Lighting and CO2 Questions

[nonameface]

I'd love to do a heavily planted tank, and I think some of the planted tanks I've seen on here are absolutely beautiful!! Right now I need to mainly find a good lfs, the only thing really close is petsmart, and I have two of them. I know they have live plants in little plastic tubes but they are CRAZY expensive and I don't really like them all that much, and I think they're made more for terrariums then aquariums.

I also need to buy a new light source for my aquarium, though I'm having issues with that because 1) they're expensive and 2) I like the look of my tank with the hood (and it keeps my bala shark safely from jumping out) and I don't want to have to take it off. What I'd really love is to find a multiple ballast light with the same dimensions as my "stock" one so I can leave the hood and just replace the light fixture. This is a standard 29 Gallon tank.

What is the expert opinion on DIY co2 from yeast? or should I not worry about it for a long time until I have lots of w/g of lighting?

[mom2reds]

Check out catalinaquarium.com they have really good prices and you can call them and explain what you want and they will build it for you.
I can't help you a whole lot with the co2 but if you read all of the stickies at the top of the forum they will help you a lot and I am sure others with more know how will chime in before long.

PS stay away from the plants at petsmart check out the classifieds below.

[Purrbox]

I'd definately recommend avoiding those plant tubes as you are correct that most of them are not true aquatics. The Classifieds and Barter/Trade Sections are an excellant source of inexpensive plants, many of which you won't find at the local stores. Online plant orders are another option if you're looking for something specific that you can't find on the board.

Unfortunately about the only way for an upgraded light to fit your existing hood (which sounds like a plasitic deluxe hood) would be to retrofit it. To keep your aquarium covered, I'd recommend a glass canopy. They are relatively inexpensive an will allow you to put whatever lighting you desire over the aquarium.

CO2 injection will benefit plants reguardless of the amount of light, as long as their minimum requirements are met. You can avoid injecting CO2 until the lighting level gets above medium light (on average somewhere around 2-2.5WPG). DIY CO2 would be possible on your aquarium. You'd probably want about three 2 Liter bottles for CO2 generation. Personally I found DIY CO2 to be a pain and after a year was quite happy to spend the money to make the switch to pressurized.

[Mopedman]

When you say you went to pressurized is that the can of (paintball) Co2? How often do you have to fill that up? How much does it cost? Thanks

[neilanh]

There are paintball systems, like you mentioned, theres also larger systems as well. My system cost me about $170 to fully setup. I run 3 tanks off of mine and change out my tank every ~5-6 months.

[Mopedman]

Are they homemade fairly just as effective as the manufactured kind? Do you have to do much adjusting to them?

[nonameface]

I never thought of a paintball tank, I've got 3 20oz tanks laying around for my spyder. That actually might be a good use for them, I'm going to have to research using a paintball tank a little more, any idea how long 20oz would last in a 29g aquarium?

also are there special "kits" for using paintball tanks? or the same things I'd need for a bigger tank?

[rich311k]

Red Sea Makes a kit for a paintball tank. I know Big Als carries it. I would imagine 6 weeks to 2 months would be about the limit on the amount of gas in one of the cylinders.

[neilanh]

I just won one of the red sea kits in a club raffle. I'm going to run it on my 2.5 gallon once I find a tank for it. We'll see how it goes.

[nonameface]

awesome!

Definately keep us posted on it

Jesse