DIY CO2... need diffusion ideas

Little Soprano

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2014
31
0
0
Grand Rapids, MI
hello :)

Over the last 2-3 weeks I've been starting to put together my first planted tank, and it's coming along pretty well. I currently have a buttload of Willow Moss, and a Anubias Nana Petite I saw at the LFS that I just HAD to grab. Hydrocotyle tripartita, 2 more Anubias Nana Petite and Fissidens Fontanus are going to be added as I find them.

Anyway, this tank will be a future shrimp tank (Tiger Shrimp), and because of that, I'm only doing DIY CO2 temporarily until the plants get some good growth going and the tank is ready for it's inhabitants. I have two Vitamin Water Bottles with 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of yeast in each of them, running into a bigger bottle (collect yeast gunk), and then it is currently hooked up to an airstone. It's producing a TON of CO2 right now, with a lot of pressure, more then I expected it too. But my problem lies with the diffusion method. I had a smaller wood air stone that was diffusing pretty well, but due to the yeast gunk getting into the tank, before I added the gas collector bottle, it "blew up". The current air stone produces relatively small bubbles, but not really the best. Some seem to run over to the filter spillway where they seem to roll around and get smaller, but the rest are either running around the tank, or just popping at the surface.

What is the best way to get the most amount of CO2 diffused into the water. There are no inhabitants right now aside from a bunch of snails that came in with one of the willow moss clumps I bought. Before I bought the air stones, I just put the tube under the HOB spillway, which seemed to be taking the bubbles, and rolling them in the water until they disappeared, no popping. Can I just allow the tube or air stone to sit right underneath the filter to diffuse? Or am I just losing all the CO2 by this. The water level is RIGHT up to the spillway of the HOB (Aquaclear 30/10 gallon tank), so there isn't much splashing. Just enough to keep away surface film.

Will the DIY CO2 be capable of going through a ceramic diffuser? I've seen some people running the CO2 through a canister filter, but could putting the tube at the bottom of the HOB do the same thing? Or will it be detrimental to the BB.
 

MHcblues119

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2007
1,425
414
122
Essex, New Jersey
In my 10g tank with red cherry shrimp i have a piece of foam over the filter intake to ensure baby shrimp dont get sucked up and then i stuck the airline from the co2 into the sponge so it gets sucked into the HOB and is chopped up into little tiny bubbles by the impeller then put back into the tank. Seems to work well
 
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