External CO2 reactor/UV sterilizer setup?

[Fubie]

I've been talking with Xzap about his external setup as mentioned above but he has his mag 2 pump as the only piece immersed in the aquarium. I love the idea since you can keep items tucked away behind our under your tank. I was wondering if I could do something very similar except keep the pump external as well? I know Flow rates are an issue with how effective the sterilizer is. But what is the minimum (or is there) flow rate to make a CO2 reactor effective at its job? Also is a external CO2 reactor any better, worse, or the same at its job as an immersed one?
TIA

 

[travis simonson]

It's always been my understanding that most pumps like the MagDrives were external pumps. I'm guessing they may work just as well in a sump-type application. I see no reason why you couldn't use one to drive a completely external setup. I use an external CO2 reactor (the same one Xzap uses - the Reactor 1000) and feel that there isn't a better reactor built, in- or out-of-tank. I'm not sure what sort of minimum flow rate you need to make a CO2 reactor effective but I'm guessing it doesn't take much

 

[Xzap]

The smaller Mags are submersible with a pre filter Travis.

Dave

 

[Xzap]

In this pic you can see the in & out lines for the reactor.
The mag drive sits on the bottom of the tank, pumps water into the reactor and back out thru the bottom & back into the tank.

Dave

 

[czcz]

You can definitely do this as closed loop. Here's an example from a great site: http://www.melevsreef.com/closedloop.html -- pretend there's no wavemaker and instead imagine the UV and CO reactor You'll see reference on that page about Mags leaking, and some retail sites don't recommend the utility series (Mag 2 included) for external use, but there's at least a couple PC (computer) watercooling howtos using them externally in watercooled systems Danner Mfg. (Mag-Drive) says the utility series are designed for external use.

I'm with Travis about reactor flow rate not being critical, but most DIYers use >100gph powerheads/pumps. I've no first hand experience with UV (or closed loop, yet) but I think your primary challenge will be dwell time. Only a thought experiment, but I think running parallel lines for CO2 and UV, with a ball valve on the UV side, will allow you to tweak gph for dwell time while the CO2 side does its thing.