DIY co2 question

[Rick]

I have two one gallon jugs set up for a co2 system, airline tubing from both
into one valve and then tubing with a check valve into the tank. My tank is
filtered with a Fluval 404 canister filter. Can the tubing be run into the
water intake ?. I'm wondering about the co2 traveling through the sponges,
batting, ceramic rings and finally bio max and then out rather forcefully
from the output. Would this work or would it be better to put in sometype of
powerhead and run the tubing into that?
Thx in advance.

Rick

[Dave]

"Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
the Patriarchy:

>
>
> I have two one gallon jugs set up for a co2 system, airline tubing
> from both into one valve and then tubing with a check valve into the
> tank. My tank is filtered with a Fluval 404 canister filter. Can the
> tubing be run into the water intake ?.

Many people do this, although Hagen warns against it. I wrote to them once
about this, and a tech support person wrote back saying that the impeller
is meant to run in water, not in a CO2 bubble, and that the motor could
burn out. But evidently a lot of people don't have this problem, so YMMV.

> I'm wondering about the co2
> traveling through the sponges, batting, ceramic rings and finally bio
> max and then out rather forcefully from the output. Would this work or
> would it be better to put in sometype of powerhead and run the tubing
> into that? Thx in advance.

I think that the Fluval would probably chop up the bubbles and disperse the
CO2 better than a powerhead. Some people (including myself) have run their
CO2 line into a Duetto DJ50 internal filter and had success. Right now I'm
using the diffuser of the Hagen "Natural CO2 System" (see
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=8981
) and it works fine. Less visible than the Duetto.

[Rick]

"Dave" > wrote in message
...
> "Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
> the Patriarchy:
>
> >
> >
> > I have two one gallon jugs set up for a co2 system, airline tubing
> > from both into one valve and then tubing with a check valve into the
> > tank. My tank is filtered with a Fluval 404 canister filter. Can the
> > tubing be run into the water intake ?.
>
> Many people do this, although Hagen warns against it. I wrote to them
once
> about this, and a tech support person wrote back saying that the impeller
> is meant to run in water, not in a CO2 bubble, and that the motor could
> burn out. But evidently a lot of people don't have this problem, so YMMV.
>
> > I'm wondering about the co2
> > traveling through the sponges, batting, ceramic rings and finally bio
> > max and then out rather forcefully from the output. Would this work or
> > would it be better to put in sometype of powerhead and run the tubing
> > into that? Thx in advance.
>
> I think that the Fluval would probably chop up the bubbles and disperse
the
> CO2 better than a powerhead. Some people (including myself) have run
their
> CO2 line into a Duetto DJ50 internal filter and had success. Right now
I'm
> using the diffuser of the Hagen "Natural CO2 System" (see
>
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=8981
> ) and it works fine. Less visible than the Duetto.


thx Dave, that diffuser looks like maybe the route to go.

Rick

[Dave]

"Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
the Patriarchy:

> I'm
>> using the diffuser of the Hagen "Natural CO2 System" (see
>>
> http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=
> 8981
>> ) and it works fine. Less visible than the Duetto.
>
>
> thx Dave, that diffuser looks like maybe the route to go.

It sounds like you might have a large tank, given that you're using two
one-gallon jugs for CO2 generation. It's possible you may need to use two
of those diffusers instead of one ... the amount of CO2 generated may
overwhelm only one diffuser.

[SLEngst]

Rick,

I have a 55 gal. aquarium and use 2 one gallon jugs for CO2. I just started
using a Rena Micro Bubbler rather than tubing the CO2 into my filter intake.
It appears to be somewhat more efficient (my pH is lightly lower). It make
very fine bubbles but does chirp a bit, like a flock of birds at a distance.
These are really cheap - like $5.20 for one 6". Problem, they tend to leak
larger bubbles where the end caps meet the bubbler material, so I just used
some silicon glue. They can be purchased through www.petsolutions.com.





"I have two one gallon jugs set up for a co2 system, airline tubing from both
into one valve and then tubing with a check valve into the tank. My tank is
filtered with a Fluval 404 canister filter. Can the tubing be run into the
water intake ?. I'm wondering about the co2 traveling through the sponges,
batting, ceramic rings and finally bio max and then out rather forcefully
from the output. Would this work or would it be better to put in sometype of
powerhead and run the tubing into that?
Thx in advance."

[Rick]

"Dave" > wrote in message
...
> "Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
> > It sounds like you might have a large tank, given that you're using two
> one-gallon jugs for CO2 generation. It's possible you may need to use two
> of those diffusers instead of one ... the amount of CO2 generated may
> overwhelm only one diffuser.

the tank is a 77g which is the size of the tank the guy who gave it to me
had the two bottles hooked up to. He ran it into a powerhead though. He also
gave me a simple set up for a 2 litre bottle so I'll try the Hagen diffuser
and if it seems to overwhelm that system I'll use it in my 33g planted tank.

Rick

[Dave]

"Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
the Patriarchy:

>
> "Dave" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
>> > It sounds like you might have a large tank, given that you're using
>> > two
>> one-gallon jugs for CO2 generation. It's possible you may need to
>> use two of those diffusers instead of one ... the amount of CO2
>> generated may overwhelm only one diffuser.
>
> the tank is a 77g which is the size of the tank the guy who gave it to
> me had the two bottles hooked up to. He ran it into a powerhead
> though. He also gave me a simple set up for a 2 litre bottle so I'll
> try the Hagen diffuser and if it seems to overwhelm that system I'll
> use it in my 33g planted tank.

Or you might want to try using two Hagen diffusers. In a 77gal tank, you
could very easily hide them. :-)

[Steve Kreutzer]

I bought the Diffuser for the Hagen "Natural CO2 system" - actually two of
them. I decided to try the DJ-50 and for me it is far more effective than
the Hagen bubble diffuser. I had to reduce the C02 generation. My pH was
going down to 6.4 and KH 3.3

"Dave" > wrote in message
...
> "Rick" > empowered us with this mighty blow against
> the Patriarchy:
>
> >
> >
> > I have two one gallon jugs set up for a co2 system, airline tubing
> > from both into one valve and then tubing with a check valve into the
> > tank. My tank is filtered with a Fluval 404 canister filter. Can the
> > tubing be run into the water intake ?.
>
> Many people do this, although Hagen warns against it. I wrote to them
once
> about this, and a tech support person wrote back saying that the impeller
> is meant to run in water, not in a CO2 bubble, and that the motor could
> burn out. But evidently a lot of people don't have this problem, so YMMV.
>
> > I'm wondering about the co2
> > traveling through the sponges, batting, ceramic rings and finally bio
> > max and then out rather forcefully from the output. Would this work or
> > would it be better to put in sometype of powerhead and run the tubing
> > into that? Thx in advance.
>
> I think that the Fluval would probably chop up the bubbles and disperse
the
> CO2 better than a powerhead. Some people (including myself) have run
their
> CO2 line into a Duetto DJ50 internal filter and had success. Right now
I'm
> using the diffuser of the Hagen "Natural CO2 System" (see
>
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=8981
> ) and it works fine. Less visible than the Duetto.