C02 unit

[Bizbaz]

Hi all I'm Barry from Manchester united kingdom and I'm after some advice on c02 units as I want to plant my tank quite heavily but want everything perfect so was after some recommendations on where to start my tank is around 12 months old I have a fluval 305 and 205 running with gravel substrate and a uv steriliser any advice will be much appreciated thank you

 

[hippy guy]

Well, you will need a drop checker, and a co2 system i use a homemade setup, about 8 bucks, but very unreliable. Others use paintball cp2 tanks, checkers, drop checkers, bubble counters... what exactly do you want to kno?

 

[Bizbaz]

I want to know everything you mentioned in that thread I'm new to plants but really like aquascaping it looks awesome

 

[hippy guy]

Well, it all depends. High light plants require more co2 than low light plants. Are you interested in building your own, or buying a setup?

 

[Bizbaz]

I would build my own but a bit worried about putting too much c02 in the water and killing the fish and don't know how to make them I don't know what plants I want either

 

[fisheyed]

How big is your tank and what lighting system and watts per gallon are you planning on? Fluval makes a great small size co2 system for like 70 dollars, what's that like 35 quid but size of co2 unit all depends on size of aquarium x how much you want to deal with refilling. I have a 5lbs co2 tank and run it on a 60 gallon it lasts me around 3 months before having to refill it. If you decide to go part by part, you will need a tank, a regulator, solenoid, a good needle valve, co2 air tubing, a good bubble counter is highly recommended along with a good drop checker as mentioned earlier.

 

[Bizbaz]

It's 200 litres and running the juwel lights that came with the tank but willing to replace them or buy more if need be I'm gonna go to my lfs this weekend and buy some bits what's a bubble counter

 

[fisheyed]

Ok so then you may like the Fluval system. How many watts is your juwel light? It's important because not enough watts will make it hard for plants to photo synthesize leaving to much excess co2 in your water which could end up being poisonous for plants and fish.

 

[aqua_chem]

I cannot recommend the fluval CO2 system on a tank greater than 60L or so. You'll be going through a lot of the disposable CO2 cartridges, and they'll end up costing more in the long run.



If you're not running high light, than you can simply turn down the CO2. There is no high light requirement to CO2, only a CO2 requirement to high light. Any planted tank will benefit from the addition of a carbon source, CO2 or otherwise.