# How Many Bubbles Per Second?



## Zefrik (Oct 23, 2011)

I am running 2 bps on my 29 gallon. But it also depends on your method of diffusion.


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## willknowitall (Oct 3, 2010)

depends on the bubble size, diffusion method , circulation and aeration
im running about three thru jbj style bubble counter
with very good diffusion on 58 gal
drop checker, yellowish green


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## Bellaru (Jul 2, 2009)

I am running it through a mini power jet. The impeller is chopping the bubbles up very fine. The Entire surface of the tank is covered in a very fine film of bubbles.


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## Mgiorgi1221 (Mar 23, 2011)

1-4 I have 2bps through diffuser, get a drop checker will help tell if you bps is to high or low


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Watch your fish to... They are more sensitive then the drop checker

IMO bubble counters are not really necessary at all

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## Bellaru (Jul 2, 2009)

I'm not actually using a bubble counter. Just watching the bubbles coming out of the tube in the tank. It's about 2 a second.


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## oscarsx (Mar 15, 2011)

I really never bothered with bubble counters, I usually just adjusted my regulator to the color of my drop checker, liquid test etc. I had issues with my bubble counter ;(


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Bellaru said:


> I'm not actually using a bubble counter. Just watching the bubbles coming out of the tube in the tank. It's about 2 a second.


If you are just releasing the bubbles into the tank water you will need a lot of bubbles per second, and you still might not get enough dissolved into the water. Big CO2 bubbles float to the top of the water and escape before much dissolves into the water.


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## samamorgan (Dec 31, 2011)

You need some sort of way to monitor the PPM of Co2 present in your tank, the amount you're injecting doesn't matter because it's completely relative to many different conditions. There are two main methods: drop checker and fauna stress. With a drop checker you need some form of drop checker, be it glass or plastic, 4dKH solution, and PH reagent. Fill the drop checker half full of 4dKH solution, put 3-4 drops of PH reagent in the solution, put the drop checker in your tank, adjust Co2 slowly until drop checker is lime green. If you want to go by fauna stress, slowly adjust your Co2 up over a couple of days until you see signs of fauna stress. This will most likely show up with your inverts if you have any, shrimp will start getting very sluggish and snails may start crawling out of your tank. If no inverts, then your fish will start heading to the surface and gasping for air.

I do not recommend the fauna stress method, it's way slower and can be risky.


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## Bellaru (Jul 2, 2009)

It sounds like the bps is kind of irrelevant. I guess i will be buying or building a drop checker. I have seen a few searching on here, any one have a great build plan for one?


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## zchauvin (Apr 16, 2011)

Yep.... I have a 18g and I can't even count the bubbles on my counters, one on regulator and the other a Ada mounted on tank.. I'd say I'm having to push 10-12 bps to keep my checker at greenish yellow 

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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

29g.. like 30000000bps.. when i had a bubble counter. they were tiny little bubbles at 30 psi

at 10 psi like 15 bps
at 15 PSI 21009340 BPS

as u can see. psi makes a huge difference in bubble count

either way mine is truely uncountable i'm guessing on the 15


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## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

zchauvin said:


> Yep.... I have a 18g and I can't even count the bubbles on my counters, one on regulator and the other a Ada mounted on tank.. I'd say I'm having to push 10-12 bps to keep my checker at greenish yellow
> 
> Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk


That's insane, how are you diffusing? I run 2bps on a 29g tank and my drop checker is yellow. I diffuse through my Ehiem Classic, but am switching to an inline atomizer tonight, which I assume will allow me to run even a slower bubble count.


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## zchauvin (Apr 16, 2011)

I'm running through an Ada version 3 pollen diffuser. Idk why I need so much?!?!

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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

A bubble can be as big as 3/8 inch in diameter or as small as 1/32 inch in diameter. It depends mostly on the diameter of the hole the CO2 comes out of. Obviously a 3/8 inch diameter bubble is way more CO2 than a 1/32 inch bubble. The only thing bubbles per second is good for is as a visible sign of the amount of CO2 you are using with your exact setup. It lets you shut the system down, and then reset it to nearly the same flow of CO2. But your 2 bbs may be very different from my 2 bbs.


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## zchauvin (Apr 16, 2011)

The bubbles coming through both my counters are quite large and the diffuser makes them very small. Idk how on the Ada videos they have super dense planted tanks with very high lights and hanging only 6-12" over tank but only 3-4 bps on the 60ps and 7-8 on large tanks while I'm pumping that [censored][censored][censored][censored] into my 60p at an uncountable rate, on my mini s I was only using 1-2 bps for 12hrs a day and it was perfect and it had more surface agitation that my 60p and 7wpg. Perhaps something is wrong with regulator? Im not sure what my problem could be.

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## Schneeball (Dec 28, 2011)

I like my Fluval bubble counters I started using which are made for the 88 model. The Ista was giving me nightmares with a failing check valve right off the bat not allowing hardly any flow and making my bubble count swing like mad. The Fluval doesn't have a check valve so you need a good one before it.


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

I will put my 2cents in with this one. For me I just use the bubble counter when I am adjusting my CO2 output, as I can see it going faster or slower. The only other thing I use mine for is just as a sight check to see that it is still working as it should...
But BPS, I have never followed that one (used to when I started but quickly realized it doesn't really matter)..

(1) A drop checker and/or PH monitor and/or Fish activity are the best things you can do to see if your opium CO2 is achieved! 
(2)It is also all about HOW you diffuse your CO2, some ways are better than others..like I use a glass diffuser and it works okay, but I have noticed that some people that use a reactor use 1/2 as less CO2 than others use. 
(3)Current is the last thing that comes into play here as you can diffuse as much CO2 as you want but if it only stays in one place and doesn't get distributed through out the tank than all is lost. 

SO...It depends on a bunch of factors plus more I might not have mentioned..but these 3 seem to be the main ones. 



Hoppy said:


> A bubble can be as big as 3/8 inch in diameter or as small as 1/32 inch in diameter. It depends mostly on the diameter of the hole the CO2 comes out of. Obviously a 3/8 inch diameter bubble is way more CO2 than a 1/32 inch bubble. The only thing bubbles per second is good for is as a visible sign of the amount of CO2 you are using with your exact setup. It lets you shut the system down, and then reset it to nearly the same flow of CO2. But your 2 bbs may be very different from my 2 bbs.


I totally agree with this statement..


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