Jbl Co2 Diffuser Problems

[zig]

James it sounds like you may have a leak, especially on the first bottle the fact you went through it in a week would IMO indicate a leak, your going to have to double check everything, i doubt if the diffuser is inefficient, if you want to eliminate this possibility hook up a Hagen ladder for the moment, im useing a Hagen ladder at the moment and i can tell you they are very efficient diffusers with pressurised co2, so if in doubt hook that up but i bet your own spiral diffuser is fine if not better than the ladder.

Check every connection from the head on the cylinder down to your tank, double check the appropriate seals are still in good condition especially the seal between the regulator and the cylinder itself.

It sounds like you have enough operating pressure but there is no reason for you to go as high as 2 bar, 1 or 1.5 is usually plenty, the other dial, the one at 50 or 60 bar is only telling you how full the cylinder is, if its at 50 bar its pretty near full.

Double check the ph kit as well sounds like you a more accurate one.

Anyway i hate that but im sure once you get the kit operating properly you will be very happy with it.

If you check for leaks and dont find any, i would then swop out the diffuser for a hagen ladder and see if it makes any difference but i would get a better ph kit probably first of all, i cant really think of anything else jimbooo that it could be, but im sure you will find out pretty soon what the problem is.

 

[jimbooo]

cheers zig.

i dont think the diffuser is crap, at the end of the day the bubbles at the top are smaller than those at the top of a hagen ladder so it's not that.

the problem is that at 2 bubbles/sec i get 10-15ppm. to get to 30 i would therefore need 4 bubbles per second.

now comes the problem, at 4 bubbles per second the flow is too strong and the whole spiral turns into a speeding bubble bullet. at that rate the bubbles at the top are much bigger than at the lower rate. ie i cant ever get 30ppm with this kit unless i can make the tank twice as tall with 4 bubbles per second.

the bottle pressure is not adjustable it is just a reading of whats going on. 2 bar seems high but i cant actually lower it. undo the pressure reducer and the pressure drops to 0, put it back on and it's 2 bar. i'm wondering why this is, it may explain why i am having so much trouble fin adjusting the bubble rate. it's the tiniest movement to change anything. move it 1 ml and it's like your blowing air in through a straw, maybe 20-30 bubbles per second.

i've just popped into town at lunch and looked around a little pet store. the only PH kit they did was the tetra one so i will have to drive to the LFS after work.

i'll keep you posted, thanks for your help.

 

[littleimp]

ok that is the kind of thing i'm after. thanks littleimp. what azoo one have you got. i just browsed aquaessenitals and cant decide. there are so many.

I've got this one.

The top unscrews & you half fill the bowl with water & it acts as a bubble counter too. The diffuser is like a fine stone disc that sit's between the black screw ring & bowl.

 

[jimbooo]

thanks for taking the pic mate. i saw that one on there. i will definatly get one but undecided on the specific one. i like the look of the glass ones but i guess your still going to see an ugly co2 pipe leading down to it.

 

[littleimp]

thanks for taking the pic mate. i saw that one on there. i will definatly get one but undecided on the specific one. i like the look of the glass ones but i guess your still going to see an ugly co2 pipe leading down to it.

My pipe goes down behind my background in the corner & then under the sand to the diffuser. I'm using black piping (from same shop) & black background so can't see it.

 

[jimbooo]

good idea. i have the same background as you so that may be a possability. i would want the diffuser just above the gravel so the bubbles reach across the whole tank i was thinking i'd have a big ugly pipe leading all the way down the side.

thanks for the tip, i'll look into that this evening.

 

[Ste_J]

Any update Jimbooo?

Sorry about the earlier post but I appear to have left my brain in another country when I setup my JBL!

Have now added extra spiral and trying to get a decent level of Co2 - Starting slowly at the moment with under 1 bubble per second entering the spiral.

Your not wrong about the bubbles being tiny when they hit the top.

Pressure wise I have mine on what appears to be 1.2 - Have you managed to get your pressure sorted yet? Mine did stick on 2 earlier so I closed off the whole system - Opened up main valve and then pressure reducer to full - closed off pressure so that the needle dropped then tiny movements to get it to 1.2


Ste

 

[kenneth_kpe]

this thread makes me want to buy a glass diffuser even more jimboo!!

 

[Ste_J]

this thread makes me want to buy a glass diffuser even more jimboo!!

Tell me about it! I can't spend any more money this month, my wife is looking at me funny each time the postman brings another package

 

[kenneth_kpe]

yeah i coud save money by ordering those azoo diffusers ! but man i want a glass one

 

[Discomafia]

I'm using one of those azoo diffusors as well, got it off ebay nearly last week. So far so good, but its still too early to tell if it's really making a difference IMO. Doesn't seem to stop the proliferation of hair algae in my tank, although the hundreds of microbubbles being diffused through the ceramic disc is really something that can keep me amused for minutes on end!

 

[kenneth_kpe]

must buy ceramic diffuser !!!!

 

[Discomafia]

feel so evil...

 

[jimbooo]

hi guys. sorry i didn't manage to get a new PH kit. all i could find was tetra ones. i'll keep looking.

on a side note though the tank was pearling away like mad when i got home much more than normal (simmillar to the bubbles in gf225's new platy pic if you saw that) so the co2 much be higher than i'm thinking.

i'll try again today to find a good test kit

 

[jimbooo]

well things are getting worse. got home last night to a 2nd empty bottle. thats an average of 4 days a bottle. awesome.

i've spoken to a JBL rep who is replacing my solenoid and pressure reducer. the problem has to lie there as there are no leaks in the connections.

the saga goes on.

nutrafins going back on tonight, grrrr