flow. You can either put the reactor on its own small pump, on a separate circuit, as @Kwyet discusses here
or you can plumb a bypass section into your current filter circuit, like this one
Yes it does need to be gentle flow, if you get noise or you feel like it's pushing too hard then you may benefit from putting it on a simple bypass, like this one
This is the one you want
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noted! placing an order now! also, I changed my working pressure to 30 and massively turned up my bubble counter and turned down my flow, until they've reached the level I expected. turned the bubble counter down a reasonable amount- seems better now. and im guessing ill see some ph change now soon. next question- with this reactor- would I want other use a timer to turn the ph controller on/off with the lights? and if so, do you plug the timer into the controller itself or just the solenoid?View attachment 16107
The trick to a Yugang reactor is , the water flowing through the reactor needs to be slow. Slow enough that the CO2 you are pumping into the reactor, at that high bubble rate, can have adequate time to back up and create the necessary absorption-surface gas pocket.
This means a very gentle flow through the reactor. Fast flow from a powerful pump, like your FX6, pushes all the gas out the other end before the CO2 gas pocket can develop.
No pocket
When you are using a powerful, fast flowing filter moving your water around, you have two ways to slow your flow. You can either put the reactor on its own small pump, on a separate circuit, as @Kwyet discusses here
or you can plumb a bypass section into your current filter circuit, like this one
Yes it does need to be gentle flow, if you get noise or you feel like it's pushing too hard then you may benefit from putting it on a simple bypass, like this one
This is the one you want
Kwyet
After every new tank—“This is my last one!”
I’ve never used a controller, so someone else can answer more about that. If you aren’t using a controller, then you plug the timer into the solenoid. I use a Kasa plug/smart strip for that. Also, if you aren’t using a controller, then you can use overflow mode on the reactor. This means that once the reactor is full, you adjust the bubble count/pressure so that a few small bubbles exit the reactor every 30 seconds or so. That is one strength of this reactor, because then if your regulator fails and suddenly dumps a lot of CO2, it will overflow and exit the tank quickly instead of gassing your fish.
I just want to say I finally ordered 4 of these a few months ago and they're really solid. Glad you keep recommending them, probably the best valves I've used!
Once you have a visible gas pocket, you should start to see indications of CO2 absorption
If your Yugang reactor is set up correctly to match your size tank and the level of CO2 you want it to inject, it should replace the need for a pH controller
Mostly folks will use either one or the other.Here's a recent thread talking about pH controllers by some of the folks on here who use them
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