Anyone ever use Fluval CO2 setup?

[PJFISH]

Just bought the Fluval CO2 small tank setup. It's coming next week, has anyone ever used it and if so, how well does it work?

 

[Rivercats]

I don't know what size tank you have but honestly that isn't a good CO2 system. You will end up spending a lot of money on refills and IMO they aren't that efficient. Depending on the size tank, your lighting, the type of plants you have you might want to look into doing DIY CO2, a smaller paintball CO2 system, or even higher dosing liquid carbon such as Metricide 14 daily.

 

[PJFISH]

I don't know what size tank you have but honestly that isn't a good CO2 system. You will end up spending a lot of money on refills and IMO they aren't that efficient. Depending on the size tank, your lighting, the type of plants you have you might want to look into doing DIY CO2, a smaller paintball CO2 system, or even higher dosing liquid carbon such as Metricide 14 daily.

Oh boy, guess I should've researched it further. I use Excel now, is there a way to up the dosage to mimic a CO2 system? I have a 30 gal tank with T5HO lamps with10,000/6,700 bulbs

 

[Rivercats]

You can dose 1ml liquid carbon to every 2 gallons of water and even work up to 1ml of liquid carbon to every 1 gallon of water if you have high light. I'd personally return the Fluval system and save up for a nice paint ball system.

Also you can get a gallon of Metricide 14 Day Solution for around $20 online. It's double the strength of Excel so you have to half the doses above if you use it straight from the bottle. Also throw the small activator bottle away as you never want to use it. I ran my 220g 100% planted tank for well over a year on high dosing of liquid carbon with great success. Just be sure to use proper ferts and don't run lighting too long to avoid algae issues.

 

[Coyne]

I asked a similar question when I purchased my Fluval CO2 setup and got a similar answer from Rivercats.... And she was correct. I ended up having to buy a 3-pack of the CO2 refills every 5-6 weeks. At $18 each, I spent more money in the long run than if I had just purchased a "paintball" systems in the first place (which is what I ended up doing last month anyway).

If you can, then I would recommend returning it and putting the money toward a better set up. My 20oz paintball CO2 tank was $20 (plus $8 to get it filled locally), and the Aquatek regulator was $90. Look in Amazon or EBay.

 

[PJFISH]

I asked a similar question when I purchased my Fluval CO2 setup and got a similar answer from Rivercats.... And she was correct. I ended up having to buy a 3-pack of the CO2 refills every 5-6 weeks. At $18 each, I spent more money in the long run than if I had just purchased a "paintball" systems in the first place (which is what I ended up doing last month anyway).

If you can, then I would recommend returning it and putting the money toward a better set up. My 20oz paintball CO2 tank was $20 (plus $8 to get it filled locally), and the Aquatek regulator was $90. Look in Amazon or EBay.

Thanks, though I'm not sure what a paintball system is and if I could do it myself

 

[Sf1]

Any advantage of paintball system versus Excel?
How about surface agitation? It will affect paintball system and make co2 disappeared?

 

[Coyne]

a "paintball" system is just an injection CO2 setup, but using the smaller CO2 canister that is sometimes used in playing paintball.
The paintball canister takes up less room and is typically less expensive to purchase than, say, a 5lb CO2 canister. This is nice if its hooked up to a smaller aquarium and/or space is limited.

 

[Rivercats]

Any advantage of paintball system versus Excel?
How about surface agitation? It will affect paintball system and make co2 disappeared?

During the day when CO2 is running you want little surface agitation as that will indeed gas off the CO2 your adding. The advantage of CO2 over Glutaraldehyde (Excel, Metricide 14, API CO2 Booster) is you will get faster, fuller growth. Glut, liquid carbon will give plants give a big leg up over not using anything and will increase growth and photosynthesis but not as much as CO2. I run tanks with CO2 and some with just Liquid Carbon.

 

[Sf1]

During the day when CO2 is running you want little surface agitation as that will indeed gas off the CO2 your adding. The advantage of CO2 over Glutaraldehyde (Excel, Metricide 14, API CO2 Booster) is you will get faster, fuller growth. Glut, liquid carbon will give plants give a big leg up over not using anything and will increase growth and photosynthesis but not as much as CO2. I run tanks with CO2 and some with just Liquid Carbon.

Thanks

But with good surface agitation (2 HOBs over the tank) CO2 is worthless?