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In Tank vs Inline

Gavin3171

Member
Joined
29 Aug 2021
Messages
33
Location
Essex
Really just looking for opinions to why one maybe better than the other? Currently i have an in tank diffuser, but all i keep reading is that inline is better due to the finer bubbles?
Is there any better reasons why i should or shouldnt make a swap over to the co2 inline diffuser?
Thanks
 
How long is a pice of string or maybe how big is your tank would be a good start?
Both have the same sort of ceramic stone so bubble size will be the same.
In line is popular in combination with a spray bar especially on larger tanks and in tank seem to be popular with smaller tanks but there is cross over too.
Both have pros and cons!
In therory perhaps the in line makes more sense as it will offer better distribution but requires a bit more pluming and more attention to mantainace .
No real answer without more details on your tank.
 
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With an inline diffuser the bubbles are always in the flow of the water plus no hardware in the tank, inline has another joint which could leak
In tank work well but can dislodge or if the outlet is put in wrong position slightly can affect how well it works.
I have use both and prefer inline, but prefer CO2 reactor better as bubble free except for pearling
 
Tank is 60L currently.

i like the idea of no visible hardware, but if inline had more cons than pros it doesn’t make sense to move over
 
Hi, im curently pondering ( no pun intended) what to do myself . Also i tried many different methods over the years and on return to the hobby find myself back asking myself the same questions.

Ive had roughly a six year break from planted aquariums and now is quite few visually different diffusers/ atomizers on the market but do the same thing , put co2 into our tank. Atm im using the aquario intank diffuser and its pretty good and would like to source the newer aquario large extended version for the asthetics but being in newzealnd i cant get one posted from europeto here.
So was thinking do i go i line?
Do i make up diy a canister that i can drop my current diffuser into making a homemade inline?
I know i dont like attomizers from past experience.
So in short ive left in tank gone in line then gone atomizer then inline and reverted back to in tank.
So if your getting nice fine bubbles your flow is good drop checker at lights on is correct id persevere with what you have or like myself and many others you'll have a cupboard full of co2 related items you dont use or end uo littering the foresale section. Haha.
Best of luck with what ever you choose to do keep us posted.
 
I use a mix of both inline and in-tank. The one problem that I have had with inline diffusers is that it is had to tell when the ceramic insert becomes dirty or clogged and needs to be cleaned or replaced. I have had two episodes where a tank suddenly has too much CO2 my thoughts were that CO2 was being adjusted as the ceramic diffuser was gradually clogging and then the pressure blew out some of the gunk that was building up in the diffuser thus releasing too much CO2. It was the same tank, widely separated in time, and the regulator was swapped after the first event.
 
I'm with @Driftless here. I've been a big fan of inline for years because that was one less peace of artificial stuff in my tank and the CO2 x flow equation was easier to balance. But I'm going back to in tank diffusers because I realized inline diffusers are too much a hassle to clean (and to know if you have to clean them). You never know if you have to clean it because you don't see the ceramic and you don't really see the bubbles. To clean it you basically have to unplug your water tubings which let's be honest is never a pleasing thing to do (leaks, stress of leaks, etc.). You have to soak the ceramic out of the system for some time which means no filter running, or a spare ceramic (but that causes diffusion changes).
You loose filter flow, which is bad for CO2 diffusion especially if your filter's flow isn't overkill. Plus you can't clean your tubing when it's plugged (meaning the cleaning brush shouldn't touch the ceramic or it will be damaged). So all in all I find that my CO2 is less stable with inline diffusers because the ceramic is never really clean, and I clean my filter less often so the flow is less than ideal too.
With an in tank diffuser, I just take it out of the water, plunge it into bleach or citric acid, rinse it, and voilà. It's so easy to do that I do it during each water change, meaning I don't even have to bother if the ceramic is clean or not : it always is.
Granted, I cringe a little bit each time is see all that tubing in my tank. Choices, choices.

Envoyé de mon KB2003 en utilisant Tapatalk
 
Well i decided to make a giant one i can use my diffuser in tank and out. Had most the stuff lying around so all i had to buy was the brass fitting for the co2 line.
 

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I think my minds made up when its worded like that.
Seems like a load of stress and potential breakdown for very little gain

thanks again guys!!
 
Well i decided to make a giant one i can use my diffuser in tank and out. Had most the stuff lying around so all i had to buy was the brass fitting for the co2 line.

this is interesting 🙏🏻. Would like to see more
 
Hi heres afee pics, its working pretty well , happy so far
 

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Hi all. My first post, but I'm a long-time reader :wave:
Decided to reply to this thread as I wanted to continue the discussion, and there are already 5 other threads on the subject.

I've noticed a trend where in-tank diffusers are generally used in smaller tanks. Then switching to inline for bigger tanks. Is there any reason for this? Is there something that makes inline diffusers less suitable for smaller tanks?

The reason I ask is because I've recently set up a 54 litre tank with an inline diffuser and I'm a bit disappointed with the CO2 consumption. Even though I'm only targeting 15ppm CO2, I still need to have 3 bubbles per second to achieve it.
Might I get better efficiency by switching to an in-tank diffuser? I'm wondering if the inline is simply designed for a faster flow rate than my 600 l/hour filter provides.
 
Hi all. My first post, but I'm a long-time reader :wave:
Decided to reply to this thread as I wanted to continue the discussion, and there are already 5 other threads on the subject.

I've noticed a trend where in-tank diffusers are generally used in smaller tanks. Then switching to inline for bigger tanks. Is there any reason for this? Is there something that makes inline diffusers less suitable for smaller tanks?

