# nano glass diffusers



## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Maybe you have a leak?


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I sunk everything under water and saw no leaks.

Also blowing as hard as I could into all three got no bubbles either.


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## SammyP (Apr 26, 2006)

i tried a product similar to these and all i can say is good luck getting them to work. i would leave them for days on end trying to get the bubbles to come through. didnt work. the pressure would build up so much that when i pulled the diffuser off (i thought my CO2 bottles werent working at that point) the rush of bubbles made a hole in my substr8 clear down to the bottom glass. i had another one shatter after the pressure had been building for 3 days and it tapped the glass while i was trying to remove it.

i now use an airstone under a bubble ladder and have great co2 diffusion.

you were smart to test it first. i wish i was that smart. then i wouldnt have glass shards somewhere in my tank


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Ok, I have six of these I rotate for cleaning in my tank. Every one of them works. 

Care to share your recipe? I have yet to find one that wont work.


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## SammyP (Apr 26, 2006)

fshfanatic said:


> I have yet to find one that wont work.


i have yet to find one that does work. go figure.

where did you get yours? i got some from drsfostersmith and aquabotanic. neither one worked and i wasnt about to spend the money on an ADA one. i figured i had lost the glass diffuser battle and cut my losses.


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## chiahead (Dec 5, 2005)

I have used many glass diffusors on DIY co2 setups. The ones you have linked there are exactly the ones I recomend and use for my setups. I dont know what is wrong but I do not think its the diffusors. I have personally bought about 15 of that one and all worked great on DIY Co2 and pressurized setups.


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## chiahead (Dec 5, 2005)

SammyP said:


> where did you get yours? i got some from drsfostersmith and aquabotanic. neither one worked and i wasnt about to spend the money on an ADA one. i figured i had lost the glass diffuser battle and cut my losses.



In the link it looks like he got them from AquaticMagic off Ebay.


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## PineyMike (Mar 22, 2006)

I also bought a 3 pk of nano diffusers from aquaticmagic but not off ebay. I got them from aquabid. Same guy though. All three work perfect. What CO2 recipe are you using? I'm actually going to order more in the future because they work so well. Anything I've ever gotten from that guy has always been good stuff.


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I haven't used them with CO2 yet, just the airpump. I remember reading how these didn't work so I'm testing first with air.

I bought the ones in the link.

Wouldn't the airpump have far more pressure than CO2?

Those who get these to work, can you get air to blow through them?

My CO2 mix is just sugar, yeast, and a pinch of baking soda. This works fine so far though a airstone.


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## erijnal (Jun 19, 2006)

Chris, try this. Soak your diffusers in a strong bleach solution for 5 minutes. This should clean the diffusers and get rid of any sort of particles that may be blocking the pores. Then, rinse under water/use a dechlorinator, and test again. If it still doesn't work with the airpump, just try using a CO2 bottle and place the diffuser in a cup if you're worried about it exploding. Check on it about 8 hours later.

Also, if I remember correctly, when I was little I was able to plug the airpump's line with my finger and the backpressure would release itself somewhere near where the motor was, so pressure may not be building up enough. I can get blow air through my diffusers, but I have to try almost 3 times as hard as I have to blow up a water balloon with my mouth (which is a lot of pressure).

If the tubing from the bottle isn't installed as pictured here then most likely you don't have an airtight seal at the bottle and pressure is being relieved there.


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

OK I just tested these with a air compressor at about 20 pounds. Air came through just fine.

Guess I will hook one up to CO2 and see what happens.

How often do these let of a burst of bubbles?


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## chiahead (Dec 5, 2005)

so your test was only with an air pump? Well no wonder why it wouldnt work. Air pumps do not just keep building pressure until it is released somehow. And co2 has far more pressure than that air pump. Just hook it up and let it go. Also, it wont shoot bursts of Co2, once the pressure fills in the diffussor it will let out a steady stream of micro-bubbles. Good luck!


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I put a check valve on the air pump thinking that would let it build pressure. Oh well.

After I blew compressed air through the diffusers, I could then get bubbles by blowing with my mouth. Maybe the compressed air cleaned it out like was suggested.

The CO2 now hooked up hasn't reached the bottom of the tank where the diffuser is yet. 

I'll report back tomorrow.


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## chiahead (Dec 5, 2005)

when it starts working you will be pleasantly happy.


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## Vicker3000 (Aug 2, 2006)

I use that same diffuser with a DIY system in my dorm room. It built up pressure overnight and was working perfectly the next morning. I have an empty jar trap in between the yeast and the tank, so that makes it take a little bit longer to build up pressure. I hafta say, I really like this diffuser. It's nice and small, but does the job well.


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

i have one on order and have one of their 8 spiral diffusers. 

at first i couldnt get the 8 spiral one to work but after some soaking i could blow through it so i think it works. havent installed it yet but plan to.


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## PineyMike (Mar 22, 2006)

I could never get it to work if I just blew through it but the co2 works fine. You might want to up the strength of your recipe by adding extra yeast or raising the amount of water in the yeast container slightly.


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## corbius (Aug 2, 2005)

Hello,
i have this nano diffusor and it works great  My co2 diffusion is ok.... maybe ure is broken??? 
Aquaticmagic ..... good seller :-D
Bye from France


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

I had working DIY CO2 that is only a week old hooked up to a air stone. All I did was pull the hose from that air stone and plug it into my diffuser. Now it's been more than 8 hours later and the CO2 still hasn't gone down the line into the tank. In fact it backed up about 1/4" from where I marked it yesterday.

