C02 ?

[ZenKitty]

I was reading about the importance of C02 in planted tanks and looked at some C02 systems on Dr. Foster & Smith....WOW, I didnt expect them to be that expensive! Then I saw the systems that use fizz tabs...Are these a good (cheap) alternative or worthless??
Heres the one I was looking at:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8981&N=2004+113219

 

[TankGirl]

I would consider the fizz tabs to be just about worthless.

The Hagen unit in your link is one that you will see in many a planted tank, and that diffuser is a very nice way to get the gas into your tank. What size tank do you have? You could skip the bottle and find someone selling just the diffuser (should be under $10) and use a soda bottle for making the CO2. Depending on how big your tank is, this method is cheap and should work well for you. The packets Hagen sells are simply dry yeast and some baking soda (stabilizer) - these things can be had for cheap at the grocery store.

Do a google on Hagen ladder diffuser or something similar and see if there is a retailer selling them by themselves, or someone on Aquabid or ebay is likely selling them. Or you can post in our Barter/Trade forum and get one from another AA member.

 

[TankGirl]

Oh - can't believe I forgot this - before injecting CO2 measure your KH and your pH. CO2 can cause your pH to crash if your KH is low, so hopefully it is not and you can go ahead. If it is, there are ways to raise it, but that will need to be stable and easily integrated into your maintenance schedule before you inject CO2. Once you start CO2 then you use KH and pH to measure how much CO2 (ppm) is getting into the tank. Your pH will fall with CO2 injection.

 

[vega]

"The packets Hagen sells are simply dry yeast and some baking soda (stabilizer) - these things can be had for cheap at the grocery store. "

The stabalizer is NH4 base chemical. I think probabily NHx-Cl (x cause not sure the number).

HTH

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks for the correction, vega, I am misinformed! I still don't think it is worth the $ to buy those packets. If you have reasonably hard water you don't need the stabilizer, anyway.

 

[vega]

Agree.

1 pack of hagen = >1 year DYI sugar/yeast/baking soda cocktail.

 

[malkore]

and if you wanna mimic the stabilizer more accurately, go to any homebrew store/website and buy a tube of yeast energizer, like Wyeast brand...for a few bucks.