AquaX

I've had two of these on two different setups with the DIY Yeast method, using Hagen's "fine mist" airstones and never had any issues.

niko

Ok let's take this thread further into the light.

Just putting the CO2-tubing in the pump without an airstone accomplishes 3 things:

1. The obvious - supplies CO2

2. The bubble counting.
If you listen carefully you can hear each bubble hitting the impeller. The sound is very gentle. You get used to it and tune "in" to it only when you want. I'm sitting here about 10 ft from my tank and I can hear the sound if I want. But don't think that the sound is loud. Even if you stand right in front of the tank you can't hear it unless you mean to. The sound is like a pinch of sand being gently dropped on paper.

If you diffuse the CO2 at the end of the tubing the "bubble counting feature" of this DIY diffuser of cosmic proportions will disappear. You will not get any better efficiency out of it with an air stone. The magic is in the sponge being over the pump outflow. The CO2 gets trapped there and only the tiniest bubbles escape (if any).

3. The power failure protection
Yes, this legendary design has a built-in power failure protection too. It will not allow the CO2 to be difused if the pump is not working. If the pump is not working there could be a power failure and there is no water movement. If you continue to disolve the CO2 as usual say good bye to your fish.

Without an air stone if the pump stops working the CO2 bubbles come out of the end of the tubing and do not get chopped up by the impeller. They find their way out of the pump and float to the surface. No solubilization takes place. Your fish are safe.

By the way one of these pumps is enough for a 75 gal. tank. That's with pressurized CO2. Old Skool DIY CO2 brewers should not feel a need for a second pump. But hey! It's so cool!

75g. tank with only 1 (one) "tiny-super-efficient-imperial-panda-supper buffet-looka lahka man" reactor:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ddasega/DaveS#

I'm now working on this same design but made of pure gold. Exquisite item for your aquascape. Only for the true connosieur.

--Nikolay

Bunnie1978

You put alot of emphasis on bubble counting. Is that really that important? Shouldn't I have as much CO2 as I can get while still maintaining an appropriate PH level?

AquaX

Hi, Nico. You've made some very good points here. In my experience, having experimented with both methods in two almost identical tanks with PH controllers on both, I found that with diffusing through airstone into sponge and dispersing throughout the tank I reached that sweet spot allot quicker than with the other. Whether the one is more efficient than the other is debatable as there are too many contributing attributes in differing setups. Ideally you should experiment with what works best for you in your setup, but regardless, I think one thing we can all agree on is that this is one tiny super efficient CO2 reactor. This is a very good point and one that would not even have crossed my mind, mainly because I have backup power and is thus of no concern to me really. Also it only really apply to the DIY yeast method as with a pressurized system your solenoid valve would shut off with the power, assuming you are using a solenoid valve and have no backup power source.

WhiteDevil

I tried this, works great for what it is. I have since added a RUGF system to my planted tank and am using the inlet on the PH to administer my Co2. I do still have the elite going just on a smaller tank this time.

lnb

Woooow .............. I just did this using a small airstone. I have never seen such fine micro bubbles. They're so fine that they basically disappear and you have to look really hard to see them floating around.


YouTube - short version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW2DkOvsKW4

Long version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMBcj_s2nj0

Video quality is not great - recorded with a cell phone.

Bunnie1978

That's awesome little video! Thanks! I'm so excited, mine should arrive tomorrow. I'm going to take everything out of the tank and rearrange when I put them in. I can't wait to see what my new CO2 can do for my plants!

Seattle_Aquarist

Hi lnb,

Nice video! BTW nice java fern 'Trident' as well!

lnb

Thanks ............... that Trident is huge isn't it. Needs a pruning.

Bunnie1978

Well, I got them in. I actually drilled a hole in the side of bottom of the filter to thread through the tubing. Otherwise let everything else alone. They put out pretty good flow for such a little tiny filter. I have one problem, which is not yet solved - I have two filters, one on each side of my 75 gallon, and the airline is split in the middle. Well, the CO2 will only come out of one of them, no matter how balanced the pressure should be... I would like the CO2 to come out both sides, but maybe that's just not going to happen, and I should do just one in the middle. What do you think?