The Problem with DIY Co2

When I originally chose to go with DIY Fermentation Co2 I chose it because it was cheap costing less then a tenth then pressurized Co2 and it didn't need a trip into town every three months to get the tank refilled. So I built two reactors with separators which worked well for a couple months. Then my ceramic diffuser plugged and put a ton of pressure on the seals. This must have damaged them because a few months later they My diffuser didn't have a single bubble go through it for several weeks. After resiliconing the seals I could get bubbles by closing the valve, shaking the bottle and then opening the valve in the line just the tiniest bit. After doing this over five times I somehow got a consistent flow. This is the problem with DIY Co2, it's too finicky for the consistency needed in the aquarium to keep plants growing and pH stable. That and the fact that most people only have one bottle so that there is two, three day downtime between taking off the old batch and the new one getting up to speed means that unless your willing to go through the trouble of timing your batches so they over lap, building multiple reactors and constant tweaking and fiddling you may be better off with the consistency and reliability of Pressurized Co2.