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Best way to diffuse CO2 in your water ?

lil-lynx

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Joined
23 Jan 2010
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499
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Staines
Hello :)

I was wondering , there are many methods of diffusing CO2 in your water, from using the mini elite filter to chop the bubbles up , you have inline and u have the ceramic in tank ones , plus many more.

The reason i ask this is , because im using a mini elite filter to chop my bubbles up , and well im not getting any pearling and i dont think its very effective.

Just let me know your most effective way , even if it includes your DIY ones ( DIY ones are much more fun to make :thumbup: )
 
Hmmmm. I just saw a diffuser on the CO2 page, which looks bloody amazing. It gives and almost fog effect.
Might have to try it out.
And il be running it on a 30" long tank :)
 
They say the mist in the tank is better, I guess a lot comes down to personal preference. Personally I would prefer without the bubbles floating about as it has a more natural look but I do use a glass ceramic diffuser because of the type of filter I use.
 
I just have two glass diffusers under two intakes in my tank, if stood closely I can see very very tiny bubbles but they aren't off putting in anyway. I would prefer an almost fish swimming in air look but we can always wish. I never get pearling other than water change day though :0(
 
Hi

I currently use an inline at the output side of my canister. The inline is large enough and the gas dissolves completely and is put in the tank using spraybars.

Before I tried with ceramic diffusers (too much mist) and also chopping the bubbles using a small pump. In both cases, there seems to be a competition between the bubble circulation and their tendancy to float to the surface. Since the surface has ripples I guess the water-air boundry layer is constantly disturbed and is very thin, helping these bubbles to escape resulting in gas loss. With my hard water I anyway need a 5-6 bps, so accounting for this escape turned out to be costly for me.

I also thought that in nature, we never see CO2 bubbles in water. The water has a lot of dissolved CO2 and a very good flow. So if my tank also has a good flow, why couldnt CO2 be dissolved, rather than having misty bubbles? I also recall reading on some forum topic that since the flow isnt really optimal in most tanks, having a misty CO2 is advised because the gas-bubble when touching a leaf, is easily taken-in by the plant. Having CO2 dissolved, could be a less efficient way of absorbing CO2 IF the flow power is less. So it depends on the flow/circulation in the tank as well.

Personally, I would like a mist-free tank since otherwise I cant differentiate between a CO2 bubble and a O2 pearling bubble :D
 
I use the UP atomizer and i love it! Mist is there, but you have to look REALLY closely to see it! They also have the advantage of removing equipment from in the tank, and i find the mist to be an advantage in terms of checking gas distribution - the only way to be certain of your gas distribution is if you can SEE it!
Hope this helps,
Matt
 
I would be interested to know the difference between efficiency of diffusion and the reduction in flow between AM1000s and the Up Atomisers. I am currently using an AM1000 without the bioballs and wonder whether the increase in the diameter of the pipe caused by the reactor chamber has a negative effect on the flow from my filter.

If there is a very small trade off between diffusion rates but less of a reduction in flow I may have to change over to the Up Atomiser.
 
Bobtastic said:
I would be interested to know the difference between efficiency of diffusion and the reduction in flow between AM1000s and the Up Atomisers. I am currently using an AM1000 without the bioballs and wonder whether the increase in the diameter of the pipe caused by the reactor chamber has a negative effect on the flow from my filter.

If there is a very small trade off between diffusion rates but less of a reduction in flow I may have to change over to the Up Atomiser.

I seem to recall either Londondragon or themolous having a discussion or in their journal about inline diffusion. I think he had used both the boyu inline, the am1000 and the up, and think the am1000 wasn't so good. If I can find the link I'll post it on here
 
That a pretty fine mist/fog! I would be aiming to have something inline tho. So that it doesn't impact the look of the scape.

Alastair said:
I seem to recall either Londondragon or themolous having a discussion or in their journal about inline diffusion. I think he had used both the boyu inline, the am1000 and the up, and think the am1000 wasn't so good. If I can find the link I'll post it on here

That would be helpful Alastair! :thumbup:
 
It may be just me but the tubing to it looked bigger than the standard stuff used. It looked a bit weird the bubbles didn't seem to want to rise to the surface.
 
Hmm il try and find out, what size the tubing is :)

I know what you mean about the bubbles , it looked like they had a neutral buoyancy. Wish my bubbles would do that !
 
lil-lynx said:
Hmm il try and find out, what size the tubing is :)

I know what you mean about the bubbles , it looked like they had a neutral buoyancy. Wish my bubbles would do that !

I've got one of these. Tubing size is std. The bubbles are very small and move slowly towards the surface. I got mine from seller aquahk8 on ebay for about £7.50 including postage. The model number was RWP013LBL.
 
I've got about 5 of those during my trip to singapore. Will be keeping 2 myself and will probably be selling the rest. Will post it up in the for sale section soon.

Dan
 
I know what you mean about the bubbles , it looked like they had a neutral buoyancy. Wish my bubbles would do that !

I've watched the video a few times now and I swear some of them are actually sinking to the bottom :D I'd be interested in one of these if any become available! I was looking to get another Spiro for when my other was soaking in bleach so I give one of these a try.

Give me a shout Daniel if any are spare please.
 
lil-lynx said:
Im thinking about going to one of those " super ". http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Best-CO2-diffuser ... 3209wt_905

The video is pretty amazing , how fine it is, near enough a fog !

thats the exact one and seller i got mine from, it is a very fine mist, works best at just over 2 bar pressure. needs to be soaked in water a couple of hours before hand, and takes a bit to get going first time. make sure you dont touch the ceramic part though as the oil of your skin blocks it really easy as ive found out
 
I've always run this at 2 bar. Oddly enough while reading this thread the airline just blew off the needle valve. I cut the tube back but it's done it again. I'm wondering if the diffuser is clogged, how would you go about cleaning one of these?
 
I'm guessing bleach just same as a glass one can't see why not.
 
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