CO2 system

[urville]

man... everyone says the pressurized systems are better, but this is what i found locally:
5 lb. Steel Tank (USED) - 81.00
Regulator (Used) - 71.00
they dont sell needle valves or solenoids.
To fill 5 lbs. is 19.00
so get a good system like i will sooner or later i'd have to go online and buy a regulator and thats 140
when the carbo-plus, <albeit not for tanks over 75 gals) it's only 150 to start, and the refills one about every six months is about 40
so i'm stumped. everything even associated with aquariums costs money AND limbs.
grrrr

 

[BrianNY]

You are SO right. I bought my pressurized system from Marcus for $283.00. The 10lb tank and CO2 was another $89.00. Then there was another $300 plus for the 6 X 55 watt lighting system I built. Plus $240.00 for eco-complete. Big tanks come with big price tags. I guess high tech planted tanks aren't for the impoverished.

But here's a few pics of the result so far. I'm planning a new aquascape using glosso.

 

[urville]

man your a pruning madman arent ya, i'm using glosso right now with ahahaha... ahem 3ppm co2, i have some Red Sea FloraPure i wonder if this is like Flourish Excel a copy of the food plants make from co2? sodium hydroxide is the only ingriedient. hmmm.. man i'm lazy.
i have about 4 watts per gal. 10k a little high i figure i want more of a 6500k. power compact flours. with the plants so small it's blinding in there.

 

[TankGirl]

Yep, Christmas is coming, new house projects needing to be done, etc., so not too many sheckels left over for my dream of a pressurized system. You'll find me mixing up my sugar and yeast for the time being...

I'm so sick of it I am about ready to cut my lighting in half and switch to anubias and crypts and get on with my life! (Prolly not...)

urville - 4wpg is a challenge - so you gotta stay on top of nutrients. Save your pennies for pressurized and skip the Carbo-Plus (hey Brian, there's a Carbo-Plus thread back there somewhere, isn't there?)

 

[BrianNY]

Yes TG, there is a thread in the planted section on Carbo-Plus. It pretty much got slammed as being more costly in the long run.

urville, I went the Flourish Excel route for quite some time. That got expensive too.

I've had the pressurized system up and running for about 3 weeks now, and I really do like it. The nicest part is that you can dial in and fine tune the rate of injection. The thing about most hobbies is that there always seems to be more to buy.

 

[TankGirl]

I'm using Flourish Excel on my 5.5gal, which works great, but dosing my 55 would definitely be costly!

 

[urville]

hmmmm... i think i'll go check ebay... i cant believe its so expensive... i wonder if i could build one that would at least use the little caps for bb gun co2 cartridges... hehehehe j/k

 

[jhd]

I have yeast CO2 in both 55g and 29g and I do not need pressurized system. Plants are growing like mad in both tanks, I sell back plants to lfs every month or so.
I have single Hagen ladder but I also have 2 liter soda bottle for the container and I run it through ½ liter bottle with just water to purify CO2, so that I do not have a white stuff floating in the tanks, and it works ok.
I DO need to change yeast every 2 weeks if I want at least 50 bubbles on the ladder, every 3 weeks if I let it go down, I have maybe 10 bubbles on the ladder.
Yeast in grocery store cost close to nothing, to make new batch takes 10 minutes for both tanks once you get the hang of it.
My ladders are positioned near the filters so that flow dissolves CO2 to almost minute bubble, that escapes to the air. I am ok with my system, no plans to change.

 

[BrianNY]

Yeppers. jhds method definitely works!!

I went with the pressurized system because I wanted to incorporate a pH controller.

 

[Guest]

Aquariumplant.com currently has JBJ regulator,s for 70 bucks. They also have Milwalkees for 50-55 bucks. A steal IMO. Fixing to order a JBJ. In fact, I was just doing a search here for research on JBJ and Milwalkee regulators before I ordered.

Urville, I was just on ebay not 30 minutes ago looking at CO2 acc. There were far cheaper tanks than a 5lb used for 81 bucks. Keep in mind, you'd have to factor in a test, if its not already certified, shipping cost, and the cost of being filled. At any rate, I think you might be able to save some coin if you do your homework and troll around Ebay a little.

Seeing how your in WY, some of these items your after may be more expensive locally. Search around and see what you can find. HTH

Also, Aquariumplant.com PH Controllers for 65 buck. Certainly worth checking out.

