webtrawler84

Hi again all. I was not too sure which section this fits into so I hope you dont mind me posting it here.

I have decided what I am doing with my now spare tank, I am going to attempt my first proper planted tank. I have spent an hour or so this afternoon building a DIY CO2 Reactor and I have a question in regards diffusing the co2 into the water.

The tank as said in another thread is a jewel tank with a builtin corner box filter. Can I put the air-line coming from the co2 bottle down under some the filter media on the inlet side thus allowing the co2 to be kept in the water and pulled through with the flow of the pump? would it be good enough as a diffuser? I have found a rough diagram of the box filter so you can see what I mean



Thanks in advance again for any help and comments

mark

mathas

It seems like that ought to work (similar to a larger-scale version of this reactor), particularly if you can fit a small airstone into the filter on the end of the CO2 line to start with smaller bubbles.

The only way to know for sure is to try it!

Nutter

Should be ok but do it early on a weekend so that you can keep an eye on it just in case it causes an airlock. The airstone won't make any difference as the co2 bubbles will be smashed as they pass through the media & the impellor. I've used little 200lt/hr internal filters as a poor mans diffuser & found that it works rather well. It's quite common to run the co2 line into a canister filter pickup, which is what I do now & that works great.

mathas

I guess that depends on what the OP meant by "can I put the air-line coming from the co2 bottle down under some the filter media".

If there is filter media between the CO2 line and the impeller, you are correct that the airstone probably won't make much difference. I didn't notice the word "some" and read that the first time as "under the filter media", which if I'm reading that diagram correctly, would be just before the pump/impeller area. Sending large CO2 bubbles directly into the impeller often results in a mist of small CO2 bubbles, which not everyone likes the look of.

webtrawler84

thanks for the quick replies as usual.

I was not too sure if I should put it under the media completely or sandwich it between media, If I decide to do the latter I will not bother with an air stone but if I put it under all the media then I will.

I must admit I dont mind a few bubbles but if its going to get to the point were it will be clouding the water then I will have to alter things slightly.

thanks again

mark

Nutter

Mathas is right about the positioning of the co2 line. I'm not sure that these would be the sort of bubbles you would like the look of. They are very fine bubbles that stay suspended in the tank for some time & give a cloudy appearance to the water sometimes.
As Mathas & yourself said, it depends on where you locate the end of the co2 line. If you can put it at the top of the media would be ideal but otherwise use a stone just to be safe.