[tom855]

Anybody have any advice on how to get that black CO2 proof tubing over the end of a Do!Aqua diffusor? It seems that the tubing is a bit small, and of course it's rigid as could be. Of course I don't want to bust the thing and drive the glass into my fingers, but the tubing just doesn't seem to fit.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[cah925]

Boil some water and put the end of the tubing in the water to soften it.

 

[kyle3]

yep a hair dryer can work too

cheers-K

 

[sollie7]

Heat the tubing up with a lighter for a second and then it will stretch and you can put it on

 

[Momotaro]

Doing those things may work, but remember! You'll have to get the tubing on and off again when you clean the diffuser.

I run CO2 tubing as far as I can, add a check valve, and go with silicone tubing from the check valve to the diffuser. No problems!

 

[alan j t]

Doing those things may work, but remember! You'll have to get the tubing on and off again when you clean the diffuser.

I run CO2 tubing as far as I can, add a check valve, and go with silicone tubing from the check valve to the diffuser. No problems!

+1
i broke my first ceramic diffuser w/some ridgid co2 tubing

 

[OverStocked]

YOu can even get black silicone tubing from petco and petsmart for that last section. Your losses will be minimal and if almost all of it is underwater it is irrelevant.

 

[Jeff5614]

The loss would still be negligible if you used silicon tubing for the whole length.

 

[tom855]

Great ideas, thanks to all! I think I'm going to go the path of using the more flexible tubing on the diffuser. I'm sure that's not going to be a problem to get it attached. Now that hard black stuff, that's a bit of a different story.

Again, thanks to all!

Tom

 

[bigperm]

not to Hijack the thread

with silicone you lose (leech) CO2? I had read here or somewhere else, that it is something to the effect of 6% per foot or something like that...

Is this true? Should we just use vinyl? I have the Hagen ladder/kit, and I have since hooked up a nano diffuser to my pressurized CO2, but using the tubing that came with the ladder. I thinkit is silicone, it certainly is not the standard vinyl air tubing? Should I switch it out?

Was going to start a new thread, but this is pretty close to my question.

FWIW, the tubing I used fit over the nano diffuser after a few tries....

 

[Hoppy]

with silicone you lose (leech) CO2? I had read here or somewhere else, that it is something to the effect of 6% per foot or something like that...

Is this true? Should we just use vinyl? I have the Hagen ladder/kit, and I have since hooked up a nano diffuser to my pressurized CO2, but using the tubing that came with the ladder. I thinkit is silicone, it certainly is not the standard vinyl air tubing? Should I switch it out?

Was going to start a new thread, but this is pretty close to my question.

FWIW, the tubing I used fit over the nano diffuser after a few tries....

I tried to demonstrate to myself the loss of CO2 through silicone tubing. There was none that I could detect. I used a 25 foot coil of cheap silicone tubing from PetSmart, submerged in water, hooked up to the bubble counter on my CO2 system, with the other end of the tube plugged. I didn't get bubbles in the bubble counter to speak of. That tells me that any loss of CO2 through the silicone tubing would have a very slight effect on the time a CO2 tank would last.

 

[Jeff5614]

Read this and see if it helps answer any questions to CO2 leakage from silicone tubing.

http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php?t=4843&highlight=tubing

 

[bigperm]

great point

I tried to demonstrate to myself the loss of CO2 through silicone tubing. There was none that I could detect. I used a 25 foot coil of cheap silicone tubing from PetSmart, submerged in water, hooked up to the bubble counter on my CO2 system, with the other end of the tube plugged. I didn't get bubbles in the bubble counter to speak of. That tells me that any loss of CO2 through the silicone tubing would have a very slight effect on the time a CO2 tank would last.

Great point hoppy!

One would think if there was such a loss, that you could plug the end of the silicone tubing, and use it as its own "micro-diffuser" and it would bubble like a long airstone.

i will stick with silicone, myself.

 

[bigperm]

Read this and see if it helps answer any questions to CO2 leakage from silicone tubing.

http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php?t=4843&highlight=tubing

wow great post!
Thanks jeff for the link