Newbie questions

[fishygurl]

Soon, (hopefully for Christmas, if not for Christmas, then in January) i will be getting a new lighting system for my 24 gallon tank. There will be two 24 watt bulbs, plus the 1 15 watt i already have. I plan on getting the hagen c02 system. Will this be ok and what kinds of plants could i keep under these conditions?

[malkore]

I started to reply to this, then got tied up on the phone til after-hours.

You'll have a little over 2wpg, so you can keep most medium light plants. I don't think the hagen [acronym:16b094f8bf="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:16b094f8bf] system will produce enough [acronym:16b094f8bf="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:16b094f8bf] for your size tank. You'd be better off just buying the diffusing ladder for $10, and a couple juice bottles instead of the 10oz. canister they give you. Its just too small for anything but a 10gallon, unless you have extremely soft water...and even then...

Make sure you read the stickies. Your setup will require some fertilizing to keep the plants happy.

[Simpte]

I concur. You will have a nice selection of plants to choose from but the ladder is the only useful part of the kit for your tank size.

[malkore]

I think at drsfostersmith.com you can order the ladder and the [acronym:e9ed6a527c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:e9ed6a527c] grade tubing for $10-$12. the tubing is pretty good stuff too, but I admin I only use [acronym:e9ed6a527c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:e9ed6a527c] grade on my 75. The 20gallons have plain silicone tubing.

[fishygurl]

First of all, i do have very soft water. Second what do you mean a ladder and a couple of juice bottles?

[Purrbox]

Malkore is talking about using the ladder from the Hagen Kit, which can be bought separately, and setting it up with [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:d350d9d7d3] [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:d350d9d7d3]. Basically the Hagen Kit is [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:d350d9d7d3] [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:d350d9d7d3] in a pretty package. The problem is that the reactor isn't big enough to keep up with larger tanks.

Here's a great article that covers all aspects of setting up a [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:d350d9d7d3] [acronym:d350d9d7d3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:d350d9d7d3] system. I couldn't get it to open when I wrote this message, but hopefully the page will be back up later.

[fishygurl]

I read that, but i dont understand it, one system they show uses a power head and 3 bottles while another uses only 2 bottles. Is this how to make it?
Drill hole in the cap of bottle, and insert 1/4" tubing into hole
Fill bottle with the yeast solution
run the tube from the bottle into an empty bottle
run another tube out of the empty bottle
run that tube to the tank and place by filter inlet or run it to a reactor

Now, where does the ladder fit in and what does the gas seperator do?

[malkore]

the ladder is the reactor.

Let me clear up a few terms: reactor gets used to describe the jug with yeast, water and sugar...but also gets used to describe certain methods of diffusing the [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681] gas into the tank water. Usually reactor means the diffuser is powered with a pump.
To keep things straight, I try to call the jug of yeast/water a '[acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681] generator' just to avoid the confusion.

The ladder is a diffuser to get the [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681] in the water. Its a passive reactor...no pump or water flow powers it...the bubbles merely slide up an ingenious little angled ladder, slowly diffusing into the water. By the time the bubble of [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681] gets to the top, its about 9x smaller than it was when it entered the ladder, which if you are good with math, turns out to be almost 90% dissolve rate. Thus very little [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681] is wasted.

The gas separator is the second bottle...the empty bottle. Although really, what you should do is fill it with water so the airline coming in is submerged adn the one that exits to your diffuser is NOT submerged. This way the water traps the other gases created by the [acronym:ce36295681="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:ce36295681] generator, as well as airborne yeast spores (which turn into a white, snot like substance all over your diffuser if you don't install a separator. its harmless, but it can plug up your diffuser quickly).

Now, about reactors/diffusers: You can use a [acronym:ce36295681="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:ce36295681] filter to diffuse your [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681]. AquaClear's are teh best [acronym:ce36295681="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:ce36295681] because they are reliable [acronym:ce36295681="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:ce36295681]'s, and don't airlock easily. Just stick the airline into the bottom of the intake.
Now, I've only done it that way using pressurized [acronym:ce36295681="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:ce36295681]. It should be ok for [acronym:ce36295681="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:ce36295681], but if in doubt, get the ladder diffuser...ti won't do you wrong.

[fishygurl]

Are their different types of reactors? The ladder is the same price as the whole hagen kit! Whats a bubble counter? IT looks very similar to the ladder.

[fishygurl]

IM talking about the plant grow bubble counter.