Using air pump to push CO2 diffuser

H

husky_1

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Jun 2, 2007
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Hey Everyone,
I finally put some plants in my tank, and have hooked up my DIY CO2 supply. I would like to get some feedback on the method I used to push the CO2 into my tank.

I am sure all of you are familiar with the DIY co2 using a 2 liter bottle, some sugar, yeast etc... What I did to get it into my tank is I decided to hook it up inline with my Air pump. So out of my air pump, I go into one of the adjustable airflow things. Then I go to a tubing T, and out of the opposite side I go to the tank. On the T side is where I come from the Diy CO2 bottle.

Do you guys think this will work? I figure that the CO2 will eventually push any of the air that is forced in the bottle out to the tank.

I would go with the normal old Co2 diffuser but my LFS did not have any that were reasonably priced. And I figured what the heck, might as well spend extra money on plants..

Thanks for the advice/input.
 
You may be right and I may go that route, but I like as little equipment in the tank as possible.

I was just wondering if people thought this would work or not.
 
Its a 10g tank and has a small whisper HOB filter. My original thinking was that I was going to drill a hole in the inlet pipe and silicon in a airline elbow. From the elbow, of course I would go to the diy CO2...My only concern with this was that the surface agitation in the filter and as the filter water enters the tank would drive off any CO2 that I added. I have the elbows and aquarium silicon (thanks to my Reef tank diy sump), and still may do this.
 
I had given some thought to a system like this:

air pump > hose > co2 1 liter > hose > co2 1 liter > hose > diffuser

with the intention of feeding oxygen to the yeast and giving a little pressure to an otherwise fairly low pressure system. the system wouldn't really make any MORE co2 than normal, but it would be pushed through a little harder, making those glass diffusers more viable... they typically don't work well with DIY co2, because the pressure is too low.

the addition of air bubbles will result in a loss of some co2, but in a 10 gallon, with 2 co2 chambers going, it should be enough.

I have not tested this idea at all.
 
I have to wonder mellow, with your DIY working better now, if your diffusers would work better now as well. I've been getting really good pressure with my DIY setups. What diffuser(s) do you have, BTW?

Anyway, check out my Bubble wand thread when you get a chance, you might come up with some ideas to make this thing work well that I hadn't thought of yet.
 
right now I run the hagen bubble ladder. I like it because it requires no pressure, past the pressure needed to travel 8 inches under water. I have a few ideas of how to make a better than hagen bubble ladder, but I want to try them before spouting.

I have 2 of the glass "pollen type" diffusers, but not ADA ones, chinese knock offs from ebay. One of them worked once for 3 or 4 hours, with 2 brand new 2 liter setups kicking off at once... but after that, it didn't matter what I did, they didn't want to push. I could even squeeze the soda bottles... the pressure was enormous. they really require compressed gas.

I've also tried both small green air stones and the long black bar style air stones. both work ok, but the slime buildup and lack of visual indication of how much co2 is pumping make them a poor choice without a bubble counter. Even then, the bubbles make their way to the surface quickly. I tried catching the bubbles under driftwood for more absorbtion, but never saw pearling until I switched to the ladder.

The thing with a small tank is that you don't need any more co2 than the yeast provides, you just need it all. the trick is disolving as much as possible at low/no pressure...
 
To comment on the original question regarding air-driven CO2; air and CO2 have a difficult enough time diffusing in water. Why push 2 gases in the water together if your goal is to diffuse one primarily? This would just lead to more agitation at the surface, which will release your CO2 even faster into the air. I would have to assume that the two gasses would mix under water forming bigger bubbles (going from an area of greater pressure to one of lesser) which would pop quite spectacularly at the surface.

In other words, don't do it, you'd be giving your CO2 an express lane out of your water. You want to make your CO2 loiter around a bit, turning into all the dead end streets.

Can you tell I need sleep?
 
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