# Inline CO2 Diffuser Problem



## mwuf15 (Aug 3, 2010)

It takes a few days for the diffuser to be broken in. Are you able to see some mist entering your tank?


----------



## Fujiija (Feb 24, 2012)

Hello

No, I do not see any mist at all. I see the bubbles going through the bubble counter but no mist coming out in the tank. That is the reason I had suspected a leak downstream of the needle valve.


----------



## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

All my inline diffuser have no water in it when the co2 is on.
If you have water in it when the co2 is on you probably have a leak somewhere.


----------



## Fujiija (Feb 24, 2012)

Hello

So if I see water inside the diffuser, then I don't have enough pressure in the diffuser and water is leaking back from the canister through the cermic disk and back into the diffuser?

I guess I will squeeze soapy water on the bubble counter and see if I have a leak there. I will also use soapy water on all my tubing connections (again) and check to see if I have an air leak.

Any other thoughts on how to figure out where the leak is?

Thank you for your thoughts. This is driving me nuts, and make me disappointed that it didn't work from day one of set-up. I thought my CO2 set up that I had running for a year was pretty solid but I guess not.


----------



## h4n (Jan 4, 2006)

Yes your correct that mean theres a leak somewhere before where you connect the tube on the inline diffuser. Since there no co2 pressure forcing the water back thru the diffuser.

check closly the smallest leak will cause this issue.

ya since you were using a airstone before i didnt need a lot of pressure to force out co2 bubbles but with a inline diffuser it has way smaller pourus holes which require the extra co2 pressure and small leaks will pop up everywhere.


----------



## Skylark (Aug 22, 2012)

I have the GLA inline diffuser too. It should not be filled with water. Sometimes the tube may get cut at the point where it attaches to the diffuser, because there is this little nut that screws on it to keep it in place. I usually cut that piece of every time i have to take it apart to clean the filter tubes. Also, do you use CO2 resistant tubing?


----------



## Fujiija (Feb 24, 2012)

Hello

Yes, I use CO2 tubing that I got from GLA.

I think I figured this out. I got out some soapy water and squirted the bubble counter and all tubing connections including in and out of the GLA check valve and the inlet into the diffuser. I saw bubbles forming around the screw top of my brass bubble counter - ah ha! I wrapped some teflon tape around the screw top connection and rechecked it with soapy water. No soapy bubbles forming - I think I have solved the problem!

Now when I set my regulator to 45 psi and run the bubble counter at about 2 bps, I can see some misting coming out into my tank. It's not a ton of misting, but when I jack up the bubbles higher, i can get a full blown fog out of the tank. So I think I fixed my problem. I also have a borrowed pH controller and it has gone from a pH of 7.9 down to 7.8 in the last hour, which is a good sign. Before I used the teflon tape, my pH never budged off of 7.9. 

If anybody has another suggestion, or thinks that I should see more misting at that bubble rate, please let me know. The only thing left that could have a leak is my regulator, which would really make me sad.

I appreciate all your help and support.


----------



## Skylark (Aug 22, 2012)

Good for you! Bubble counters always seem to be the weakest link - I vaguely remember having the same issue a while ago. Also solved it with teflon tape. I have my CO2 at 2-3 bps and i do not get "foggy" water, just a bit of misting like you described. I get almost yellow color on my drop checker by the end of the day, and in the morning it's dark blue. So I know it works for my tank. I have a 30 gal (densely planted).

Good luck!


----------



## AndreyT (Apr 28, 2011)

My GLA inline diffuser does not seem to require much pressure. With external atomizer diffusers I had to rise the working pressure into 40+ psi area, but the inline one seems to work fine at 30 psi an below. However, the bubbles it produces are certaily not as fine as the ones from external atomizing diffusers.

The diffuser did originally fill with water in my case, but eventualluy the CO2 pressure drove the water out. I can't say right away how much water manages to return overnight, when I turn off the CO2 (will have to check). Right now, in the middle of the day, my diffuser is half-full of water.


----------



## dmagerl (Feb 2, 2010)

2bps and a ph drop of only .1 point doesnt seem like a lot of CO2 for a 45g tank.

I normally shoot for around a 1 point drop and the bubble rate is too fast to count.

I would start ramping things up slowly.


----------



## AndreyT (Apr 28, 2011)

dmagerl said:


> 2bps and a ph drop of only .1 point doesnt seem like a lot of CO2 for a 45g tank.
> 
> I normally shoot for around a 1 point drop and the bubble rate is too fast to count.
> 
> I would start ramping things up slowly.


I run mine at 30 psi and 1 bps (or a bit higher) in a 36 g tank, and mys Cal Aqua Lab drop checker shows the proper green reference color or even overshoots it into the yellowish area. I understand the limitations of drop checkers, but I'm pretty happy with the results I see from my plants.


----------



## Fujiija (Feb 24, 2012)

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I think I am still having a problem.

I have now run the inline diffuser for about 1.5 days at 2 bps and about 50 psi. I still see the misting visible when I look at the spray bar - again, it's a light misting and nothing that fogs the tank at all. My pH controller says 7.5 and it has not budged for over a day. The shut off pH is set at about 7.2. It's a borrowed controller but we did adjust the calibration before I borrowed it so I am sure it's working. I don't have any calibration fluid to recheck at this point. The pH of my tank without CO2 is about 8.3. My fish store, who is run by an astute owner who is been in the business for over 20 years, says one of his clients runs their CO2 injected tank at pH 6.9 - it's a 75 gallon, heavily planted tank. For the last day, my pH contoller never shut off (I looked at all times of the day and night) and my tank cannot get below pH 7.5! Something must be wrong here!

My tank is a 45g heavily planted with t5HO lights (2x39w 6K lights, and 1x39w Colormax bulb), Fluval Stratum substrate, algae crew of 5 ottos + 3 amano shrimp, over 20 platys also eating algae all the time,and about 10 other assorted fish. I do dry and liquid ferts.


----------



## Skylark (Aug 22, 2012)

what's making the pH so high in your tank? Do you have really hard water? Are you sure your substrate is not causing for pH to go up? You should definitely get to see more misting too, and I would recommend running CO2 at a much higher rate since your pH is naturally so high


----------

