[jacobk]

I'm setting up a new tank, right now I'm feeling proud of myself for managing to set up the tank -> canister -> heater -> tank circuit with no leaks (seriously, who decided that the only 300W external heater on the market would have a freaking 5/8" hose connector?). I'm planning to add carbon dioxide eventually, and I was thinking it would be a good idea to do so before I add fish, so any mishaps don't have major consequences. I've heard that you can run co2 into your canister filter (I'm using a Fluval FX5, which may be overkill for my 90 gallon tank) for diffusion purposes. Here are my questions:

(1) Does this work?

(2) How do you hook this up, physically? Do you run a line out from the co2 system and punch a hole into your filter input line? How do you do that without causing a leak and/or forcing water into your co2 lines?

 

[Cboss]

I do this on my 6.6g tank. I like doing it this way because I don't want to have more pieces of equipment (diffusor) in my tank than absolutely necessary. My canister is very small and I run CO2 pretty high, so ever 30 minutes or so I do get a small burst of CO2 bubbles that didn't dissolve fast enough.

To hook it up I just stick the CO2 line between my foam prefilter and the bottom of the intake line. The water going into the intake simply pulls the CO2 bubbles along with it.

 

[grogan]

I have been researching this myself and have seen things called "co2 atomizers" on eBay. I guess the hook up to your canister output and have some impeller that chops up the bubbles and then sends them out. (I think) Good post, this was actually going to be my fist question thread. Has anybody tried these things out? The ones I've seen have been to cheap for me to take seriously vs a reactor.

 

[nilocg]

I do this with my fx5, seems to work very well. BTW I am using it on a 75 gallon tank, so it should be fine on your 90.

 

[jacobk]

So when you do this with the fx5, how does the co2 physically get into the filter? It seems to me like it's a sealed system, I don't see any way to get it in between the pre-filter and the filter. I'm not super-handy, so it's not immediately clear to me how to get the co2 in to the intake line without water ending up places I don't want it to be.

 

[grogan]

So when you do this with the fx5, how does the co2 physically get into the filter? It seems to me like it's a sealed system, I don't see any way to get it in between the pre-filter and the filter. I'm not super-handy, so it's not immediately clear to me how to get the co2 in to the intake line without water ending up places I don't want it to be.

Check out these atomizers on eBay I was talking about. They seem like the perfect solution. Not sure about them though