a little confused on diy co2

[Bk718]

So you are saying that an airstone won't do much good when it comes to diffusing? I got a 4" bar airstone that I was planning to use with my DIY CO2. Was that a waste (of $2)?

Normal airstones give off large bubbles. These bubbles will rise too quickly and have no time to diffuse in the water. Instead try a limewood airstone which releases tons of micro bubbles which are very light and stay in the tank water for longer period of time, allowing them to diffuse at a quicker rate. You can place that limewood airstone at the lowest point of the tank under the filter overflow or intake

 

[Shaggy52282]

So a normal airstone is better then nothing...but only barely...is that the consensus? I guess I go looking for a limewood airstone at my LFS tonight.

I have a standard Power filter...not a canister. Is it still best to put the airstone directly under the filter...or is that a canister filter trick?

Btw...sorry for the threadjack, but I am still more or less on topic, right?

 

[Bk718]

So a normal airstone is better then nothing...but only barely...is that the consensus? I guess I go looking for a limewood airstone at my LFS tonight.

I have a standard Power filter...not a canister. Is it still best to put the airstone directly under the filter...or is that a canister filter trick?

Btw...sorry for the threadjack, but I am still more or less on topic, right?

Having a plain airstone is almost the same as just having the airline in the tank gassing off and not giving you maximum diffusion.

Red sea makes limewood airstones. Some stores make their own.
Another way is to get a chopstick and stick it into the airline. You will also get tiny bubbles from that.

Even with a hang on back filter i would place the wood airstone at the lowest point of the tank directly below the overflow.
I wouldnt bother with the intake because the bubbles that go in do not have enough time to diffuse and are easily gassed off around the impeller area.

 

[jujubee]

im still a little confused on how exactly to diffuse it through an airstone. do i need to run an airpump at all, or is the pressure from the soda bottle just supposed to force the co2 through the airstone?

 

[bkw1982]

pressure that builds up in the bottle pushes it through.

 

[ryzilla]

First off the a seperator serves two purposes. The first purpose is to filter the co2 generated in the main bottle so you have "clean" co2 released into your fishtank. You will find that without the seperator you will get "boogers" collecting on your diffuser. The boogs dont really harm anything but are unsightly. The second purpose serves as a bubble counter

You will need a check valve to prevent water from the tank backwashing into the seperator.

The pressure in the bottle will push the gas through the seperator and from the seperator into your tank.

With diy co2 you can diffuse a few different ways. The limewood diffuser stays good for roughly a month to two months before it starts to turn brown and begin to release larger bubbles.

You can also use a small pump or powerhead to chop the bubbles into microbubbles via the impeller. Then it is sprayed and diffused into the water colum.

 

[Bk718]

So a normal airstone is better then nothing...but only barely...is that the consensus? I guess I go looking for a limewood airstone at my LFS tonight.

I have a standard Power filter...not a canister. Is it still best to put the airstone directly under the filter...or is that a canister filter trick?

Btw...sorry for the threadjack, but I am still more or less on topic, right?

Here you go made a small video for you to show how small of a bubbles the limewood airstone releases. (youtube killed the quality of the video.. sorry)

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[kingearwig]

The limewood airstone looks great the bubbles are smaller than when I was using an in the tank filter to chop the bubbles up. but next time I will be using a reactor. I mean why waste any CO2 right?

 

[Bk718]

The limewood airstone looks great the bubbles are smaller than when I was using an in the tank filter to chop the bubbles up. but next time I will be using a reactor. I mean why waste any CO2 right?

a properly built reactor would be great. nothing better than 100% diffusion.

I will have to see how the tank goes with the airstone being out in the open. But most likely will get better diffusion if i place it under filter intake.

What kind of reactor are you taking about??