Category Archives: CO2

A diffuser you won’t break


Tropica 3 in 1 Diffuser.


Here’s what David Kearsley had to say about it:


Just how much CO2 should you have in your tank?




How to diffuse CO2 like a pro

I’m regularly asked about CO2 diffusion, what works best and what would I recommend and the answer is always the same. If you have a CO2 regulator that allows you to adjust your bar pressure to 3 or higher, then Easy Aqua Atomisers are the best. They win hands down every day without fail. And what’s more they only cost just over a tenner and are available in small or large varieties.

Not only are these atomiser cheap, but they’re also economical in the amount of gas  you need. They diffuse CO2 better than any other diffuser I have ever used by creating tiny CO2 bubbles – you actually need less gas when compared to a glass diffuser for example. You see when you’re using an Easy Aqua atomiser, the bubbles are so small they literally hang in the water. They don’t shoot up to the surface which means it’s really easy to push the CO2 around the tank. And the longer the bubbles stay in contact with water, the better the CO2 diffusion and the better your plants will grow. Simple heh 🙂

Check out the video below to see what I mean.

When should my CO2 come on?





When do you turn your CO2 on and off?

CO2 In A Planted Aquarium





More Aquatic Plants = More CO2

Have you ever had a CO2 infused planted aquarium and for a while everything went just right? You had no problems, things were doing well, no algae and you felt pretty pleased with yourself :). In fact, you had temporarily nailed it and then…

algae appears

So you rack your brain, think about what has changed and what might have happened but you still draw a blank. The answer is that you have probably become a victim of your own success (or at least your tank has). As your tank matures, plants grow. This means that the increased biomass effects water distribution along with the plants requiring more fertilisers. If you have kept your CO2 levels the same as before and you’re still adding the same amount of fertilisers as before, you can begin to see why the problem has evolved. Slowly but surely you’ve been starving your plants of what they really need:

  1. More CO2
  2. More Fertilisers
  3. Better Water Distribution

The best thing to do at this stage is to give your plants a good haircut. This will bring overall levels back to where they were (when the tank was doing great). Any deformed leaves or one’s which have algae on them should be chopped off. Essentially you are resetting your aquarium and now you know better. It’s important to stress that as your tank grows you have to increase CO2, fertilisers and improve water flow. Larger plants will block water in its path and stop essential nutrients from getting where they used to. Pay attention to what your plants are telling you – observe your CO2 bubbles and see if they are getting to everywhere that they should. This is the beauty about using pressurised CO2 as you can watch the tiny bubbles move around the tank and if they’re not getting to a certain area, then you can bet fertilisers aren’t either.

In summary, it’s easy to overlook the correlation between plants growing and the effect this has on your planted aquarium. Just remember that as they grow, more demands are put on the aquarium unless you maintain the plants to a specific size (trimming weekly for example).

Have you had problems with your aquarium and overcome them? I’d love to here them.

CO2 Drop Checkers





For more information on this subject you can visit this link.

Here’s a nice picture of a drop checker changing colour

Drop Checker changing colour

Water Circulation In A Planted Aquarium








Achieving Smaller CO2 Bubbles

If you have a CO2 glass diffuser then odds are you feel like the bubbles are too big and quite often shoot straight to the top of your tank without diffusing into your planted aquarium.

Many glass diffusers do a good job, but they’re pretty cheap and as a result the ceramic plate used is not the best. Sure it works fine but the bubbles can be on the larger size than you actually want (relatively). Now if you paid, lets say £100 for your diffuser, the ceramic plate would be of a much higher quality and you probably wouldn’t be reading this post. If CO2 bubbles are tiny, not only are they less obvious in your planted aquarium but they also distribute better, after all your sole purpose of having CO2 in your tank is so that it spreads over everything and your plants absorb as much as they can.

With CO2 bubbles that are too big, they have a tendency to shoot to the surface of the tank and not get pushed around your aquarium. To remedy this use an AE Design Needle Valve. Simply insert one end of your CO2 tubing into the Needle Valve, and then insert the remainder into the other side. This would then attach directly onto your diffuser. You would now have total control of your Co2 and you will be able to produce much smaller bubbles than you were before hand. The valve on this piece of equipment is subtle and easy to use.

For a range of our CO2 diffusers you can see them here.

Inline CO2 Diffusers For Planted Aquariums






Easy Aqua Super Mist Diffuser





TMC CO2 sets for smaller aquariums

TMC have brought out some really great CO2 sets that are just perfect for smaller aquariums up to 100L or so. For about 15 months TMC have successfully been introducing planted aquarium goods which is a great move for them and a true reflection of where the planted aquarium market is in 2010.

The TMC AquaGro CO2 sets (Hobby & Expert) are small and are a great introduction into pressurised CO2. Both types of sets are easy to set up and the main difference between Hobby and Expert is that Hobby uses plastic bubble counter, diffuser and non return valve – in Expert the equipment is glass.

At Aqua Essentials we lean towards planted aquarium goods as that is what we specialise in but we also have a passion for marine products. If you’re looking for other CO2, click here.