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

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.

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.

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.

Pro'sEasy to hook into your canister filtering system.No leaksCon'sThe impeller doesn't spin with any reliability or at a consistent speed.I'm in the process of returning this item due to it not working properly. I am moving to a different product.

it does work really well, but I would say it depends on your setup. I run mine submerged inside the tank off a cobalt internal pump/powerhead. most canister filters won't have enough output for it to work properly. also running it inside the tank eliminates any potential leaks. That being said its much better than previous models but my two biggest complaints are lack of an interchangeable output fitting for loc-line and the suction cups are only on one side instead of both

This thing is over priced. ISTA makes better products like the MAX MIX. i recommend that model over this one. There's too much plumbing involved here, and I had leaking issues.

Highly compact. much smaller then i was expecting. it was replacing another one i bought on amazon that was junk. love the screw on fasteners and the way it mounts is new and much more effective then the other ones method.