CO2 system

[bglaning]

im thinking of getting a CO2 system for my 20g tank in order to really get my plants going. i dont have much money to spend, so i want to make sure that its a good investment. how much of an impact will it have? what are some good ones to look into? i am currently putting Flourish Excel in the tank. will the CO2 system really do all that much more than the Flourish Excel does. i actually havnt noticed that the Flourish Excel is causing any big changes. thank you for your advice.

[rich311k]

CO2 will give better growth than Excel, it is after all the things plants were built to use.

A DIY system supplemented with Flourish Excel can be very effective. The trick with CO2 is consistency, yeast systems work but you need to stay on top of them and change your mix regularly. Two bottles is better than one so you can stagger the mix. A pressurized system is the way to go, it is s set and forget kind of thing. Once you have it dialed in there is nothing to worry about until the tank empties.

How much light do you have and what kind of plants?

[bglaning]

i just got a new light for my plants, so i now have close to 2.5 watts/gallon (2x24w bulbs). my main plant in the tank right now is a sword.

[rich311k]

That should do the trick. With that setup CO2 is optional, you will get better growth with it, but it is not a must have to win the algae wars.

[xximanoobxx]

Is the lighting T5?? If it is, it's considered high light. The watts/gallon stuff only works for T8 lights. So it doesn't even matter anymore. I would suggest you at least do a DIY CO2 system, but having a pressurized setup is recommended. I'd buy a milwaukee regulator and at least a 5lb tank as a start.

If you don't have a spending limit, I suggest you build your own Regulator setup. I would buy a dual stage regulator to prevent End of Tank Dump(when all the co2 gets injected into the aquarium when CO2 runs out, thus possibly killing fish in the tank), buy the fittings for it, and lastly, get a really nice needle valve (Fabco, Ideal, or swagelok are the best ones).

[bglaning]

yes, the light is T5. thats what i want for plants, right? i do have a spending limit. i was hoping to only spend up to $40. what can i do for that price with my 20g?

[-Lp]

im thinking of getting a CO2 system for my 20g tank in order to really get my plants going. i dont have much money to spend..

The DIY method is very effective. Sugar, yeast, water, and you're good for 10-14 days. As mentioned above you will need keep up on it, but hey, it's cheap!

All plants were store bought and barely covered the bottom of the tank originally. 2wpg, up and running six months.


http://img.geocaching.com/cache/d4a258fc-e42d-4aea-8f64-20bc3638c1d4.jpg

[aspects]

yes, the light is T5. thats what i want for plants, right? i do have a spending limit. i was hoping to only spend up to $40. what can i do for that price with my 20g?


for $40 you can get a ceramic or glass diffuser, but thats about it.
a pressurized Co2 set-up will cost you a bit more than that.

i would suggest either going with a DIY C02 tank, and build a reactor, or buy the nutrafin C02 system from hagen. (i believe theyre under $40). this will give you the C02 container, 3mo of C02, and a bubble ladder. and when it runs out you can either buy more of the packets, or just mix your own DIY C02

[bglaning]

wow i love the tank pic! i think i can keep up with it, so that sounds like the way to go. what exactly is the DIY method? is this all homemade or am i still looking at buying a system?

[rich311k]

Make your own DIY. Two 2 liter bottles and a diffuser. What kind of filter do you have?

[bglaning]

if i make my own what exactly do i have to do? im a beginner and as of now i dont understand this co2 business much at all, so do you think i could still do it myself? i dont even know what a reactor is.

[bglaning]

i have a aquaclear box filter. i would love to make my own, if i can figure it out and really make it work. what is a diffuser?

[aspects]

a quick search online will turn up lots of results on both the C02 system and the reactor.
if you search on youtube for "DIY C02" and "DIY C02 reactor", you can even find "how to" videos with step by step instructions.

[rich311k]

Get two 2 liter soda bottles. Drill small holes in the tops and force some airline though the holes. Silicone around the holes to make the seals air tight.

Put a check valve on each line with flow going from the bottle to the tank. the will keep the system pressurized when you remove a bottle to refill. It will also prevent and back flow from the tank into the bottle or worse all over the floor.

Connect the two lines to a T connector. Run a line fron the T connector to the intake of your AC filter, just snake it in through the grate. That filter makes a good diffuser. Be sure to keep the tank filled to the top. You want as little surface agitation as possible.

The mix in the bottle is, or atleast this is what I used, is two cups of sugar, a 1/4 tsp of yeast and warm water to just where the bottle curves to the top. Mix the sugar in the warm water until it dissolves keep the water about 85-90F.

Mix the yeast in a little warm water with a pinch of sugar and let it sit for 15 minutes. Pour it in to the bottle shake and attach it to the system. Start the second bottle a week later and then change a bottle every week. This will maintain a good flow of CO2. You should see bubbles within an hour and get full production in 24 hours.

The filter will gurgle a bit with the air bubbles but it did not bother me.

That is how I did it. I use a pressurized system now but I did this for years on a 36 gallon tank and it did very well.

[bglaning]

thanks guys. i think ill try to follow the directions and watch those videos and see how it goes

[bglaning]

i have an askoll 402 powerhead. would that make an even better diffuser than my aquaclear box filter?

[aspects]

I would use the powerhead to make a diffuser.
Running the Co2 line directly to the intake can cause problems down the road. The Co2 can break down rubber components in the impeller housing causing premature equipment failure.
By using a plastic tube and the powerhead, you can create a diffuser that will allow you to "chop up" the larger bubbles of Co2 into microbubbles, without the Co2 ever actually coming into contact with your equipment.

[rich311k]

Powerheads make good diffusers.

I have never had CO2 effect plastic parts, it simply not a very strong acid. I have read that many times, I would like to meet someone who actually has an impellor damaged by CO2.

[bglaning]

is it possible that i could get too much CO2 into my aquarium? if it is, how can i check for that?

[rich311k]

With DIY it would be difficult, with pressurized it is quite easy to do. The fish will gasp at the surface just like a lack of O2. What happens is the CO2 saturation gets so high the fish can no longer reelease CO2 from there blood streams and they slowly die. Your PH will drop as the CO2 goes in the water column.

Here is a nice write up on it.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

You need to hit 50-100ppm to get in the danger zone. Your chance of getting there with a yeast reactor is very low.

[bglaning]

thanks, ill just watch my fish and make sure they're breathing normally

[bglaning]

i got my CO2 system set up!!! i uploaded a video onto youtube so that i could get some feedback about how it might be improved. here's the link
http://www.youtube.com/user/bglaning

[rich311k]

Looks like you are getting nice production. I would suggest putting the output in the intake on the powerhead instead of the venturi port. The CO2 bubbles will get choopped up more that way. Did you test your PH yet to see how much it dropped?

[bglaning]

thanks, ill have to see if i can figure out a good way to do that. ive actually never tested the pH before, but i can now. what should it have been before, and how much can i expect it to drop?

[rich311k]

You need to buy a PH test, a KH test would be good as well, any pet store will have them. Take a cup of water from the tank and test the PH and KH, wait 24 hours and test the water in the cup again. The difference in the PH should give a decent idea how much CO2 is in the tank.

[bglaning]

i did the pH tests, but i couldnt really tell what the exact measurement was because they were both so high. the pH seems to be somewhere around 8. there didnt seem to be much difference between the two tests. how vital is it that i lower my pH? the fish dont appear to be in any trouble.