 

[vega]

I totally understand the $$ issue hehehe

Now i am preparing to move to new house in couple of months. Once done with the moving, i will upgrade the 32gal to at least a 60 gal ( ) with the pressurized system....

Must save money, must save money.....

But my gf is not happy as she know the only thing i am looking forward in the new house is the new space for the new tank.

 

[urville]

okay... so
use about 1 tsp yeast
a coffe mug of sugar
and a 2 liter bottle filled with about an inch of space at the top?
its better to start the yeast in the warm water with lots of sugar and then add to the main system to get bubbles within an hour or so?
what the altitude where you are jhd? does this affect things?
how wild" are these supposed wild swings in ph? i figured it would take almost 10 hours to cause a mjor ph shift, i suppose it depends on how heavily planted it is.
i see the ladder usage. i was considering using a baby food jar as a bell at a bubble per second. ??? or into my powerhead intake where the water also goes in???
temperature in relation to co2?
one last one!!!!!!

co2 affects kh? mine is 4 so i dont want it to change
TIA

 

[vega]

Hardness or dKH act as buffer for pH.
Resolve CO2 will decrease the water pH as the disolve CO2 turn into carbonic asid.
For a ideal tank with CO2, norm ppl go for 3-6 dKH. Mine is ~4 dKH with 25-30 ppm of CO2.

The higher the temp, less air (O2, CO2, etc) able to disolve. Ideal temp for planted tank is 76F-82F.

HTH

 

[urville]

i'm at 81F in temp
ph 7.6
kh 4
dgh 8

made a mixture last night 1.75l
a 2 liter mostly full with 1/2 tsp yeast and 1 cup sugar
produces maybe one bubble this morning every 20 secs
when i shake it it makes all kinds of co2 but then immediatley goes back down to one bubble every 20-30 seconds the room is warm so i know its not the solution being cold.
i'm using that bell made from the baby food jar right now

 

[jhd]

Agree with Vega,
My water is hard and with high buffers (GH, KH) so I am not worry about pH dropping a little (actually drops 0.2 pH).
To start the reaction faster I use:
Warm water (2-3 teaspoons with high concentration of sugar.
Add 1 flat teaspoon of grocery yeast, mix.
Set aside for 10 min.
Add this mixture to your 2 liter container (soda bottle) with water and 8-9 ounce of dissolved sugar.
That’s it, wait an hour or so for bubbles.

Leave some room in the container for the foam if you do not want that foam in the tank.
Lead line from the container through ½ liter bottle with water to further purify the CO2. This way CO2 is relatively clean. I have never had a white fuzz some people describe they get in the tank (supposable harmless, but unwanted)
http://fish.orbust.net/carbondioxide.html
link above is just one of the sites describing the system.
I use similar small bottle but I fill mine half way with water and it bubbles through the water, I collect CO2 from above water to the tank.
Silicone does not adhere very well to the plastic caps, so to make a good seal takes a while.

 

[TankGirl]

Start the yeast in slightly warm water and let it sit for a minute or two until you see that it is active. Then you can add a pinch of sugar and it should begin to bubble. Then add it to your water/sugar mix.

I would really leave more space in the top of the container, as it will expand and the mixture could come up your line. There needs to be some air space in the jug for the CO2 to accumulate, in order to function efficiently (this is how it was explained to me, anyway).

 

[urville]

well i left 3" which in the juice bottle i'm using, it's a 2 liter, is more than that in cubic or sq inches.
i used active dry fleischmanns, i even made sure with a thermometer i was using 100 degree water.
and i used a few tablespoons of the tepid water, mixed in the yeast, and then added some sugar and let it sit ten minutes. this was at 12 midnight here last night, it's now 10:34 am here
i'm still only getting about 1 bubble every 20-40 seconds
i think it's my altitude
i'm almost 2 miles above sea level. higher than Denver, Colorado.
hmmmm

 

[urville]

okay now at 1:58pm i'm at one bubble every 5 seconds
my bell is full too... it seems i'm not getting much INTO the water... i dont want that DIY in tank reactor made form a python clean tube SO BIG..


so i guess...
the ladder?
man it has taken almost 16 hours to get going.... hmmm gonna have to mix new mixtures the night before

 

[urville]

correction
kh-3
gh-6

 

[urville]

One teaspoon (about 6 grams) of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) per 50
liters of water will increase KH by 4 degrees and will not increase
general hardness.

found this at the krib
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/khgh.html

it must be true... hmmm...
sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, isnt it?