Another diy question about air stones and power filters

[Meredith]

would running the tube from my diy co2 into the intake of my aquaclear be better for dispersing the co2 than the air stone I am using now?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I would think so, it bashes the air bubbles and forces them through the media allowing them to dissolve.

But it will probably be a bit louder then your airstone.

 

[BlazerFRS]

Yea I used to diffuse through my aquaclear, I had good results. The little 'tic' noise the bubbles make in the impeller got a bit annoying after while. I have sense made a reactor, which does a better job dissolving CO2 and is silent.

 

[Meredith]

what did you make it with?

 

[BlazerFRS]

I based it off these instructions:

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

scroll aaalllllllllllll the way down for the powered reactor. The rest of the article is really good too tho.

Since my tank is only ten gallons I used a small internal filter I had laying around (the elite mini, 25 GPH, not sure on $$, came with a cheap 2.5 gal), an airstone I had (cost $0.89) and a small squirt bottle ($0.99).

Basically I cut a slit near the bottom of the bottle and forced the flattened "v" shaped nozzel on the elite filter into the bottle. I cut the neck off the top of the bottle. Then I carved a hole near the bottom, shoved the airstone's nipple in there, and attached my CO2 line. I then covered about 90% of the bottom with filter pad (just rubber banded it to the bottle).
I had to experiment with the placement of the pad. Mine's kinda dense so water wasn't coming out of the reactor too well. I adjusted it so the CO2 heavy water could exit and circulate through the tank, without letting many bubbles out.

It took less then a 1/2 hour.. looks kinda like hell but it works. This was kinda a proof of concept for me, since I had the parts already. If I feel the need I'll probably rebuild it in the future with a better PH. I'll try and get a halfway decent pic of it in the tank.

EDIT
Here's the pic. Basically CO2 comes in the bottom, rises against the current to the swirling bubbly vortex up top, and dissolves in the water. Water + CO2 comes out the bottom.
In the background you can see some of the bush algae that drove me to make this piece. Hopefully greater CO2 levels will help.

 

[Meredith]

oooh, so does all that stuff have to be inside the tank?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Yes, an alternative that would get it out of the tank involves plumbing.

 

[BlazerFRS]

Yup. If I were you I'd try just feeding it into the AC, and see how you like your levels and the noise. If it's in a room with background noise it's not really noticable, but it annoys the crap out of me when the room is silent.

 

[quadrider5953]

i feed my co2 into the intake of my whisper hob filter and it does fin, every once in a while though, i have to twist the flow control to allow the co2 bubbl to pass since it doestn go soemtimes. otherwise it works well because of the flowing water causing it to diffuse, and the impeller chopping the bubble into smaller bubbles.

HTH

Kyle

 

[Meredith]

I'll give the AC a try. If I hate it I can just take the tube back out again

 

[malkore]

You can reduce the noise of the bubble hitting the impeller by using an airline reducer where you stick it into the intake. Smaller diameter=smaller bubble=less noise and more likely to break the bubble up efficiently.