My CO2 is in a single 1 gallon bottle and might have too much sugar in it. So adding a little yeast is OK?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Sure add some more. As soon as you disconnect the first stone you evacuate all the pressure it had accumulated.


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

Just a update. I added more yeast and still couldn't get the CO2 down into the tank. There are only 2 hose connections so I highly doubt they were leaking. Anyways I re-did the whole set up with two 2 liter bottles and black sprinkler hose I found at Lowes.

Success!


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Sweet! Good job..


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## GreenerSideofLIfe (Dec 24, 2005)

I just ordered 3 of these type of co2 difusers from this particular seller actualy. I was wondering what the maintence was on these. How do you keep them working properly? or do you just have to buy new ones? If thats the case, how long do they last?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

At first I ran the tubing directly to the difussor. Bad Idea. It filled with snot. Now I made a DIY bubble counter and it stays clear. About every 6 weeks I soak it in bleech to clean it up.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I got some of these about a year ago, they are cute and cheap, but...........
One sort of worked for awhile..............then other kept popping off due to back pressure..........

All the bleach abd cleanign in the world could not change the backpressure in the darn thing.

These are cheap and the standards are just not high, they are inconsisent.
Some will work fine, some will not.
A good disc diffuser will allow you to blow through it. If not, there's too much back pressure.

I gave mine away. I've had some issues with the Azoo diffusers as well, but much less so, 1:6 was bad. Worst than 50:50 with these.

The ADA diffusers while a lot more $$$, work extremely well and are consistent over time.

Given the importance of CO2, this is not something to take lightly.:icon_idea 

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Chris333 (Jul 29, 2006)

Would a small DIY bubble counter like one made from a syringe and check valve be sufficient to keep the snot down? as apposed to a larger 20oz bottle.

The syringe (forget where I saw the how to) could be suction cupped to the glass very easy.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I just used a 20oz bottle and filled it 2/3 with water


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## jennfier (Oct 29, 2006)

I just got one. Seems totally blocked. Tried blowing into it, simply shaking my yeasties and waiting & bleaching for 8 hrs. The juice bottle looked about ready to explode after a whole night of building pressure so I let the air out. Yeasty splatters no fun, I'm sure. I have no access to compressed air. What else can I do to unblock it :icon_ques


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

go to the gas station and use the air chuck that you use to inflate tires.

personally you have to let it build up pressure, mine worked the day after with diy i even had the 8coil spiral diffuser on diy. if it still doesnt work T two bottles together.


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## corbius (Aug 2, 2005)

Hello,
my experience with this systems 
It works great with pressurised system but not with diy natural system....
The pressure of yeast co2 is not very strong to make bubbles and double quantity of yeast or sugar is not the good solution because you can asphyxiate your fishes 
Oh, yes glass bubble counter is not very good too with glass co2 diffuser 
bye


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## jennfier (Oct 29, 2006)

*It works now*

After 2 days of pressure in the DIY bottle, the diffuser started to work and has been going strong since. It was a scary wait.


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## MasterFishTankGuy (Jan 23, 2010)

I just got mine in the mail from Aqmagic . com. *At first I didn't think it was working* b/c nothing was immediately coming out, then I tried to blow in it, that didn't work. *Finally I set it up in my tank and shook my DIY C02 soda bottle A LOT.* Now it's working great! It just needs a buildup of pressure.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

MasterFishTankGuy said:


> I just got mine in the mail from Aqmagic . com. *At first I didn't think it was working* b/c nothing was immediately coming out, then I tried to blow in it, that didn't work. *Finally I set it up in my tank and shook my DIY C02 soda bottle A LOT.* Now it's working great! It just needs a buildup of pressure.



Same here, but I have a problem. I get a good stream of bubbles for about ten seconds then it slows down and only comes out one of the pores and I have one stream of bubbles out of one pore for about two hours and then I have to shake again. Any idea as to why? There are no seals I have gone and put another coat of glue where there might have been leaks.


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## orktank (Dec 17, 2009)

Mine work well. The co2 bubbles out nicely, BUT--they are so fragile to hook up! I have them working with DIY pop bottle canisters. The ceramic discs do get a bit scuzzy. Actually, my problem with them is their tendency to break easily.


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## SHMaRiM (Apr 21, 2010)

My air pump can't push air through them either, but my DIY co2 pushed through just fine when I was using DIY. Now I use a powerhead and pressurized co2.


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## luke20037 (Jan 24, 2010)

i have diy on a glass diffuser from china, It works well and diffuses great for a couple of days and then the ceramic disc gets clogged up. I read that this is because our home made co2 has impurities in it that the bottled c02 doesnt. In my larger tank I made a diffuser with a power head and a plastic tube, the co2 bubbled in at the bottom of the tube by the time it reached to the top the power head smashed the bubbles up and diffused them really well! 
Obviously in a nano this isnt a option, I would advise saving up for a small c02 canister set in the long run it will be so much easier!


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

my DIY system works perfectly with my glass diffusers.


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## luke20037 (Jan 24, 2010)

what mix of yeast/sugar/water do you use


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I've had good luck with diy+glass diffusers. I've had a few issues getting that much pressure to come out in the right spot though.  

I had a leak one time that wouldn't really bubble right because I used too small a length of tubing. The weight of the bottle pulled enough that, under pressure, it caused leaks. It was completely imperceptible though. I had a couple of drops of water sitting on top of it, but it wasn't leaking fast enough to cause bubbles.

In the end I only found it by troubleshooting things that didn't make sense, over an entire afternoon, and with much frustration.


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