Atomic Inline Co2 Diffuser 16?

[sundragon]

Originally Posted by AndreyT

In my experience with this kind of atomizers, they are very quiet when they operate properly. But they begin to hiss (or even whistle quite noticeably) when the seal around the "airstone" fails and the gas begins to blow-by between the plastic casing and the "airstone". This also produces large bubbles, for obvious reasons.

So, are you sure you have no blow-by issues with your atomizer? Both the hissing and the fact that bubbles don't dissolve fully might be an indication of such a failure.

Good point - there should be almost no bubbles when you first set it up. If you see large ones, then they are bypassing the diffuser stone.

From my experience, the bubbles gradually start to appear and get larger over time as the diffuser gets dirty. When the bubbles become visibly large, I swap the diffuser when I service the filter. I have two so it's an easy swap process. The clean one then sits till it needs to be swapped back again. This happens every 3-4 months, FWIW.

[BriDroid]

Originally Posted by sundragon

Good point - there should be almost no bubbles when you first set it up. If you see large ones, then they are bypassing the diffuser stone.

From my experience, the bubbles gradually start to appear and get larger over time as the diffuser gets dirty. When the bubbles become visibly large, I swap the diffuser when I service the filter. I have two so it's an easy swap process. The clean one then sits till it needs to be swapped back again. This happens every 3-4 months, FWIW.

That is why I bought 2 of them

[talontsiawd]

On that note, what is the best way to clean these? I cleaned mine using bleach but only soaked for 2 hours. It's hard to do overnight and keep the filter running unless I add some sort of connector. I may buy another one in the future, just wondering if bleach is the way to go. Some people say it's not ceramic and bleach isn't the best way, I also don't want to harm the plastic in the long run.

Mine may be fine, I know the bubbles are smaller than they were but it's hard to tell because I didn't have clear pipes before, plus it's now horizontal (only way I can make it fit) so the bubbles may be combining. Diffusion is fine but wondering if it could be better. Setup like over a year ago but switched up many things including tank size so can't go off bubble rate. I have a feeling it's slightly higher than it was on my 29 gallon, on my 20 long.

[sundragon]

Originally Posted by talontsiawd

On that note, what is the best way to clean these? I cleaned mine using bleach but only soaked for 2 hours. It's hard to do overnight and keep the filter running unless I add some sort of connector. I may buy another one in the future, just wondering if bleach is the way to go. Some people say it's not ceramic and bleach isn't the best way, I also don't want to harm the plastic in the long run.

Mine may be fine, I know the bubbles are smaller than they were but it's hard to tell because I didn't have clear pipes before, plus it's now horizontal (only way I can make it fit) so the bubbles may be combining. Diffusion is fine but wondering if it could be better. Setup like over a year ago but switched up many things including tank size so can't go off bubble rate. I have a feeling it's slightly higher than it was on my 29 gallon, on my 20 long.

I tried the GLA cleaner but it wasn't strong enough so I used H202 (Peroxide) and then bleach. The peroxide worked but the bleach really did the job.

It takes longer than two hours - I did it overnight.

EDIT: Try the peroixide - it's a lot less caustic than bleach. If you need to use bleach, remember to soak the diffuser in a cup of water with a capful of Prime or dechlorinator to remove all traces of bleach, once it's cleaned up

If you don't buy two you may need to hook up the filter for a day and then replace it. The expense of buying another is really worth the time and effort

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by sundragon

I tried the GLA cleaner but it wasn't strong enough so I used H202 (Peroxide) and then bleach. The peroxide worked but the bleach really did the job.

It takes longer than two hours - I did it overnight.

EDIT: Try the peroixide - it's a lot less caustic than bleach. If you need to use bleach, remember to soak the diffuser in a cup of water with a capful of Prime or dechlorinator to remove all traces of bleach, once it's cleaned up

If you don't buy two you may need to hook up the filter for a day and then replace it. The expense of buying another is really worth the time and effort

Thanks, I have had all sorts of diffusers and always used bleach but it's a lot easier to soak and especially dechlorinate over a period of time when it doesn't involve your filter.

On that note, I found I had a leak at my check valve. I had a small amount of silicone airline tubing I never replaced which worked fine on my glass diffuser but leaked. Bubbles are much smaller now, had a feeling because my CO2 only lasted a few months but I just had to downgrade to 5lber for a 20lb so I wasn't sure. Really glad I caught it.

[BriDroid]

What ratio are you using when you use H2O2 and bleach?

Last time I cleaned mine I did 100% peroxide overnight. It seems to have worked.