Tmc Aqua Gro Co2 System

[stoneagedinosaur]

Hi folks, I've been using the TMC Aqua Gro CO[sup]2[/sup] system since Christmas and am having a few probs with it...AQUA GRO

1 - The plastic diffuser fills with CO[sup]2[/sup]nicely and empties at a good rate for a couple of days. Then after a couple of days it just stays full of CO[sup]2[/sup] and doesn't diffuse any more. I then need to give it a good clean and that gets everything moving again.

2 - The rubber suckers are rubbish! At least twice a week I come home to see the diffuser on the surface of the water. Even after scrubbing the glass and cleaning the suckers, the suckers still don't grip.

The obvious thing would be to splash out on an expensive / better (?) system but cash won't allow that at the mo. So I am really looking to improve the system I already have.

Any help very welcome

Cheers as ever

Martin

 

[pacman]

Hi folks, I've been using the TMC Aqua Gro CO[sup]2[/sup] system since Christmas and am having a few probs with it...AQUA GRO

1 - The plastic diffuser fills with CO[sup]2[/sup]nicely and empties at a good rate for a couple of days. Then after a couple of days it just stays full of CO[sup]2[/sup] and doesn't diffuse any more. I then need to give it a good clean and that gets everything moving again.

2 - The rubber suckers are rubbish! At least twice a week I come home to see the diffuser on the surface of the water. Even after scrubbing the glass and cleaning the suckers, the suckers still don't grip.

The obvious thing would be to splash out on an expensive / better (?) system but cash won't allow that at the mo. So I am really looking to improve the system I already have.

Any help very welcome

Cheers as ever

Martin

I've been using this for the past three months or so in conjunction with a daily dose of Flourish Excel without any major issues. The suckers are ok and I haven't had a problem with the CO2 not diffusing.

Is the tube actually getting blocked? or is there any chance that the tubing is getting pinched by the tank lid?

Hope you get it sorted.

Paul.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Hi Paul

I did pinch the tube once and that just caused back pressure and not filling the diffuser. The CO[sup]2[/sup] is getting to the diffuser, it just stops coming out after a few days. Weird...

Not actually sure of the science behind it. It must be due to the water pressure forcing the CO[sup]2[/sup] up, which pushes it into the groove, consequently pushing it out of the path of least resistance ie the little nipple that releases the CO[sup]2[/sup]into the water. Was wondering if algae is producing a thin film that covers the groove and creates resistance?

Like you, initially it worked fine and I was getting through cannisters at a rate of knotts.

 

[pacman]

My (limited) understanding of how it works is that the CO2 diffuses into the tank water via the surface area of the tank water within the diffuser unit itself. As the gas diffuses into the water, the pressure drops and the tank water rises within the diffuser. I believe that the lower the gas pressure within the diffuser, the slower the rate of diffusion. So I have always aimed to keep the diffuser as fully charged with CO2 as possible.

I think that the nipple at the bottom end of the diffuser is for piggybacking a second diffuser unit to the setup so that you can have multiple diffusers attached, increasing the amount of CO2 you are getting into the water.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Okay - that seems to make sense - still don't know why sometimes the diffuser remains full for days on end? That would lead me to think that the pressures are balanced...

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

I've moved it to under where the water returns from the filter - this seems to work much better (and it's staying stuck for now!)

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Just following up up a whole bunch of fiddling around.

After a water change, I now give the diffuser a right good scrub and refill with CO[sup]2[/sup]. I then keep it topped up for the next couple of hours. I then let it fill with water as much as possible - then fill with CO[sup]2[/sup] and top up a bit before lights come on. The initial keeping full seems to stop whatever is in the water from coating the inside of the diffuser and allows the gas to be 'pushed' out more effectively.

This seems to maintain a better CO[sup]2[/sup] delivery for about a week, but the CO[sup]2[/sup] volumes in the diffuser decreases after that. If nothing else, it's making me keep on top of my weekly water changes.

And the plants are loving it