BUBBLES!

[875mill]

I see alot of post by ppl wanting to run a bubble wand for looks in their planted tanks. And of course this is a bad idea because it out gasses all your co2. We'll Ive come up with idea and wanted to know if you guys think it would work.

The part would be a small half tube mounted just under the surface of the water directly above the bubble wand. Then there would be a few smaller tubes going from the top of the half tube to above the surface of the water.
The idea is that the bubbles would collect in the half tube and escape via the smaller tubes above the water line. This would not disturb the surface of the water and therefore save your co2 from being outgassed. I think any way.

Oh and the part would be a clear pvc or acrylic to help hide it.

 

[malkore]

It should work to some degree, at least it seems to me it would. Not as efficient as an in-line or powered reactor, but you gotta make comprimises for 'fancy' air bubble effects somehow...either you outgas, or you get less bang for your buck.

 

[Alshain]

I think you misunderstood his intent malkore. This isnt a diffuser idea. You would still need some other reactor to infuse your CO2, this just theoretically allows you have a bubble wand without outgassing CO2 by surface aggitation.

I think it might work, it would be difficult to prove it was working. Of course you would still have surface aggitation but it would be limited in the smaller exits from the large tube and thus less outgassing.

However, what if you turned this into a diffuser idea. Put some mesh or something over the tube exits (instead of little tubes), then put the whole thing underwater. Instead of pumping air into the bubble wand, pump CO2 into it. The tube would catch the CO2 coming from the wand and diffuse it into the water before hitting the surface like a bell diffuser.

 

[7Enigma]

This might work to some extent if you can be sure virtually all the bubbles go into the bell. The problem is the farther away the bell from the wand, the farther the bubbles will randomly travel. This would require a relatively large bell with a tight bubble wand in order to achieve this.

The main problem though is not the plan but the mechanics behind why bubble wands are bad for CO2 tanks.

A bubble wand will increase surface aeration when the bubbles reach the surface, but just as important it creates an upward current in the water that "pulls" the water towards the surface. This will cause water nearby the bubbles to move around, increasing the likelihood that water that previously wouldn't come in contact with the surface, now will.

I like the idea, has some good thought in it, but am not sure the application is going to pay off (ie look nice, and keep CO2 levels high).

Congrats on the brainstorming.

 

[Purrbox]

This idea sounds quite interesting, even though I absolutely hate bubblewands. I think it would be interesting to run some tests to see how effective it is.

You'd probably need at three tanks the same size being injected with Pressurized CO2. Adjust until you have the same levels in all three tanks. Then leave one alone as your control, add a bubble wand to the second, and add the same bubble wand with your bubble catcher to the third. Measure levels over a set period of time, record results, and finally compare. Depending on whether your results are closer to the Control tank or the one without the bubble catcher, you would be able to tell how effective it is at resolving the problem. Probably want to do a few trials to ensure that you get the same basic results each time.

 

[fish_4_all]

I think it should work to some extent. As for water movement, I thought alof of people used powerhead and their filters in planted tanks which would cause the same circulatyion although maybe not so much directly toward the surface.

I did see something that could be used that wouldn't gas any CO2 off at all. It is a simple device. Basically a large glass rectangle that is put in the tank in the back and an air wand is put in it to give the effect but not add surface agitation. It weorke din the tank i saw but it would require some cleaning and maybe some water movement into the glass box to prevent stagnation.

I like the bubble catcher though, could be anything from a plastic bubble to a plate of glass or plastic that is angled to the back of the tank to prevent agitation but still allows the air to escape.

 

[7Enigma]

Well I'm one of the ones that uses a powerhead a couple times a day. I turn it on during feeding and when I get home and once before I go to bed. I had found that my HOB properly circulates water on the left side of the tank (that's where it is positioned in my tank), but the right side when my plants get tall gets somewhat stagnant.

I was getting some unwanted algae (now my whole tank is battling algae) near the surface where the plants and then algae where getting high light and low CO2/nutrients because of the reduced flow. But my powerhead is angled at the surface on a slightly downward angle, so while the water does ripple slightly, the majority of the current is underwater and heading towards the side glass.

Again I'm not bashing the design, IMO, its very interesting, but I just don't know if it will work for its intended use efficiently.

 

[malkore]

ack, yer right. I really just glanced over the images, and it looks like a diffuser bell

 

[fish_4_all]

I was just curious 7enigma, I don't understand the gassing off thing much anyway.

I looked again at the design and was thinking that you can clean it up a little if you only have one nipple at each end hooked to some tubing then the tubing can be put somewhere above the tank to vent.

 

[gfink]

I think its a great idea. Brilliantly simple. All the benefits of adding o2 to the water without surface agitation that will remove CO2.