anyone used one of these diffusers?

[Yoemen]

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9907&N=2004+113779

I am probably gonna go the DIY route using 1 or 2 4 liter bottles as reactors. This thing claims 100% CO2 diffusion, so I was wondering if anyone had tried it yet?

[Mgamer20o0]

i never used that. i use a interal filter. it has a air line intake. its coverd and i cant even see it and i know its there. i like that cuz it gives me extra filtration.

[RISK2123]

never tried it but it sounds pretty interesting. id like to know if it works too.

[Nitro]

How will you know if your DIY canister is still making CO2 if you can't see any bubbles?

[Mgamer20o0]

you can add a bubble counter. it is also good to switch out the diy co2 before it dies.

[Toirtis]

I use the Amano-type glass diffusors only, but would be interested to see a review on this product.

[BowMaster]

I still recommend this unit here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Red-Sea-CO2-Reactor-500-Rated-for-aquariums-up-to-125_W0QQitemZ140022616371QQihZ004QQcategoryZ20756Q QssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I use this one and it is great. You cannot see a bubble come out of this thing. It works great and is incredibly small.

Lyle

[Hound]

I'm not certain, but I'm thinking a membrane diffusor would need presurized co2 to work properly. That is to say it would create back pressure as gas pushes its way through the membrane. If you try it with a DIY set up you may want to watch your bottles and tubes closely.

[justintoxicated]

I still recommend this unit here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Red-Sea-CO2-Reactor-500-Rated-for-aquariums-up-to-125_W0QQitemZ140022616371QQihZ004QQcategoryZ20756Q QssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I use this one and it is great. You cannot see a bubble come out of this thing. It works great and is incredibly small.

Lyle

How can you tell when it is time to change the Yeast and sugar if you can't see any bubbles coming out of it?

[phanmc]

How can you tell when it is time to change the Yeast and sugar if you can't see any bubbles coming out of it?

Add a bubble counter or make one out of a small water bottle.

[justintoxicated]

Add a bubble counter or make one out of a small water bottle.

The thing is I am thinking to put this in a 20 gallon and I don't have any idea what size it is. Would it take up a huge portion of my tank?

I'm honestly getting plenty of diffusion from by bubble counter/ ladder but it tends to get plugged up by the plants growing into it, at which point it stops working. I probably have too many plants in the tank...

I don't understand how I would make a bubble counter out of a small water bottle or whatever? Can you enlighten me?

[phanmc]

Don't use that diffuser so no idea how big it is.

As for making a bubble counter, you take a small water bottle and drill 2 holes on on the cap. fill the bottle with mostly water and run the CO2 line down through one hole into the water. Run another airline from the top of the second hole, ensuring that it does not touch the water, to your tank and diffuser. Seal the airlines to the cap with some silicone to make it airtight so no CO2 will leak. You will now be able to count the bubbles as they leave the CO2 line.

[BowMaster]

How can you tell when it is time to change the Yeast and sugar if you can't see any bubbles coming out of it?

You can see the CO2 swirling in the diffuser housing. Therefore if you need more yeast, you would see no gas at all. The picture on ebay, is straight from the manufacturer, that is exactly what you see. The CO2 looks like a little tornado swirling around.

Lyle

[justintoxicated]

ok im convinced! thanks I will try without the bubble counter first as that woould take up quite alot of extra space even If I bought some of those tiny bottles.

[plantbrain]

The membrane thingy is junk.
Might be okay for a tiny tank, but it's no better than a bell type diffusion method, you can increase the ability of it to add CO2 by placing more current need it, across the gas layer etc just like any passive bell diffuser, it's passive, thus has very low capcity to diffuse much CO2 into the water, so what if it's 100% when you need far more than it can dissolve into the water!!

Takes a lot more and passive diffusers are not very good for anyone really.
You do much better with a disc or a rector with a powerhead/flow from a filter etc.

The redsea thingy is a take off on my old reactor desgn some 10 years ago which modified the gravel vac idea.

For the cost of a Rio 180 powerhead and 2-3$, you can easily make a DIY CO2 reactor that will outperform everything you have listed here.

See this thread:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75010&highlight=DIY+CO2+reactor+Tom+Barr

and this one:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75015

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82321

Not sure why folks would pay 30-50$ a shipping for something that literally takes all of 15 min tops to make it + it works much better.

Veiwtainers can be bough at Home Depot OSH etc for 1.99 for the 4"Lx 2" dia tube or on line at Viewtainer.com

Very simple to make a very effective,

You can monkey around with CO2 and complain about algae a long time before figuring out that it pays to do the CO2 right.
I've seen folks frustrate themselves for years.

A glass disc and blasting the mist from that all around the tank in a good pattern will also work very well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[justintoxicated]

The membrane thingy is junk.
Might be okay for a tiny tank, but it's no better than a bell type diffusion method, you can increase the ability of it to add CO2 by placing more current need it, across the gas layer etc just like any passive bell diffuser, it's passive, thus has very low capcity to diffuse much CO2 into the water, so what if it's 100% when you need far more than it can dissolve into the water!!

Takes a lot more and passive diffusers are not very good for anyone really.
You do much better with a disc or a rector with a powerhead/flow from a filter etc.

The redsea thingy is a take off on my old reactor desgn some 10 years ago which modified the gravel vac idea.

For the cost of a Rio 180 powerhead and 2-3$, you can easily make a DIY CO2 reactor that will outperform everything you have listed here.

See this thread:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75010&highlight=DIY+CO2+reactor+Tom+Barr

and this one:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75015

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82321

Not sure why folks would pay 30-50$ a shipping for something that literally takes all of 15 min tops to make it + it works much better.

Veiwtainers can be bough at Home Depot OSH etc for 1.99 for the 4"Lx 2" dia tube or on line at Viewtainer.com

Very simple to make a very effective,

You can monkey around with CO2 and complain about algae a long time before figuring out that it pays to do the CO2 right.
I've seen folks frustrate themselves for years.

A glass disc and blasting the mist from that all around the tank in a good pattern will also work very well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

To be honest the reason I was looking at it is because I have no understanding of how your reactor works.

I see a bunch of tubes sticking into it but I have no idea what any of them are for. For example :

1) what good does the tube do that runs from the viewtainer (whatever that is) to the rio's intake?

2) what is that tube that goes inbetween the viewtainer and rio for?

3) what does that tube hook up to?

4) what is the tube inside the viewtainer with the bend in it for?

5) Where do we connect the hose from our Yeast reactors?

6) What do we connect the tubing with?

7) Where is a good place to order Co2 resistant tubing?

8) How is the viewtainer connected to the Rio?

9) What section of lowes would I even find a viewtainer in? I can spend hours looking around in that store and no1 will know what the hell I am talking about...

Thanks and Regards,
Justin.

[justintoxicated]

Also, would any of these powerheads from petsmart work? I can't find the Rio localy...

http://www.petsmart.com/global/search/search_results.jsp?In=Fish&N=2030138&Ne=2