Just returned from an amazing Cozumel diving trip; now i just want to sell everything and move to a real reef...
Anyhow, if you search a bit, you'll find a bunch of my posts about reactor performance and design. I don't really feel comfortable comparing mine to the commercially available stuff, but I will say that mine, like virtually all reactors, need a circulation pump to provide internal circulation. This is usually in the 200-500 gph range depending on reactor size and quality. Most commercial units use eheim pumps for this. I've found that "real" pumps (like little giant, iwaki, pan world) with some pressure performance do better. But, they're more expensive, which is why I don't sell my reactors with pumps. Mine also work with eheim, in fact that's what I use on mine, but they do work better with pressure pumps.
For flow through the reactor, you can use either a small powerhead or tee off of your return line. Then you can restrict the output a bit, which puts a little pressure in the reactor and seems to help with keeping the CO2 dissolved, as well as providing a nice steady output.
Send me a PM if you want more info. Have fun putting your system together!
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