A new method for CO2?

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This is not a new method. Its a electrolisis method. I read from some site where that this method cause the water para go hairwired.

A check with lfs last time, the metal last for about 3 motnhs in 32gal, n replacement is quit expensive compare to yeast method.

Basically two piece of metal is submerge into tank and the electric current is applied to both metals (like car battery).
HTH
 
As stated it's not new. Also if you have soft water it doesn't work. It strips the kH out of the water and converts it to CO2. And it's much more expensive in the long run than a basic pressurized CO2 system. In fact I can set up a pressurized system for less than what that unit normally sells for.

Regulator $40
Cylinder 5lb filled $50
Needle Valve $12
Bubble counter and reactor ~$5-$15 total. Tubing at the most $3. So for right around $110-$120 I have a pressurized system.
 
In a small tank a block could last many months longer than 8 weeks, I believe. Perhaps almost a year. These carbo units work well. Some folks really like them, but I have heard they are a bit messy and alot more work and expense than setting up a pressurized CO2 setup. The LFS probably likes selling them cause you have to keep buying the carbon blocks, instead of a ten dollar 10lb tank of gas which might last a year or more for a medium sized tank.
 
I have not heard anything good about these units - mainly that they are messy and a lot of work, as betowess mentioned. I would definitely spend my money on pressurized or stick with DIY.
 
there not good iv used a couple and it dosn't do anything but cost ya money. there a huge waste i would never recommend that unit to anyone. its JUNK. :)

8O
 
I think the only reason carbo plus is still in business is due to people thinking they're cheaper due to a lower initial cost...or the poeple that still think pressurized CO2 is some kind of ticking timebomb (which, as we know, is utter nonesense)
 
lol shoot it with like a bebe gun or a real gun of some sort



10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1

:onfire: BOOM!
 
Carbo plus, has a carbon block that makes C02 from the KH in your water. It doesn't make everything screwy, and it not messy at all, but it does take the KH from your water to make C02, so it willl not work in softwater or RO water where there is little KH in the water.

The main problem with them is the maximum amount of C02 you will ever get out of it is around 10ppm. Most peoples target range is between 20 and 30 ppm. The larger your aquarium, the less effective it is. 10 to 30 gallon tanks is best. The blocks last anywhere from 30 to 60 days, and they keep going up in price. They are currently around $30, (just for the carbon block) to replace. If gas intimadates you, then this is an easy solution, but it is very expensive in the long run and does not provide the levels of C02 you may ultimately desire.

Robert Hudson
www.aquabotanic.com
 
Funny how many people shoot for CO2 levels of 30ppm, isn't it Robert! When you consider that according to Chuck Gadd's famous (famous among "plant people", that is) CO2 chart, any CO2 reading above 24ppm is considered "dangerous"!

I maintain CO2 levels around 15ppm personally.

Mike
 
Well, I keep mine around 30ppm. The plants create so much O2 into the tank that the fish are fine. And 30ppm will control and practically eliminate BBA (Black Brush Algae). It is the only thing I have found to combat BBA. I'll give credit to Rex Grigg for this bit of wisdom which he shared with me some time back re:30ppm of CO2.

Sometimes my CO2 has creeped over 45ppm and the fish are still fine, and the pearling is outrageous. Lately I haven't had to scrape any algae off the glass at all, because the plants are out competing so well. But I do have to keep an eye on the KH with that much CO2 injection. Just my experience.
 
I agree, and have tested this as well with what I at first thought was an alarmingly high level of CO2 at 28ppm once, but I could see absolutely nothing different happening with the fish at that concentration so I risked it, and learned later that that was perfectly okay.

Keeping it stable there with DIY is just too much trouble for me so until I get my pressurized set up it is hanging at about 15ppm, but, you called it, Betowess, BBA! :(
 
Going to disagree with you both on this one. :)

There is no exceptional benefit from keeping CO2 levels at 30ppm. Good CO2 levels, again I defer to Chuck Gadd's CO2 Table, in accordance with good lighting, good plant load, proper water parameters, and a set fertilizing regime, will stave off algae. It is a combination of things, a balance. Soley maintaining a CO2 level of 30ppm is not going to do it. The BBA you experienced may have had more to do with your aquarium's finding it's balance than the CO2 levels you were maintaining at the time.

Your previous statements may lead one to believe that, which, in my experience, is not the case. It takes more than one factor to maintain a healthy algae free planted aquarium. I have been running at 15ppm for quite a long time and have never seen a hint of BBA.

Mike
 
Well Mike, I'll have to disagree with you on this one. If you haven't had a hint of BBA, well...

I've had it... out of control. I then followed an experienced aquarist's suggestion to bump my CO2 up to 30ppm and keep it there to control BBA, and voila, it worked! Although not over night. And as I mentioned before, I have a fairly algae free aquarium, at this time, knocking on wood.

I dry fert my tank with potassium sulphate, add Seachem iron occasionally, CSM +B for micro nutrients about 3 times per week, moniter phosphates to a bit below 1ppm if I remember to check, watch my nitrates shooting for 7ppm, keep lights at around plus 3wpg on a 12 hour photo period with a two hour siesta, watch my KH and GH and have 50% water changes weekly or every ten days. I use 100% flourite substrate as well. In short, all the stuff to get the natural balance happening. My plants are flourishing and my fish won't seem to die. And the only thing which controled BBA is CO2 at plus 30ppm. This is just my experience. :) Bob
 
Well that is Chucks interpretation and his opinion, and honestly it is quite far from the norm. I have Chucks graph and calculator on my WEB site, and I do not remember him being that specific about what ppm is best.

Dr. Dave Huebert who wrote Water Plants 101 long before Chuck Gadd states:

CO2 diffuses about ten thousand times slower in water than in air. This problem is compounded by the relatively thick unstirred layer (or Prandtl boundary) that surrounds aquatic plant leaves. The unstirred layer in aquatic plants is a layer of still water through which gases and nutrients must diffuse to reach the plant leaf. It is about 0.5 mm thick, which is ten times thicker than in terrestrial plants. The result is that approximately 30 mg/L free CO2 is required to saturate photosynthesis in submerged aquatic plants.

Now I don't know what 30mg/L translates to ppm, but I think its over 20.

A higher C02 level does benefitr plants and does iincrease growth rate. If you have extremely high light levels, like 4 to 5 watts per gallon you almost have to have 30ppm C02.

Now on the other hand, the old way of thinking in Europe I believe was much more on the low side for C02, like 10 to 15ppm.
 
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