nano tank and CO2

[longbrro]

hey guys.....i have new tanks ....one 180L and one small (nano )..

i need some advice about co2....how should i do it and when and why ?

 

[BigJim]

Are these tanks planted? There's no point in adding CO2 if you don't have live plants.

How: For a small tank, you could go with either DIY or pressurized CO2. DIY is messy and cheap to start. Pressurized has a high buy-in cost, but it's cheaper in the long run.

When: After you have live plants. CO2 isn't necessary in low-light setups, but it's still beneficial. If you've got a lot of light, you'll need CO2.

Why: Plants are made of a lot of carbon. They need a supply of carbon to grow. CO2 provides the carbon. Plants need a balanced diet. Without the carbon, plants can't use other fertilizers as effectively, which opens the door for opportunistic algae to grow and muck up the tank.

 

[Faile]

How small is your nano? When you get into the really small aquariums, it's often much easier and nearly as beneficial to dose Excel instead of injecting CO2.

 

[longbrro]

30 liter tank with plants

it is 30 liter tank and yes it is planted.....i have the tetra compressed bottle......do i need to inject the co2 to the tank everyday ????.......does the co2 room have to be full everyday ???

anyone have tried the DIY co2 generator ( yeast and some sugar and a bottle )????.

 

[longbrro]

the tank

see this is my small tank

 

[Faile]

That's the first I've seen of the Tetra CO2. No idea how frequently you'd need to fill it, but the goal would be to keep your CO2 levels at 30ppm. Depending on the price of that bottle, it could easily be more cost effective to use Excel.

 

[BigJim]

I've never seen that system in the US and I can't find it for sale anywhere. How does the system work? Do you have to manually press a button to inject CO2 or does it release the gas continuously after the bottle has been tapped? How long does a bottle last? It's interesting, but I question it's cost effectiveness.

A full-scale pressurized CO2 system uses a bottle full of high-pressure CO2. A regulator and solenoid are used to adjust the amount of CO2 released. The solenoid is an on-off switch, the regulator is more like a valve. A bubble counter is used as the measuring device for how much CO2 is entering the tank. Most people put their solenoid on a timer to open when the lights come on and shut off when the lights go off.

Yeast-based DIY systems work fairly well on small tanks. The drawback is the volume of CO2 produced is very irregular and pressurized systems are cheaper in the long run.