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CO2 ceramic cleaning and O2 use

L

leemonk

Member
Joined
17 Apr 2009
Messages
132
Hey,

I have two questions on my CO2 concerns for you fine people!

1. I have a glass distributor (I think thats what they are called) that I have what I beleive to be a ceramic disc in it to produce very fine bubbles. My tank has taken a bit of a back seat in our house and the CO2 ran out about 6 months ago, however the distributor has been sitting in the tank gathering du.... algae.

The inside were full of it which I have managed to remove with warm water, however I can not get any bubbles to come through. I am imersing the distributor in water and blowing through the tubes, so either I should blow harder as it doesnt really work that way or the ceramic is blocked. So, should I get bubbles when I blow air through the tubes or how do I clean it? Rightly or wrongly, its sitting in a warm cup of bleachy water currently.

2. I have a solenoid that I plan on using with this CO2, however I also have an air pump. How should I combine the two? My plan was to turn the air on as the lights go off.

Thanks

Lee
 
leemonk said:
Hey,

I have two questions on my CO2 concerns for you fine people!

1. I have a glass distributor (I think thats what they are called) that I have what I beleive to be a ceramic disc in it to produce very fine bubbles. My tank has taken a bit of a back seat in our house and the CO2 ran out about 6 months ago, however the distributor has been sitting in the tank gathering du.... algae.

The inside were full of it which I have managed to remove with warm water, however I can not get any bubbles to come through. I am imersing the distributor in water and blowing through the tubes, so either I should blow harder as it doesnt really work that way or the ceramic is blocked. So, should I get bubbles when I blow air through the tubes or how do I clean it? Rightly or wrongly, its sitting in a warm cup of bleachy water currently.

2. I have a solenoid that I plan on using with this CO2, however I also have an air pump. How should I combine the two? My plan was to turn the air on as the lights go off.

Thanks

Lee
Click to expand...

Lee

Give the glass diffuser a long soak in some sterilising solution, I use Morrisions own or Milton is ok to use. As for trying to blow air through the ceramic plate, unless you have got a very good set of lungs you will struggle. Might be better using a bike pump with an adapted pipe to force the air through the plate.

As for the air pump at night time - from a fishes point to view yes it would be better as there is an abundance of residual Co2 gas within the water column at night time, using the air pump will distrub the surface / create water movement inducing oxygen which the fish will like but this will vent the residual gas and by the morning all co2 gas will be expelled - its a sit on the fence situation.

Regards
Paul.
 
Ta.

I got the cermic working. You were correct, it just needed a better pair of lungs or in my case.... a good release of CO2.

I'll leave the Air to come on at lights out. Fish first and foremost for me........
 
lee, you cant put air through a co2 diffuser. the ceramic mesh is only designed for the co2 so it will only work with that (something about air or 02 molecules being bigger than co2). If you want to use your air at night then you would need a separate tube going to an air stone or if feeling flush ADA do special Air ceramic diffusers.

so, youd need,

2x timers, one for co2 solenoid and one for the air pump.
1 x airline into airstone in the tank
1 x co2 line into the diffuser.

I clean my diffusers in bleach by the way then wash it off with some water which has had some de-chlor added.
 
thanks for the reply.

I have air on a timer which i need to adjust as I have changed my light hours and I'll be picking a timer up for the CO2 today. So I should have a healthy (fish and plants) thriving tank soon :)

thanks again!
 
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