will my modest set up work?

[Lonewolfblue]

Another thought, Ebay. I'm kind of limited on funds, as I'm spending a lot on the Eco Complete, but I got my whole CO2 setup for only 92.00 on Ebay. UPS should be dropping it off tomorrow. It's the Milwaukee regulator with solenoid, bubble counter, needle valve, and diffuser. And will get the CO2 tank here locally. Just another thought.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Last question, I swear. Is Eco-Grow the best substrate, or is First Layer good enough? I think that's all they have at the store near me. Thanks for the quick help guys

Eco Complete is supposed to be a good substrate, that's why I chose it. But it's costly, especially the shipping, if you can't find it locally.

 

[travis simonson]

Beaucoup = "a lot" en Francais. Just means it may cost a bit for the kit If you really want an accurate reading of your NO3 or PO4 you might consider investing in a LaMotte test kit. I use and love them. They will run you $40-50 for the kit, but you will never have to question your test results. If you're anal about knowing exactly what your NO3 and PO4 sit at you should give them a try. They won't do you wrong

 

[ZakTheRipper]

No, I'm still an aquarium newbie, really, and am not anal about those things. I know enough about chemistry to understand them, but eh, I'm lazy and cheap.

I read up on a DIY CO2 system, and that sounds extremely simple and easy. I'll probably set one up and get the other necessities and plants this weekend.

One other thing though, will simply taking the CO2 airline and putting it into the induction tube for my HOB filter be an adequate way of dispersing the CO2? I imagine I'll have to keep my water levels high to avoid excessive waterfalling of the returning water, but I do that anyway to keep the noise down since it's in my bedroom.

 

[ZakTheRipper]

Also, with this simple setup and my small tank, do any of you think it'd be really necessary to monitor the amount of CO2 going into the tank? How often will I need to replace the gas setup? The recipe I found called for a 2L bottle with 2 cups of sugar, a 1/4 tsp of baker's yeast, a pinch of baking soda, and warm water filled to the top of the label/shoulder. This should last me what, a few months??

 

[Purrbox]

If you're lucky, that particular recipe should last you about two weeks. Alternate the change out of your bottles, and you will be changing one each week. If it lasted several months I think you'd see a lot less people switching from DIY CO2 to Pressurized.

 

[czcz]

(There are some good DIY links you may have missed in the CO2 sticky.)

You can get more than two weeks of total output (maybe a month), but those first two weeks will give nice, high output, and switching the mix early keeps output high, and only takes five minutes or so once you get your routine down As long as you can keep nominal levels above 30ppm, variance in output with DIY is not so important. With your light, suggest you just keep changing bottles on the staggered schedule you may have read about. I used 2 2L in ~15gal of total water with some surface agitation (sump), and with a fert schedule and similar lighting grew whatever I could fit into my tanks. FWIW, I would probably start with the same set-up on a 20g.

You should monitor CO2 levels until, again, you get your routine down, at which point you will find your levels predictable, and then your first indicator of problems will probably be plant health and algae.

One other thing though, will simply taking the CO2 airline and putting it into the induction tube for my HOB filter be an adequate way of dispersing the CO2?

Sure - fwiw, this is noisy and not totally efficient for me. IMO, the efficiency of the diffusor is more important than the mix. An alternative to the HOB is spending 15min and a few bucks on a nice DIY powered reactor covers your bases and lets you focus on making sure the yeast keeps outputting (via mix changes or exotic mixes).

Check out Piscesgirl and Zezmo's mixes in the archvies if you prefer longer lasting but more complicated yeast mixes.

Really, DIY CO2 is only a fraction of the time required for a high light tank. Its very easy to meet your targets with such small volume.

HTH

 

[ZakTheRipper]

cool, cool. thanks for all the help everyone. i might get started this weekend