DIY a way to prevent water droplet sprays from bursting bubbles

[stormhawk]

Don, here's a diagram of the CO2 reactor modified for your purposes:



This is basically based on an internal CO2 reactor with baffles already built in. Stuff black coarse sponge in the inlet and outlet to prevent any shrimps from coming in. You can remove the sponges for maintenance with a pair of tweezers if they clog up. Works to prevent debris from settling in the reactor too. The exit point to air hose is connected to a bleeder valve, so the trapped air can escape with minimal noise. You can use a venturi tube for this, or just place this tip above the water line with a single airline.

For the air stone tube, you have to drill or make a hole at the top cap to accomodate a rigid tube which connects to the airstone. Or you can just switch places with the bleeder point and extend the airline that connects to the airstones that typically come with some of these CO2 reactors.

[Navanod]

Thanks for the drawing and explanations. Now I can see how it's supposed to work.

[Navanod]

Morning folks,

After a hard night of work, I have some pictures and videos!

First, someone also told me to try this (sorry, forgot to include this in my initial post):



I got my hands on a set last evening and decided to add my own little mod, by replacing 2 of the sucker disks with 2 airhoses.


Whoossh!


The extra airhoses allow water to escape without bringing any bubbles with them.

If you look at this video, you can see that the air can be cranked up pretty high without any bubbles escaping. If the bubbles starts getting out, all that is required is to lift the box further above the waterline. Notice also the movement of the bubble stream as it snakes left and right, this is due to water being ejected downwards and out through the bottom again. The fissiden below the box can be observed to be "waving" as the water exits the bottom of the box.


Pros: Can produce and handle alot of bubbles! Loads of oxygenation! Looks aesthetically very nice. Shrimp safe. Possible to mod into a fluidized reactor? Almost no bubbling noise heard.
Cons: Costs. Water only exits through the bottom (without modding), not sure how much it'll circulate the mid and surface water.

[tetrakid]

Is this superb gadget available here? What's the price range? I must get it.

[Navanod]

In another partition, I was testing satellite breeding boxes as HOFs.
.

Noticed that I'm hanging them from my center partition glass, so both boxes are submerged in the water. At least the water temperatures will be stable if I wished to house anything inside them.


Results were as expected but the flow is somewhat better than I had initially thought.
But at the same time, I also found that it is noisier as the uplift pipe gargles. This can be reduced by adjusting the rate of air bubbling without affecting the water flow too much, but it's still audible.

[Navanod]

Lastly, my own design!





Then stuff the other sponge from the other side and make sure the gap is on the alternate side




Sadly, some bubbles are still able to escape from the back and I cannot crank up the bubble on the eheim diffuser any higher than this video or alot more bubbles will escape from the sides too.
Strangely, it wasn't as ugly or visible as I though it would be. Hehe.


Pro: Dirt cheap to make. Bubbles are in open water, maximum water movement. Can use any airsource. Shrimp safe.
Cons: Some tiny bubbles can escape. Bubbles flowrate cannot be too high. Not pretty to look at.

If I add the additional "funnel" from my design, things will certainly improve I'm sure, but boy would that be ever ugly! Will add that and update again.

[Navanod]

Is this superb gadget available here? What's the price range? I must get it.

Yes it is. I got mine from GC.

[tetrakid]

Thank you. Recently went to the GC block but missed the shop as I was expecting to see a typical lfs appearance outside . Asked someone nearby, he said no aquariums now but before yes. Then went to the 2 shops at Block 328.

Yes it is. I got mine from GC.

[pufferlover]

Bro Navanod thats damn nice .... going to try one of this for my planted tanks

[stormhawk]

Don, the TOTTO product looks cool but I think you'll eventually have to plug the bottom. I can't imagine what will happen if a shrimp went in and took a ride in the "washing machine".

Your DIY bottle method looks great and it works. As for the Satellite boxes, long term they might be best for you since you can isolate the females. Only thing is, cut a small piece of sponge to go over the exit so nothing can escape.

[felix_fx2]

I saw it in GC just now too.
Looks really like a shrimp play ground .

