# Glass Diffuser and DIY CO2



## HoustonFishFanatic (Feb 26, 2007)

I have a DIY CO2 system on my 20 G. ITs the basic Sugar + Yeast in 2 L soda Bottle set-up. I put in a new glass diffuser on Saturday before which the system was generating about 1-2 bubbles per sec and all my plants were pearling.I was using a regular airstone before...........
After replacing the air stone with the glass diffuser the CO2 bubbles compleately stopped!!!!!!!!! 
After that i tried everything from replacing the mixture to checking for leaks and it is still not producing any bubbles. 
Can i use the Glass diffuser with the DIY set-up ? (Does it produce enough pressure to push it through the ceramic layer?????? ) Any suggestions!!!!!!!!!!


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I've used Glass Diffusers (specifically the Nano Glass Diffuser from aqmagic) with DIY CO2. It takes alot of pressure but it should work with it. 

1) Try soaking your glass diffuser in a bleach dip for about 5 minutes to clean the ceramic disk out. 
2) After that prepare your DIY C02 bottle as normal, and connect the diffuser and put it in the tank
3) Wait until pressure builds up (can take an hour)
4) Give the bottle a little squeeze to help it break the ceramic pressure barrier. 

That should get it to work. Give it time to build up pressure since it requires more pressure to use then a regular airstone.

-John N.


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## fishumentary (Feb 18, 2007)

I don't know if your DIY setup will be able to produce and maintain enough pressure to push through the ceramic disk. I think it's more likely that the CO2 will seep out somewhere else first. At least that's what happened when I tried it. I've only been able to use the glass/ceramic diffusers on pressurized systems. You could try an airstone that produces "micro" bubbles. The bubbles aren't as fine as they would be with a ceramic diffuser but it should produce better results than a regular airstone.


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## HoustonFishFanatic (Feb 26, 2007)

John My Diffuser is a Aqua Medic reactor 100 and when i actually tried to blow through the tubing the required pressure is so high that i cannot blow into the tank do you think there is some thing wrong with the diffuser????????
Thanks


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I don't think there's anything wrong with the diffuser necesarrily. It's hard to blow through the glass diffusers I have too. Glass diffusers generally work best with pressurized CO2 setups because of the higher pressure it requires to use it. Again, I would try cleaning it with a bleach solution to help remove any clogged pores. If the pressure built up by reaction isn't enough for it to work, then I guess the only option you have is to go back to the airstone or purchase a different glass diffiuser.








http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5710/diyco2bubbles4sh.jpg

-John N.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

I've run DIY through a Rhinox 1000. I ended up getting bubbles through it, but no where near as much as through a wooden airstone.


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## neilanh (Feb 19, 2007)

I ran a glass diffuser for a while before I had pressurized on my DIY. It should work fine. Chances are when you swapped out the airstone, you released all of the built up pressure in the system. It'll take it a few hours to a day to rebuild the pressure enough to start generating bubbles again


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## RESGuy (Feb 11, 2007)

What is the difference between using an airstone and a diffuser? Benefits?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

The diffuser would force finer bubbles into the water being smaller would make it easier to diffuse into the water column.


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