Joined
·
67 Posts
Hey all i just wanted to share with you guys my DIY for diffusing co2 with 2 diffusers!. Hope this helps people who have gotten a reactor and was disappointed because you were unable to have close to a 100% diffuse rate. This method should be able to work nicely with any other setup that is not diffusing at 100%.
Equipment:
* ISTA Turbo Reactor & Aquarium (about 30 bucks)
* CO2 Atomizer System Diffuser 12/16mm (Some chinese no brand ones) (about 20 bucks)
* Ehiem Ecco 2232
* Arksen 225PC O-Ring (Make sure to wash with hand soap for a few seconds then rinse off, cause these felt oily when i took them out).
Initially when i started the Tank i picked up an Ehiem Ecco 2232 external Filter. And not wanting to mess with the glass diffusers i came up upon the reactor. After reading good reviews about the ISTA turbo Reactor i made sure i had enough GPH, which i did. When i got it going at 2-3 BPM i was clearly wrong.
This is what i got
A whole 2nd issue also arose because the reactor was not diffusing fast enough which was suppose to be, even though i had enough GPH on what was required on their Website. Since the reactor was not diffusing fast enough there were pockets of co2 case trapped in the reactor (not air) which caused the propellers to stop spinning every few hours or got really loud because essentially it turned into a waterfall inside.
So i looked for another alternative and got the Co2 Atomizer
Getting this also did not solve the issue with the 7-up, So i decided to combine Both!
Which looks like this now
It was working great till every 4 hours or so the propeller would get stuck. So i decided to take out the bottom propeller and put o-rings into it.
Which looks like this
O-Rings used were
And now tank is running Perfectly with very minimum bubbles. You literally have to be 2-3 inchs away from the tank to see the bubbles but even at that point you can still barely see them. Since there are 2 diffusers there will be 2 holes for the co2, i ran mine from the co2---->Atomizer----> Reactor. So the Co2 line was going to the Atomizer, with the extra co2 hole in the reactor, i put a check valve and taped the end so air would not get sucked in.
See no more 7-up! (ignore my diatoms being everywhere LOL, and waiting on shipment of jungle vals to come in to fill right side). Been going 2 Weeks strong with no issues
Equipment:
* ISTA Turbo Reactor & Aquarium (about 30 bucks)
* CO2 Atomizer System Diffuser 12/16mm (Some chinese no brand ones) (about 20 bucks)
* Ehiem Ecco 2232
* Arksen 225PC O-Ring (Make sure to wash with hand soap for a few seconds then rinse off, cause these felt oily when i took them out).
Initially when i started the Tank i picked up an Ehiem Ecco 2232 external Filter. And not wanting to mess with the glass diffusers i came up upon the reactor. After reading good reviews about the ISTA turbo Reactor i made sure i had enough GPH, which i did. When i got it going at 2-3 BPM i was clearly wrong.
This is what i got

A whole 2nd issue also arose because the reactor was not diffusing fast enough which was suppose to be, even though i had enough GPH on what was required on their Website. Since the reactor was not diffusing fast enough there were pockets of co2 case trapped in the reactor (not air) which caused the propellers to stop spinning every few hours or got really loud because essentially it turned into a waterfall inside.
So i looked for another alternative and got the Co2 Atomizer

Getting this also did not solve the issue with the 7-up, So i decided to combine Both!
Which looks like this now

It was working great till every 4 hours or so the propeller would get stuck. So i decided to take out the bottom propeller and put o-rings into it.
Which looks like this

O-Rings used were

And now tank is running Perfectly with very minimum bubbles. You literally have to be 2-3 inchs away from the tank to see the bubbles but even at that point you can still barely see them. Since there are 2 diffusers there will be 2 holes for the co2, i ran mine from the co2---->Atomizer----> Reactor. So the Co2 line was going to the Atomizer, with the extra co2 hole in the reactor, i put a check valve and taped the end so air would not get sucked in.
See no more 7-up! (ignore my diatoms being everywhere LOL, and waiting on shipment of jungle vals to come in to fill right side). Been going 2 Weeks strong with no issues
