[timewalker03]

I have just purchased my CO2 tank (5lb Clylinder). I have my regulator, Needle valve and I make my own bubble counters. Now I need a Co2 Diffusing device. I see the two common ones that are not in line reactors are glass diffuser and the red sea type electrical diffusers. Do they both do an adequate job or is one better than the other. I am curious as this will be my last purchase towards compressed CO2 and need some advice as which to buy.

Thanks all for any help.

Sean

 

[freydo]

glass diffusers are nice looking, but clog up and need soaking and cleaning with a diluted bleach solution. even after that, not everyone has had good results after their first cleaning.

i don't know what the reviews on the red sea electric diffusers are, so i can't comment.

if you are opting for a diffuser instead of an inline reactor, i would suggest having the diffuser underneath your filter's intake. this would ensure the co2 is completely dissolved into the tank water. this would also prevent premature degassing.

if you don't want to have it underneath your filter intake, then position the diffuser underneath your filter spraybar, and fairly close to the bottom. or add a powerhead. this is to ensure the tiny bubbles stay as long as possible in the water before reaching the top.

hope this helps.

 

[timewalker03]

what about the hagen ladders? are they effective?

 

[josh1604]

Agree with freydo on the glass diffusers haven't had much luck with them after cleaning.

Perosnally i would go with the inline, there a no bubbles floating around in your tank and its pretty cheap to make and are very efficient

As for the hagen ladders, they are some what effective, but not very efficient. A lot of the co2 will not diffuse into the water.

Also i would not place your diffuser under the intake of your canister filter, there has been a lot of dicussions on if this will damage your filter or not. I do not have any personal experience with this, but i am going off what other have mentioned about the subject.

 

[orlando]

What size tank, and what filter are you using? Knowing these would help tremendously.

Regards, Orlando

 

[fwdixon]

Used a Hagen Ladder, and there was lot of wasted CO2. Built a diffuser out of an Elite Mini Filter and it works great! Ant the best part was it only cost $10US. Search the Forum for the post with the instructions.

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi timewalker03,
I tried the Elite Mini Filter and it worked fine but ended up feeding my CO2 into the filter inputs of my tanks. It may not be as efficient as a reactor but it is simple and effective.

 

[rodrigaj]

I use a Jaqno external reactor:

http://translate.google.com/transla...resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search?q=jaqno&hl=en

When M3 use to be in business, they carried this product. It is extremely efficient, has an excess air outlet and allows you to bubble count.

I would not recommend a glass difuser for reasons already given.

 

[gibmaker]

I used to have diffusers and then switched to an inline reactor. Inlines are far better in my opinion, less maintenance, better use of co2 (little waste)

 

[Nevermore]

I'm using glass diffusers and they work great! I clean them once a month and have had no issues with them not working as well after cleaning. I got my diffusers from GLA.

 

[Ljeto]

I am using a Ferplast reactor (it's like a small internal filter), however, I notice that maximum number of bubbles it can disolve is around 2-3 / sec. If I increase it to more than that, it just accumulates inside the reactor, and eventualy goes out to the surface as one big bubble, obviously 'unprocessed'.

 

[overboard]

Red Sea's is the worst, IMO. Plantguild makes a powered diffuser that works pretty well for me, but it is big and instrusive. I use Hagen ladders on three tanks, a 10 gallon and two 20 longs. They take up the least space and they work pretty well. They require a sort of Zen attitude- they have to be dirty to work well, and snails will wander through and knock out a few hours' CO2 and you just have to let them be. I use one glass diffuser from Aquamagic that has been trouble-free for one year. Another one I got somewhere else clogs up constantly and I stopped using it. I use PH/KH readings to determine how much CO2 is being delivered, and the good glass diffuser seems to do the best of the whole bunch.