The reason I ask is because I've recently set up a 54 litre tank with an inline diffuser and I'm a bit disappointed with the CO2 consumption. Even though I'm only targeting 15ppm CO2, I still need to have 3 bubbles per second to achieve it.
Might I get better efficiency by switching to an in-tank diffuser? I'm wondering if the inline is simply designed for a faster flow rate than my 600 l/hour filter provides.

In-tank is far less efficient. But when you’re dealing with a small, 20-30L tank, it doesn’t matter that much.

In my situation, with a 500L+ tank and a 1.1-1.2pH drop, a better method (fast + efficient) was absolutely necessary to achieve the desired effects. So, I build a Cerges reactor and plumbed it in-line with one of my filters. I run it 8hrs a day and still get 3 months out of a 5lb tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
In-tank is far less efficient. But when you’re dealing with a small, 20-30L tank, it doesn’t matter that much.

In my situation, with a 500L+ tank and a 1.1-1.2pH drop, a better method (fast + efficient) was absolutely necessary to achieve the desired effects. So, I build a Cerges reactor and plumbed it in-line with one of my filters. I run it 8hrs a day and still get 3 months out of a 5lb tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No, depending on the type of diffuser, in tank diffuser can be as efficient if not more so than in line diffuser. Do not use any ceramic style diffuser which wastes a lot of energy to overcome the pore resistance. I use the bubbling style in tank diffuser by Tunze Tunze CO2 Diffuser | Coming soon/ Under preparation... |Marine Aquatics.eu -wholesale and retail sale of both freshwater and saltwater aquarium hardware. which is essentially a power head on top of a large bubble counter and yes I double its use as a bubble counter . This is safer than Cerges reactor as there is no external plumbing to leak and easy to monitor and maintain.. I run a 10 lb tank for my 125 gal that lasts over 1 year injecting CO2 9 hour a day.
 
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The reason I ask is because I've recently set up a 54 litre tank with an inline diffuser and I'm a bit disappointed with the CO2 consumption. Even though I'm only targeting 15ppm CO2, I still need to have 3 bubbles per second
Hi and welcome to the forum, I was just wondering what you are basing your disappointment on?
We get a massive and broad range or C02 consumption post on the forum and people are often surprised they use so much but as you can already see from the above post, consumption can vary a lot as can bubble counts!
That is not to say, you might be able to refine you own tanks consumption, perhaps the most important question is do you think you may have a leak and then ..how do your plants look?
There is no doubt you can run quite big tanks with inline or in tank defusers.
What we do need is as much info about you tank as possible and if possible a picture or two.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum, I was just wondering what you are basing your disappointment on?
We get a massive and broad range or C02 consumption post on the forum and people are often surprised they use so much but as you can already see from the above post, consumption can vary a lot as can bubble counts!
That is not to say, you might be able to refine you own tanks consumption, perhaps the most important question is do you think you may have a leak and then ..how do your plants look?
There is no doubt you can run quite big tanks with inline or in tank defusers.
What we do need is as much info about you tank as possible and if possible a picture or two.
Agree with that. Overwhelm the forum with data, and you will get a better result.....
 
Hi and welcome to the forum, I was just wondering what you are basing your disappointment on?
Hi.

So this is a nano system from CO2 Supermarket which uses the disposable 88g cylinders. I understand that nano systems are never cost effective, but I went for this because of the very limited space I have available under the tank.

My disappointment comes from the claim on the website that with 1 bubble every 4 seconds into 50L, a cartridge will last 3 months. This to me was acceptable. However, I didn't realise that this injection rate results in completely undetectable CO2 in the tank! I need to use 12x this rate, just to get to 50% of typical high-tech concentrations.
I know that bubble counts mean little in the real world, but if my bubbles are comparable to the suppliers recommendation, then I'll be making cartridge replacements in days rather than weeks or months!

Co2art inline diffuser running ~40psi, connected to Oase Filtrosmart 100 (600 l/h).
I've checked all the usual things.. diffuser appears to be working well (visible but very fine bubbles circulating in tank). All joints checked for leaks with soapy water.
 
Hi.

So this is a nano system from CO2 Supermarket which uses the disposable 88g cylinders. I understand that nano systems are never cost effective, but I went for this because of the very limited space I have available under the tank.

My disappointment comes from the claim on the website that with 1 bubble every 4 seconds into 50L, a cartridge will last 3 months. This to me was acceptable. However, I didn't realise that this injection rate results in completely undetectable CO2 in the tank! I need to use 12x this rate, just to get to 50% of typical high-tech concentrations.
I know that bubble counts mean little in the real world, but if my bubbles are comparable to the suppliers recommendation, then I'll be making cartridge replacements in days rather than weeks or months!

Co2art inline diffuser running ~40psi, connected to Oase Filtrosmart 100 (600 l/h).
I've checked all the usual things.. diffuser appears to be working well (visible but very fine bubbles circulating in tank). All joints checked for leaks with soapy water.
I have the same co2 system. I assume you are using the small bazooka diffuser and tubing that came with the set? I’m new to it all but have been using it for a little while now.

In my nano tank their recommended bubble count would have been 1 per 6 seconds.
Initially I had to use 1 per second to get like green on the drop checker. I was pretty disappointed that the estimate was six times out. I was not excited to be changing cylinders six time more often.
However…
More recently, I shortened the co2 tubing by half and also blasted some co2 through the diffuser (I noticed the bubbles was only coming from one side) and now I’m down to 1 bubble per 3 seconds for the exact same drop. Seems really consistent the last few days so I’m pretty happy.
I assume either some pressure (or co2) was getting lost or something was not quite right with the diffuser. Either way, the reinstall improved things for me.

Another thing I read is hard water is harder to diffuse co2 in. Perhaps this is not true but it mirrored my experience. Hope things improve for you.
 
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