# Champagne Co2??



## michael woods (21 Apr 2014)

Sorry to post again...but I'm in need of some advice. I'm running a 3kg co2 tank through a regulator from co2 art and a bazooka diffuser, also from co2 art.  It's running at about 2bps and my drop checker is a nice line green but the tank looks like the inside if a champagne glass! There's bubbles everywhere. Firstly, should it be like this? Secondly, is there any way to get rid if the bubbles but keep the same amount of co2? I watched a video on YouTube of a guy with the same diffuser as me and his bubbles rose straight up around 2 inches and disappeared. My bubbles are quite small but they get picked up in the flow from the filter and then in the powerhead.
  Am I best off opting for an inline diffuser or is my current one 'dodgy'?
  Any help would be greatly appreciated,

  Cheers, 
Mike


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## pepedopolous (21 Apr 2014)

Hi, 

The champagne or maybe 'lemonade'  look is something you have to put up with using in-tank diffusers and in-line ones such as the UP in-line atomiser.

One possible way around it is to use an in-line diffuser on the filter inlet rather than the outlet as usual. This should mean that all the bubbles of CO2 are dissolved before they come out of the filter. However, many people say that causes 'burping' as gas can build up inside the filter. This is annoying and means that the CO2 isn't delivered consistently.

I had this problem too so I have an UP atomiser on the outlet as and put up with the lemonade. My CO2 goes off at 18:00 so most work days I don't see all the bubbles when I get home. With the UP in-line atomiser the bubbles are really small so you have to look closely to see them. 

The 'bazooka' diffusers should produce similarly small bubbles as they use the same ceramics. Maybe yours needs a clean? Also what is the working pressure of the CO2. For the in-line and 'bazooka' diffusers it needs to be 2.5 bar or more.

Cheers,

P


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## michael woods (22 Apr 2014)

Hey, thanks for the reply! Yeah, I thought as much tbh  they're not really that obvious unless you're quite close to the tank so I'll just have to get used to it! The working pressure is 2.5 bar so I don't think it's that and it's only been running a couple of days but luckily I bought two so I'm gonna try swapping them over this week. Thanks again for your reply.

Cheers,

  Mike


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## James D (22 Apr 2014)

CO2 bubbles are a PITA. The worst thing is they're only there when your lights are on.


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## michael woods (22 Apr 2014)

I'd love to know how James findley and amano create their aquascapes with not even a micro bubble in sight :s


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## flygja (22 Apr 2014)

They record their videos and take their pictures with CO2 switched off? LOL. Honestly I'm trying to figure out how to get best diffusion without my tank looking like fizzy pop too.


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## Sacha (22 Apr 2014)

There's no doubt that one of those large DIY reactors is the best way to get near to 100% dissolution without seeing any micro bubbles. However, that's a fairly big job and so I'm putting up with the bubbles created by the UP inline atomizer. The Co2 stops at 20.30 so I take any photos between 20.30 and lights out (22.30).


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## pepedopolous (22 Apr 2014)

michael woods said:


> I'd love to know how James findley and amano create their aquascapes with not even a micro bubble in sight :s


Even with CO2 off, the extra lighting on photo shoots causes massive pearling which can look really good.


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## michael woods (22 Apr 2014)

This is the exact same diffuser and other than a couple of inches above it, there doesn't seem to be another bubble in sight :s[DOUBLEPOST=1398168553][/DOUBLEPOST]I've been contemplating the inline diffuser but if you still get bubbles I can't really justify the outlay. Like I said that guy uses the same diffuser as me but mine is like a glass of lemonade  as for pearling...I only get to see that when I trim my DHG just after lights out  running 3 15w bulbs on a 64l tank...works out about 2.7 wpg


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## terry82517 (22 Apr 2014)

I've recently made one of foxfish's DIY 10' filter housing reactors running off of a tetratec ex1200 to replace a up inline. 
Works brilliant, no bubbles at all and hc is looking lot more vibrant and now pearls like crazy. 
Cost about £20 and half hour to set up. 

Does lower flow but I'm getting near 100% co2 dissolved so time will tell if the higher efficiently out ways the lower flow or not.


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## Humbert (23 Apr 2014)

michael woods said:


> This is the exact same diffuser and other than a couple of inches above it, there doesn't seem to be another bubble in sight :s


 
Hi Michael, I think that's because there seems to be very little or no circulation in the tank from the video, this is why the bubbles shoot straight up and break the surface.
Which is not a good idea, as one needs to transport CO2 around the aquarium in order for all the plants to benefit from it.

As already said, micro bubbles is something you have to live with when using ceramic diffusers. You can either reduce the no. of bubbles per minute (if you can afford to inject less co2 per time unit) or you could use an external CO2 reactor attached to the filter, either commercially available or DIY.


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## michael woods (23 Apr 2014)

Hey, thanks for the replies. It's funny you should say that as that's exactly what I was thinking last night! I had a play around with my filter outflow and powerhead and when there was very little flow aimed at the diffuser, the bubbles rose straight up and disappeared but obviously I need to circulate it as best I can around my tank so I'm going to learn to live with them haha


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## X3NiTH (23 Apr 2014)

The gaping maw of this contraption will silence an inline diffuser...........

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/13903132322_16f1cf3da6_b.jpg

I very quickly found that the fizz really got in the way of photographing the spontaneous stuff at a macro level. One hour clear water before lights out was just not enough, less if you add a lighting ramp down.


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## michael woods (23 Apr 2014)

Haha now that is a serious piece of kit! I'm already over my budget so I will just have to look at it with admiration


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## foxfish (23 Apr 2014)

It is not so expensive to build my version, link in my signature ...


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