DIY co2 diffuser again

[edo]

ok. so heres another question about co2 diffuser. i know that youre supposed to have an airstone to release co2 bubbles. ive heard that the regular green or blue airstones dont work too well because they break up or something like that. then i heard that a plastic one will work. at my LFS, i couldnt find any plastic ones, but i could find ceramic ones. how do the ceramic airstones do with co2? also, i have a 5 inch peni... i mean... a 5 inch gravel cleaner. would that suffice or would i need a longer one? also, how much foam should i put?

[ninoboy]

Are you using 5" vac DIY diffuser? I think it's a bit short. You need a very weak pump to drive it or else the bubbles will escape. 1"-1.5" of foam would do.

I never use airstone for my diffuser. It's not necessary and they do clog often.

[Rolo]

An airstone alone is not enough to diffuse CO2. I have never used ceramic, but have used wood air stones successfully. That wooden one however is just to breakdown the bubbles before the get sucked into my AC 150 to become further dissolved.

[Georgiadawgger]

Originally Posted by ninoboy

Are you using 5" vac DIY diffuser? I think it's a bit short. You need a very weak pump to drive it or else the bubbles will escape. 1"-1.5" of foam would do.

I never use airstone for my diffuser. It's not necessary and they do clog often.

I agree with nino that you need a longer gravel vac tube and you don't need an airstone. I took two airline connectors, drilled two holes into my tube and used epoxy to glue them in. That way I just run two bottles of DIY mix into the chamber. (You might just need one since you have a 20g tank.).

[edo]

how long of a gravel vac tube do i need? just wondering, im gonna stop by petsmart for silicon tubing and anything else i might need.

[Rolo]

Just a suggestion, there are many other tubings far better than silicone when it comes to CO2 permeability. I use vinyl from home depot. You can also use flexible PVC, nylon, polypropylene, polyurethane, etc.

[edo]

thanx. how longs the gravel vac gotta be?

[Georgiadawgger]

Mine is the "Top Fin" Medium Aquarium Vacuum. I think its a 9 inch tube. It works fine for me with 2 DIY bottles running into it powered by a RIO 600 pump. I bought mine from Petsmart (yes I said Petsmart), for $5.50.

[edo]

would a 5 inch suffice for a 174 gph powerhead? cuz i was looking around and noticed that the rio600 was 200 gph.

[Georgiadawgger]

I'm pretty sure it would be fine. If you see bubbles coming out of the bottom of the tube then you could put some foam at the bottom to prevent them from coming out and I think you have one made. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

[edo]

sure thing!

[Zach987]

The power head method is great if you have a heavy sub, but I found out the hard way that a light one, like sand, will eventually get blown by the water current leaving the botton exposed. If you have a external filter try the external diffuser plans around, I was extremely pleased with it

side veiw of gas-line going in

[anonapersona]

If you use a Rio 50 (like the Plant guild reactor) you can use a shorter tube.

I think the trick is to offset the flow inlet, so the water turns in circles. More water flow just blows it out the end, less flow actually keeps the bubbles in motion until they are gone.

I used a Rio90 on a 5" long plastic jar and it is a bit too powerful to not use a sponge, were it a Rio50, or just an inch or 2 longer I'd leave it open at the end.

[edo]

i tried out my co2 reactor today. is it normal for there to be a build up of air? cuz there was this major bubble around the top part, no lower than the airtube (about 2"). (DIAGRAM IS GRAV VAC ONLY!)
__--__
|____| o,O,0= air bubbles
| | | |
| | | |<-- AIR w/ water from powerhead right through to bubbles
|_|_|_|
| 0 O |<--tube in
| o o |
| o 0 |
| o O |
| O o |

maybe its not too clear, but half of my grav vac is air, the other half is water with bubbles. the water from the powerhead just jumps right thru the air and i guess diffuses the CO2...