CO2 Diffuser Struggles

I'm very new to using CO2 in my tank and I can't for the life of me get it to work... The diffuser is my Achilles heal and refuses to play ball.

My first diffuser was a cheap Chinese one because I thought, "what could possibly be the difference between R150 and R300.." Well I set it up, left it in the tank overnight and turned on the CO2 the next day. No bubbles came through the ceramic disc, large bubbles just escaped through the seems in the plastic.

So then I got a 3 in 1 bubble counter diffuser with a check valve. Now that it had English on the packaging, it said to leave it submerge for 24 hours for the ceramic disc to become porous. So I connected it to the CO2 line, left the CO2 off, and left it in the tank for 24 hours. It's now been a day since I turned on the CO2 with the new diffuser and bubbles are forming everywhere BUT on the ceramic disc... There are bubbles on the tubing as well as on the hard plastic diffuser casing. When I unplug the CO2 line there is evidently a big build up of pressure which is released. The CO2 flow is very low, less than 1 bubble / 3 sec. I just don't understand how it could be so complicated?

CO2 source -> valve -> tubing -> diffuser

Am I missing something?

 

I also had that issue, I had a dymax one, it was like the ceramic disk was blocked, bubbles escaping out the side or at the tube. I also tried soaking etc. returned it and got a seachem for a little bit more cash and it works 100% out the box.

 

It could also be that you co2 flow/pressure is too low and not strong enough to get through the ceramic disc.

Try increasing co2 flow for a few seconds and see if that helps. Maybe do this in a bucket of water or jug so that all that co2 is not released into your tank potentially gassing your fish.

After the ceramic is "unblocked" it might work at lower flow.

 

i have the exact problem right now as we speak. Bought the SAGA "super" ceramic diffusor and it worked ok but two weeks later its so clogged that nothing comes out of the diffusor. Very frustrating! i saw many good reviews so i might spend money and try another one but to be honest I'm really disappointed.

 

Yup, I had the same issue with saga ones

 

That could be the problem, i had that happen with mine, when i first started had the pressure too low, and it refused to go through
Slowly turned it up bit by bit, waited 30mins for changes to effect, then tried again.

 

Hi Daniel

Are you using a check valve? I experienced the same about a month back with the Saga super diffuser, seemed to be a faulty check valve, removed and has been working fine since. Maybe try without the check valve to diagnose the issue?

 

Soak the diffuser in a bleach solution, the same way you would if your were cleaning it.

Also don’t believe everything you read on the box, new diffusers need to be soaked for 3-5 days to get proper diffusion through the ceramic disc, remember this diffuser was laying around for quite awhile before you bought it, the pores have been clogged up and the bleach solution will help remove this.

After soaking it in a bleach solution, I recommend you turn the co2 and soak it in dechlorinated water, leave it in there to soak until bubbles start to “diffuse” the way you want it to in your tank, if it still isn’t diffusing then let it soak longer.

It’s always great to buy new equipment and want to try it out immediately, diffusers unfortunately will never really work 100% straight out the box....

 

Hi can you post a pic/ link of the diffuser


if its one of these the check valve portion gets stuck often, the best solution if found is to remove the check valve spring and add a check valve to the tubing itself, to remove the spring is to unscrew the part where the CO2 line connects and remove the spring mechanism. hope that helps