[Navanod]

I assure you the TOTTO is quite harmless to shrimps. Many had taken a joyride already! Haha, just one round and they get ejected, none trapped. Sealing the bottom will be done if I want to turn it into a Purigen reactor.
The satellite boxes are turning into seed shrimp traps! No shrimplets though. Strange.

I just got the funnel done for the DIY. A real pain to align and position, and still not foolproof.
Got a Ver. 3 coming soon. Hahaha.

[Blue Whale]

^^Y I bought a mini.
Here is where you goto see.
http://www.gcshop-sg.com

Search for Bubble Stopper, you will see two models, The larger sized one and the mini. I got a mini. Now I read with interest that some of you are worry about the top. This Totto Bubble Stopper have two square outlets on top sides. Bottom is practically empty so water flows in. The two outlets are placed in such a way it's 2-3cm above water level. I found another interesting thing after deploying, once water level drops, it humms and you can be alerted to add water. So pretty good in my opinion.

Usually I will on the air pump for a while after water change. Other than that, the pump is off most of the time.

[Navanod]

I didn't get the sound on the normal version. Perhaps its unique to the mini only?
Why not leave it on? Even someone who can't stand noisy setups can tolerate it. The only thing I can hear is the soft humming of the Eheim airpump (currently the loudest equipment, aside from the chiller when it's kicked in) and the occasional gargle from the 2 satellite breeding boxes.

I'm really tempted to use the TOTTO as K1 or purigen reactor! Hahaha!

[Blue Whale]

It is still a planted tank, so I would wanna maintain the Co2 reactor to generate the oxygen. Eheim is usually quite silent unless it is really dirty. The box comes with a black square like container, I would put the eheim in it so in case water leak due to improper securing of the cover, water would not leak everywhere. The key here is proper handling.

[Navanod]

Eheim airpump comes with black container? Are we talking about the same pump?
I'll go back and take some pictures later.

[Blue Whale]

It's black plastic thingy. I already de-com my ehiem and threw away because it broke off several years back hence, I do not have the picture to show you. Comes with the original box. But since I have not touch on Ehiem in recent years, they might have change the packaging. If you can find a really Bigggg...plastic container (like those for food container), you can still house it inside the plastic without the cover. Putting a pail is ugly sight. Potting plates are too shallow to contain much water. You should know what I mean...

Anyway, inorder to "hear" the sound, you'd have to do a water change to simulate water level drop. Thereafter, you should be able to hear the humming sound from the Bubble Stopper. Effectively, the container itself acts like a flute, with holes on top, so it will hum when hollow in the center. Of course, you need some water above the diffuser to generate bubbles inorder to hear it, meaning after it drops below the diffuser level, it will stop humming.

For those DIY people, you could take the example of this Bubble Stopper to design a really really simple one. It is easy to make like fellow fishy guys have discussed with me face to face (e.g. Felix) but you can use money to buy away the hardwork and time required to assemble one. The current mini I bought it. Can't say for the future...heh heh. You can do this even with Styrofoam in my opinion. Just need something heavy to weight it down and something to "hang" it. Stainless Steel binding wire should be able to do it.

[Navanod]

Behold! Navie bubble stopper Version 1.1!



Still getting bubbles escaping from the back and its a real pain to align and adjust 3 different things on sucker pads! Still can't crank the bubbles at full blast.


So I made this:


Voila! Version 1.2!


Now, not only can I go full blast on the bubbles, none can escape! Wahaha! And since the front half of the bottle is cut away, the water currents gets thrown out into the tank in a fan shape and many micro-bubbles everywhere (those too small to cause sprays).

Now to make a few more for the large partitions and save up for TOTTO for the smaller partitions

[tetrakid]

I heard somewhere it is said that tiny micro air bubbles suspended in water may not be good for some fish's gills because they may be lodged in the gills and clog them up and that will interfere with their natural breathing apparatus.

I tend to believe that wholly, since I reasoned that, since fish breathe only oxygen which is dissolved in water but not suspended in it. Except Bettas and air breathers of course. Any other helpful views?

[stormhawk]

Maybe easier to rig this with some plastic funnels.