ISTA Turbo CO2 Reactor Diffuser 12/16mm External for Aquarium Plants Atomizer ph

This diffuser works well. It doesn't seem to restrict my canister filter flow and it doesn't produce bubbles in the tank, like an air stone diffuser does. Also, it doesn't take up space inside of the tank.

They advertise 12mm to 16mm barbs. 16mm is a hair over 5/8 in. These hose barbs are short in length. The compression collar is small and appears to be designed for a thin walled tubing. They are barely a 1/2 inch diameter by my measurements and do not taper up for a tight fit or to accommodate a sightly larger hose. Way too small for the 5/8 in. interior diameter hose (even with hose clamps) that a lot of us are using for canister filters. Also, this thing is really small so if flow restriction is a concern it may be a problem. I'm going to have to return it. I hope this can save others some time.This company does make returns super easy however so I will use them in the future for other items.

The media could not be loaded. First I will say the first gen did well for me. However it was made of cheap plastic and the blades in each one I owned always broke after a certain amount of time (months). It still served it's purpose.This next gen is made of a much better plastic thicker plastic. It screws on the top versus at the bottom like the old one. See the pictures for a comparison. I will say to buy 2 of the 12mm to 16mm hose adapters just incase. Plus it's to have and not need it versus need it and not have it. I used 3/8 ID 1/2 OD clear pvc tubing and used heat water to make the tubing soft enough to push the tubing on to the hose adapters. I am using this on a finnex 100 cannister filter. This reactor is doing a great job and navigating the C02 bubbles. The video I took shows you the bubbles in the water are from the plants pearling oxygen. 4 stars from me cause I had to get the adapters to hook it up to my filter and the fact that I had to look for a hose to use on to convert from 16mm to 12mm and then 12mm back to 16mm. If they would include the hose with the reactor than I would give a 5 even though I would have to purchase the adapter. Shipped from China took about 2 weeks. So I am thankful it was delivered as quick as it could get here. The last picture is of the old C02 Reactor that I has to use a fountain pump and keep the reactor submerged to avoid it leaking from the bottom. Also the old reactor did not have the secure hose connections that this one has. On a side note you need to push the hose on to the push fittings then turn the plastic hand nuts to the left. As it unscrews it bites on to the hose to hold it firmly in place. Worth my money.

great item fast delivery works great no noise hooked it up to the water out on my external canister filter no co2 bubbles at all love it

Very difficult to get the proper circulation. The propeller section will fill with the co2 and stop turning even with a high flow rate.

PRO:product performs as designed. i'm running the diffuser with the eheim classic 150 in my 25gallon setup, @60gph the flow rate is too low to continuously spin the reactor blades (knew this prior to purchase, but price point was good with this unit). regardless, the co2 still gets diffused and plants are thriving.CON:the material quality is mediocre at best due to how brittle it is as other reviewers have previously mentioned. the clip that attaches the suction pad to the canister snapped off diagonally, luckily leaving enough clip to cling on.

Very sturdy build but you need a very substantial flow to get the diffuser blades to spin.

When you know what you're doing this is an excellent product. 1st this does not need a ridiculous flow rate to work properly it just needs some common sense, and problem solving. I use this with a cobalt inline pump works great. The co2 is supposed to create a pool at the top as the fan blades spin diffusion is taking place, you are not going to see it diffuse into the water because its going molecular.