Which Diffuser Should I Use?

[Karl1987]

I currently have 2 diffusers a hydor turbo diffuser and a jbl vario for my 200 litre tank. I was running the jbl vario diffuser a couple of months but got fed up with it as it was wasting alot of co2, the bubbles just werent dissolving small enough and when the cap at the top couldnt hold anymore it would just release a load of co2 which went to waste.

Im currently using the hydor diffuser again which is munching all the bubbles as they pass through so that there are loads of tiny bubbles which you can hardly see.

Which diffuser is better though?? Im not sure if the hydor vario is good rnough for a 200 litre tank.

 

[sophos9]

I guess the only answer is to experiment

Using one diffuser, check CO2 levels at lights on then check again at lights off and count bubbles per second, do this for a couple of days

Now change diffusers and run at the same BPS, measure at lights on/off - if there is a higher content at the same BPS then its possible its more efficient!

 

[Karl1987]

I havent got pressurized co2 at the min, ive currently got 2 hydor natural green units so I cant run the same bpm.

 

[james 3200]

Limewood airstone all the way (usually in the marine section of your LFS), just as fine bubbles as from an ADA pollen glass

 

[Karl1987]

Well I can safely say that the hydor diffuser looks as though it doing a far better job than the jbl vario. My plants having been bubbling like crazy for 2 days in a row now since I started using it I never seen this happening with my jbl vario diffuser when I was using i over the past 2 months.

 

[Dave Spencer]

The Hydor diffuser will be producing micro bubbles that will be coming in to direct contact with the leaves of your plants, making the uptake of Carbon easier for them. I tend not to use this method because I don`t like the look of all the bubbles blowing around my tanks.

Dave.

 

[Karl1987]

The bubbles dont blow around the tank it says on the box to put it in an area in the tank of low flow so mines in the opposite side to my filter outtake and the bubbles jsut go straight up to the surface.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I am surprised that Hydor recommend this. Blowing the buubbles around the tank gives them more residence time for dissolving, and they will get trapped under the leaves of plants.

 

[BHornsey]

On my Trigon 190, I had great success after building one of plantbrain's internal reactors

It's efficient and puts out a nice fine mist of CO2.
The bubbles are very fine so that it's difficult to tell what is CO2 mist or oxygen produced by the plants.

If you feel like a bit of DIY, here's the link; Barrs DIY Reactor

 

[sophos9]

I am surprised that Hydor recommend this. Blowing the buubbles around the tank gives them more residence time for dissolving, and they will get trapped under the leaves of plants.

I can verify this... My diffused CO2 goes into a Ehiem pump that is directed diagonally downwards at the back of the tank to circulate the CO2 around the back of the plant giving the CO2 more time in the water to diffuse and as Dave said, they get trapped under leaves. I'm able to run at a lower BPS as I'm getting a more efficiant spread