Mist Method

[greenmaji]

ugh.. the fitting doesn't fit.. ok, I would find that irritating..

the thread does need pictures though

 

[sherry]

I just pulled out my sweetwater stone in favor of the rhinox Tom was talking about and it works much better.. the rhinox collects bubbles in a chamber under a disc of material similar to that used in sweetwater stone.. the result is finer more spread out bubbles that my power head sucks up easilly .. I made the change this weekend and the result is a much finer mist around the tank.

I got the diffuser on ebay .. found a "best offer link" and bid 15.. the auction that closed a few days later went for 12 so they are cheap. The hardst thing is the seller is in malyasia so it took nearly two weeks to get it, but I am very happy with the results.

Tom, once again, thank you!

 

[greenmaji]

sweetwater makes about 50 different air stones.. not that I'm advicating there use but what qualifies as the standard one in this thread?

 

[Zezmo]

Some pics of Mist method in action...

Edit: CO2 into the intake of a Cannister filter is more power diffusion. The outflow of a cannister blowing accross a glass diffusor, and blowing bubbles all over the tank is more mist method.

 

[sherry]

green by standard I mean the cheapy $2 sweetwater that Tom found a couple of years ago. The bubbles come up in a straight line stream.. the Rhinox breaks things up a little more and they come up in a wider column .. then I have 2 small power heads above, one facing straight the other at right angles so the bubbles are sent all over the tank. It works really nicely. my drop checker with 5 kh stays a nice mid-green and it is on the opposite corner of the tank furthest away from diffuser and powerheads.

 

[punky]

What pump strength (l/h) do you recommend for a 55g? I have a 600 l/h but is seems to be overkill since it sways the plants so I had to install a spraybar.

 

[Zezmo]

A PH with about 80-125 GPH should work well in a 55.

 

[Purrbox]

As it turns out the spraybars in at least two of the tanks are actually managing a very nice mist with this setup. I guess the holes are small enough that they do a good job of breaking the bubbles up into a nice fine mist which gets sprayed acros the tank. Since the CO2 flow is slow enough, it's a sporadic spurt of mist instead of a constant stream. That's okay with me as it means I don't have to look at quite as many bubbles in the water column.