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Best CO2 Diffusion For My New 200 Litre Tank

Jafooli

Jafooli

Member
Joined
21 May 2013
Messages
231
Location
Kent
Hi

I had a Fluval Roma 90 which was running pressurized CO2 with a ceramic diffuser which I purchased from ebay, it use to be good, but for months now the bubbles are not as fine and some are quite large, I could deal with this in my 90 litre and still have a nice green in my drop checker.

However I upgraded to a Fluval Roma 200 and have only internal filters so I can't use a reactor and I don't plan to keep an external as I'm paranoid about the potential of a leak, so I have 2x fluval u4's, and I read if you let the filter suck up the CO2 it could harm the filter? so I normally put it below the outlet so when the bubbles rise they get thrown around the tank, however my fire extinguisher has already been going for about 5 months strong on my 90 litre and still has a good amount left...but a week in on my new tank and its dropping to fast for my liking since I've raised the bps, so I hope someone can give me some advice on how I can diffuse my CO2 better, I did some research and some people mention a atomic diffuser or Rhinox 5000.

I cant be sure how many bps I am at, I'm getting about 115 bubbles in a min, so its nearly 2bps, not sure if that's good or to less for a 200 litre, my 90 litres was probably 1bps either way I guess it don't matter as long as my drop checker turns green.

Hope someone can offer me some advice.
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Also just to add my new tank has loads of tiny bubbles floating on the surface, I can only presume this is the CO2 that didn't dissolve, but it looks like someone has sprinkled loads of food in the tank. So is this normal? and if anyone can tell me which co2 tubing is best and where I can order some that would be great, as I'm just using plain air tubing, but I never minded if it was "leaking some co2" as it was lasting for ages on my old 90 litre, but I want to save as much co2 as possible now.
 
Jafooli said:
Also just to add my new tank has loads of tiny bubbles floating on the surface, I can only presume this is the CO2 that didn't dissolve, but it looks like someone has sprinkled loads of food in the tank. So is this normal? and if anyone can tell me which co2 tubing is best and where I can order some that would be great, as I'm just using plain air tubing, but I never minded if it was "leaking some co2" as it was lasting for ages on my old 90 litre, but I want to save as much co2 as possible now.
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I have this too, I try and get the 2 spray bars to push as many bubbles around the tank as possible before they rise to the surface, one day will try to build a reactor and hope for complete diffusion of co2.

Because I have a black background I wanted black tubing so purchased this:
Aquarium Co2 Proof Tubing Polyurethane Air Pipe Clear/Blue/Black 3 Meter 10 feet | eBay

JBL sell the same thing, saw some in Midland Aquatics for about £5.50 ish.

JBL ProFlora T3 CO2 Tube (3m) | Charterhouse Aquatics

Its a bit stiff to work with.

Have you cleaned the ceramic diffuser with bleach yet?
 
Hey cheers for the reply NattyAntlers,

I will look into ordering some "Polyurethane" tubing, what ever co2 tubing I research about people still say they leak a bit lol, how they tell I don't know, but I presume its got to be better than what I am using now, even though I don't think mines to bad.

I occasionally bleach my ceramic diffuser, probably once every few months for 5 mins, but at the end of the week the bubbles are already larger, I did bleach it yesterday funny enough and I left it over night, it seems to be working much better for now so will see how long it lasts, and will keep an eye on my drop checker.

After watching a youtube video of an Atomic Diffuser in a tank, I thought this looks amazing, so just curious if I should purchase one instead, they seem to make a really fine mist, but not sure what size one I would need or even if it may be worth purchasing a different brand of ceramic diffuser.

Hope I can post links, here is the Atomic Diffuser
 
Hi
Using a fluval diffuser and having a spare disc means I can leave mine in bleach/water for a couple of days then a day with neat dechlorinate and its good for a approx a month.
 
Cheers for the help

I was considering the fluval diffuser, then I came across the atomic diffuser, I think I will wait and see if anyone else has anything to add, if not I think I will go ahead and purchase either the fluval diffuser or an atomic diffuser, either one I hope will work better then what I already have, and next time my current diffuser gets blocked I will try the bleach for a couple of days. :D

Oh also out of curiosity how big is your tank? I'm just wondering that maybe the small ceramic diffuser I have might be to small for my tank size at 2bps, therefore finding it hard to spread the bubbles evenly, that in mind also the fluval ceramic diffuser is quite small. =\
 
A Roma 90 would you believe although I got through 2kg co2 in just over 3 months although my drop checker was closer to yellowy green.
Using a fluval bubble counter now that has a larger tube (= larger bubble) than the glass one I used before so bubble rate I think is really just a personal way of measuring and adjusting co2.
 
Dam lol, I must be holding back on the CO2 :O My drop checker on my 90 was a nice green though, I'm pretty sure my 200 litre is going to eat my CO2 in half the time :(

I am only using a coke bottle as my bubble counter lol, it was from my diy yeast set up, but as I say its lasted me a long time and it all works wonders for me, so I don't suspect I'm losing to much co2 from my tubing and connections etc, "touch wood" but as a precaution I want to order some polyurethane tubing and re-do it all and improve my diffuser so hopefully I can diffuse the co2 more efficiently while making it last longer.

I've also spent a lot of money and purchased 4 bags of Eco Complete for my Roma 200, I've put some carpeting plants in and hoping for the best, as in my old Roma 90 I only had normal large black gravel which I think didn't help for the roots, all though I only tried a couple of carpeting plants back then. Do you still use the T8's that came with the tank? I find it annoying how we cant upgrade with out doing a DIY job, but I'm happy with the growth I get from the T8's so it can be done I guess, just wish I could go to a shop and pick the higher light plants, but low-med seem to do fine.
 
Used the T8s for a while and had good results from java ferns and crypts but also had hair algae then without knowing what I was doing got a second hand twin T5 that was far to powerful and I hated the light spill into the room as I had to have it about 10 inches above the tank so now have 2 Aquaray 400 tiles which are good as far as light spill is concerned but I am still not sure about the colour rendition in the tank, I enjoyed making the hanging/fitting for them though.

Then bought 1 then another co2 reg and have since been stockpiling cheap local 2kg FE's from ebay.
Running another external filters solved the hair algae problem though.

I also use eco complete, can be a bit awkward to get plants to stay put at first but I like the way it looks and the plants I have seem to like it.
Thing is this has all been evolving in the same tank for the last 2 years what I need to do is like you and get it all set up and correct right from the start in a new tank, one day will buy that 100 - 120 litre optiwite and stand.
 
Yeah I was going to purchase a hanging luminaire for my 90 litre at one stage, but because its upstairs in my bedroom and close to the TV I didn't want to have the light glowing everywhere, and I've never really tried a big DIY project so I couldn't build a canopy, so I just replaced my aqua glo with a life glo, not that it did much, first few months I noticed a boost in plant growth, but most likely from the new bulbs.

When I first got my Roma 90 I had no clue about anything, let alone how to look after plants lol, I researched optiwite aquariums they seem real nice, be much more easier to fit lights on them, the rim around the roma's does make things a bit more complicated for upgrades =\

Anyway thanks for your help and advice, so far I got no algae concerns, but am getting the algae on the glass now, looks like I will be spending more time algae scrubbing than I did on the 90 and end up buying FE's more regularly lol, and my EI dosing has doubled so that will run out twice as quick but the 200l is worth it as long as the roof don't collapse lol :D

Thanks again.
 
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