DIY co2 how much?

[Bk718]

you cant pack in the amount of fish that will get you to the co2 levels your looking for.

look at ahsupply.com for some upgraded lighting. 15w over a 55g isnt much at all. i would look at the 2x55w bright kit.

oding co2 is very hard. with diy extremely hard. when you od on co2 the co2 pushes the o2 out of the water. the fish then cant breath. diy really isnt that helpful over 20-30 gal. you will end up spending more money and time switching out of the bottles. think 4-6 2l bottles.

on your tank there is no need for co2 or ferts. look to get more and better lighting first.

ps the ladder is only good for smaller tanks. 10-20 gal

i got a question.. whats the best way to diffuse the co2 in the tank with the diy setup.. the ceramic diffuser / ladder or powerhead? (this is for a 10g tank) some people have said that the diy setup does not build enough pressure for the bubbles to go through the ceramic..
(Since its more of a diy project i would more or less want to use a powerhead i have laying around and build a diffuser out of that)

 

[Mgamer20o0]

if you have a power head use it. one of the better ways to do it.

 

[jmhart]

i got a question.. whats the best way to diffuse the co2 in the tank with the diy setup.. the ceramic diffuser / ladder or powerhead? (this is for a 10g tank) some people have said that the diy setup does not build enough pressure for the bubbles to go through the ceramic..
(Since its more of a diy project i would more or less want to use a powerhead i have laying around and build a diffuser out of that)

For sure a powerhead is the way to go(I'm assuming you aren't using a cannister filter). As I mentioned, many people will run their co2 into the intake of their canister filter. If no cannister, powerhead is the way to go for sure.

 

[FtwayneFish]

I guess i forgot to mention its a 55gal hex? does that make a diff at all on lighting and whatnot? since its not a long style and has less a foot print
?
ok so maybe ill scratch the 55gal on co2 till i get the extra lighting and see how it goes.

But ive read and read here that it works better on smaller tanks. so i have a 10 gal lightly planted and just like tinkering with something i suppose. and thought it would go better with my mod planted 55 gal.

But what size container for a 10 gal, if i plan to do the porject i will plant it more obvioulsy. it too only has a 15w. which i read is just barely enough.

 

[jmhart]

I see you have a crayfish in your 10g. I've read(I've never had any myself...but want some one day) that they can cause issues with planted tanks. Apparently they will dig up and cut your plants in order to provide cover at the top of the tank. Just what I've read, don't know if it's really true.

Also, check out www.rexgrigg.com especially the section on lighthing. Read about the minimum light threshold. 15W over the 10g should give you something, but people around here would suggest more.

On the 55g hex, yes this would make a difference. The wpg rule tends to apply using t8 bulbs in standard "long" tanks. It deviates on taller tanks, larger volume tanks, smaller volume tanks....you can see how it's really more of a wpg "guideline" than a wpg "rule".

search "10g DIY CO2" I'm sure you'll find some more answers, but I think a 1L soda bottle would work pretty well for your tank. It's not so much the volume of the bottle, but the surface area of the liquid inside the bottle that limits the amount of co2 produced. Look for skinnery bottles.

 

[Sploke]

15w over a 55 is not enough light that the Co2 will really do the plants any good. CO2 is provided as a carbon supplement for plant growth, and its only needed when the plants have enough light to grow fast enough that they will use up all the available carbon in the water and need to be supplemented to maintain that growth. 15w, especially over a typically taller hex-style tank, won't provide that kind of light.

I use a DIY setup on a 10gal tank with 40w of light. I use a 2L soda bottle. As stated before, it is practically impossible to overdose CO2 with a DIY setup. This is due to the lack of efficient diffuser methods. With a pressurized system, you can get diffusers to create much smaller bubbles for better diffusion. You could dump 3 sachets of yeast into a 2L bottle for an explosive ferment, and using a bubble ladder most of it would bubble off anyway.

 

[Squawkbert]

1) agreed - CO2 is not the factor limiting plant growth in your tank, lighting is

2) I use 2x4L DIY CO2 in a 46g tank w/ absolutely CO2 proof tubing and very efficient means of dissolving CO2 (very fine airstone into Eheim 2215 intake), almost no surface agitation, and my drop checker is only occasionally fully green - it's usually sort of borderline blue/green, so I'm probably maintaining ~10 or 12ppm. What I'm saying is don't worry, you aren't going to asphyxiate anything in a 55 w/ 1x 2L DIY CO2.

3) Don't bother shutting off DIY CO2. You won't "save" any of it that way.

4) Once you have better lighting, a drop checker is the best CO2 "test equipment" you can have.

 

[FtwayneFish]

they crayfish "roots" a bit everywhere. in my 5 gal he would dig up the fake plants and hide under the ugly plastic dishes. i had one in each back corner.

but ive always had floating hornwort too.

in the new 10 gal i have a lil rock on the left corner fake plant so he wont up root. and in the right back corner i built a cave he loves. he moved the moss ball around in each tank. and eats/ shreds the java moss in each tank. he leaves the hornwort alone from what i can see. havnt gave him too many plant options i suppose. and ive always had cover.

as with the lighting. ill scratch the 55g till i get more watts. and i might try it with my 10g when i get more plants and swap out the fakes.

 

[FtwayneFish]

does anyone know what size container that i'd use for a 5g 15w and 10g 15w that....

would last the longest.
wouldnt be too much and kill the fish or shrimp.

does anyone know the mixture ratio for a 20oz pop bottle?

and does anyone have a ballpark wpg for a 55g---- hex?
i know its 110w or 2.2wpg for 55g standards.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

2 liter will be fine on a 10 gal. look for a 1 liter bottle for the 5 gal. you need to get all your questions together and ask them in one spot. it will help everyone if all the info was together.