# Hagen Ladder vs Ebay Glass diffuser



## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

I currently have a Hagen ladder but would like to get one of the ADA knock-off diffusers just for esthetics. However, I do not want to switch if it is less effective than what I currently have. So how do the two compare in the ability to diffuse CO2 into the water column?


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

How big is your tank.

I have a 10 gallon with a glass diffuser, one of the NANO ones from Aquadise on E-bay. $5 shipped.
I have also used the ladder and I will say that with the diffuser my DIY mix lasts twice as long.
That is probably because not as much is being relesed.
Does that make it 1/2 as effictive?
My tanks grows just fine with minimal dosing , mostly just fish waste and food and the 20 or so BPM out of the diffuser (small bubbles, not full Co2 bubbles), but it is lightly stocked, or maybe appropriatly stocked with a trio of apistos and a dwarf puffer (he is there because there was a snail outbreak and he has taken care of most of it), but it does grow well and is healthy, so I can't complain or say that the Co2 isn't ok.

So it works, but anything larger then 10 gal, I would say stick with the bubble ladder.
Also, if you doubled or tripled your bottles and chained them together, then you might get enough pressure and your diffuser might have bubbles all the time.


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

10G tank that I plan on housing Dwarf Puffers  I got the Hagen kit because I like the fact the bottle hung of the back. Since I do not have a real cabinet, I wanted everything on or in the tank.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

If you like the look of the diffuser, go for it.
Just be sure to get the small one.
The medium and large ones will need to fill a bigger Co2 gap before the bubbles drizzle out of the disc.

Or if you like the look of glass, or glass over the frosted plastic, then Aquatic Magic sells several glass / clear plastic pieces that will also work.

Stairway to heaven, which is a ladder, but clear and then there are some spiral deals and a bell housing type thing also.

You might find that you can get other people here to sell you thier old bottles that also hang on the back so you can double up. You might get them for $5 or might even find people willing to give it to you if you cover shipping. 
Worth a try if you make a WTB / WTT thread.
Then you can use a "T" and an extra check valve before the "T" between the two lines and you can turbo power your diffuser.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Oh, nice tank BTW

I keep Cabomba in several tanks and have always liked it, accept that it grows so fast and the whole trimming, pulling up the lower half and re-planting kind of gets to be a PITA. I also, get to hating the LEGGY look it often gets, I guess it just grows SOOOOO fast that that is what happens.

I have recently gotten some AMBULIA (SP?) and replaced some of the cabomba with it. It grows a much fuller green color and not quiet as leggy and just more FULL in general, but it still grows fast. However, I have had better success with trimming and re-planting the trimmings, but also leaving the origonal portion that is rooted and it grows back. The Cabomba does also, but it takes longer IME and usually does so with side shoots where the ambulia just grows back from the tip IME
You might want to try some of that some time.

Or not, your Cabomba is fine also.


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

Excellent idea on the WTB ad, I might just do that. I checked out the Aquatic Magic ladder and while it looks better than my plastic Hagen ladder, I think I would prefer one of the upside down bell type diffusers. They are cheap enough that I will probably go ahead and get one to see how I like it.

Most of the plants that are seen were given to me locally. I did puchase the HC. Once I get things up and running, I might slowly start trading out plants for others which I might like better. The Asian Ambulia is growing faster than I like, so it will eventually come out.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Oh, that is the Ambulin, not Cabomba?
I would be interested in getting it from you when you are ready, I had a WTB / WTT post a while back for some.

I have some Rotola Macranda Green (pinkish tips) that I am going to Sell / Trade if you are interested in that, but it grows pretty fast also, the thing about it is you can just chop off the tips for a trim and it grows pretty good from there, not always having to replant the tips IME. Also, it makes a great plant to do your whole back wall with about 2 rows deep, nice and lush.


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

PM sent


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

The only thing you have to be aware of is how easily the ceramic disk in the glass diffusor gets clogged, and how difficult it is to clean it. That is really the only issue. The smaller the pores of the disk are, the smaller the bubble, but the easier it gets clogged. There have also been complaints that right from the start the disks do not send out bubbles across the whole disk, but in many cases only a small portion of it. 

I do not know what this bell diffusor is specifically that you ar reffering to, but the old fashion one I am familiar with which originated in Europe, simply holds a bubble until it is dissolved, but this only works if you have a VERY slow bubble rate, because otherwise since the bell can only hold one or two bubbles, a fast bubble rate will just push the bubbles out of the bell before it is dissolved.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Here it is, unless I am mistaking, or mis judging it's size, this should work fine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bell-Jar-Co2-di...hZ018QQcategoryZ66794QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem


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## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

The solution most people have come up with is to just buy multiple diffusers and rotate them. Take the dirty one out and clean it in some kind of solution, then rotate them when the other one becomes clogged. I'm using limewood at the moment, and although the bubbles are not quite as small, I've found that it still works pretty well.


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

I'm referring to something like the link above. You can order them in packs of 3 pretty reasonably. So it should be easy to rotate them out, just curious to how one might clean the disk.

Nano Co2 diffuser


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Clorox Bleach. Poor it on top of the disc, the rim will hold it there and watch it dissolve all the gunk and make the disc white again.

Then run under water for at least 2 minutes, until you can no longer smell the presence of Bleach.
That might not be the best indicator, the smell, but it works for me. I was a little shocked when I saw somebody do it for the first time, I thought "you are going to kill all your fish" and he laughed and said, "stubid noob, I have done it like this for years and never a prob"

Hey, I have some of those, I have 2 new ones and 2 that I am taking out of my tanks to put bigger ones in.

If you want to buy mine, then you don't have to wait for shipment from Singapore.

$5 each plus $4.05 for shipping


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

PM sent


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

Robert Hudson said:


> I do not know what this bell diffusor is specifically that you ar reffering to, but the old fashion one I am familiar with which originated in Europe, simply holds a bubble until it is dissolved, but this only works if you have a VERY slow bubble rate, because otherwise since the bell can only hold one or two bubbles, a fast bubble rate will just push the bubbles out of the bell before it is dissolved.


I have one of the ancient Tetra bell diffusers. The constraint is that not all the gas in the CO2 tank is CO2. The other gass accumulates in the bell and will not dissolve.

Aqua Medic has a spiral bell powered to be powered by a pump which incorporates a method to automatically get rid of the non-CO2 gas.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

I used to have a Hagen Ladder on my 29 gallon and then I switched to the Rhinox 2000 and it works much better for me then the ladder did. I have pressurized CO2 though. I think the ladder works great for DIY CO2, IMO.


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