Anyone use one of the new RedSea Co2 units?

Yup from what I can tell, people are having no issues with the Redsea unit. It's expensive on the startup side, but if you need the flexibility of having those smaller CO2 cylinders, it seems to do the trick flawlessly. Here's a user's experience

I believe you can purchase them from aquabuys.com

-John N.

Whats the difference between the paintball and standaed at Big Al's?

Big Al's Red Sea Standard Version

Big Al's Red Sea Paintball Version

From what I can tell it seems Big Als has an error with it's description of the Standard version. The standard version is suppose to fit standard CO2 cylinder valves (CGA 320), and not fit the paintball size valves.

The correct descripition of the Standard version is here:

Red Sea Complete CO2 System Pro Kit

Also, there's the other kit that comes with the solenoid if you need it the ones linked above does not have one included.

-John N.

Thanks John,Thats kinda what I thought also,a misprint

Solenoids allow you to turn off the flow of CO2 at night (when the lights are out, and plants aren't using CO2). This saves CO2 gas, and also keeps the pH from falling throughout the night because the plants aren't converting the CO2 into oxygen.

The solenoid is a magnetic valve that "closes the door" to the CO2 flow from the cylinder to regulator, if you stick its plug on a timer and set it to go off at night. Otherwise, if left plugged in it remains open for continous CO2 flow.

Many people keep their CO2 flowing continously 24/7, whereas others like to prevent the pH swing and save CO2, hence the purchase of a solenoid. If the idea is to use the Red sea system on a small CO2 cylinder, then I would imagine you would want to save CO2.

-John N.

The solenoid kills the flow of CO2. Shutting off the power reactor will minimize how much CO2 dissolves, so that's a possible method to stop driving down the pH at night. The CO2 will be "wasted" at night then but CO2 is cheap. Either of these two methods won't necessarily stop the pH swing.

If keeping discus, you might want to consider investing in a pH controller + solenoid. A pH controller will keep the pH level at a set level, and will use the solenoid to shut off the CO2 when necessary. Here's a rich discussion on the use of a pH controller

Also, I realized that you want to use the Red Sea System because of the fittings to the Paintball cylinders, but for your large tank it's probably easier to get a bigger CO2 cylinder, and then purchase a cheaper regulator like the Azoo from drsfostersmith.com or the Miwaukee / JBJ regulators. That way you can also use the save money to purchase a pH controller for your Discus.

-John N.