REQ: Most appropriate CO2 Setup 16g

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Jan 1, 2008
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I have a relatively small setup although it seems to look much bigger - a 16 gallon bowfront which has about 3-4 inches of substrate (holds down a bunch of driftwood along with rocks nuder the gravel. Total is probably around 12-13 gallons of actual water. I've got a good number of plants in there, a bunch of which I'm going to replace with fresh ones I just ordered.

The challenge is what to do with CO2, since it seems it's a must to stop algae growth and provide an appropriate amount of essentials to your plants. I have a 15 or 16 watt standard bulb which I can always upgrade to a 26 or 28 watt replacement which I bought. Even with the 15w I get enough algae to keep two Otocinclus constantly occupied.

Right now I'm just using the leftover bottle from my Red Sea starter kit for CO2 and using a standard airstone to dissipate bubbles. Every once in a while I'll shake the cannister and it will bubble like crazy, etc. Works for what it is but is obviously not the best.

I'd like to do this right and I don't care if it costs me $100 or so to get a decent CO2 system that is easy and requires minimal maintenance. I don't care to screw around with bottles, glue, etc. and I read about paintball cartridges, cannisters, etc. It's a small tank. I don't want to get a system that's twice the size of the tank! I was wondering what you guys might suggest as a setup that would be appropriate for a tank about this size. I do have room under the stand to perhaps keep the CO2 cartridge. Also need it to be easy to obtain a replacement.

I do see a bunch of the Hagen and other ones which have their own catridges which promise yearly replacement. Regardless of other factors, if I got just one replacement cartridge, I'd be set for 2 years. I just hope it's refillable in case the company decides to discontinue the product, hence the desire to be more "standard." I think I saw these systems at bigals or drfoster. Thanks in advance to all commenters.
 
Anyone have ideas? I'm about to get something, just not sure what. The guy in the store swears that a single 1 liter Red Sea system works magic on their 12 gallon and should be fine for my 16. I'd prefer not to go this route if there is better for something in an economical reach, e.g. 100-200.
 
if you don't mind the look you can just have a DIY injector. I use a 2L bottle for my 10 gallon tank, in the beginning i actually over saturate my tank so i reduce the amount of yeast i used for my next batch.

hopefully someone with experience with different brand of co2 injector can give you some tips soon
 
i have a 15gallon that I did DIY for a while with but now I'm using a pressurized system and I couldn't be happier. Yes it's a little pricey, but for someone like me who has a rather hectic schedule being able to leave the system on a timer and not having to worry about changing the mixture every 2 weeks is worth the $130 or whatever. In the long run (like, the real long run lol) pressurized is cheaper if you figure how much you're paying for sugar / yeast. But you won't see that break even for a couple years I would think.

so yeah, I would suggest pressurized. your plants will thank you :thm:
 
DGalt - what do you use? That's exactly my line of thinking. I see the suggestion of the Milwaukee, etc. I just don't know about taking time and expense to mix, match, ship every one of these parts from all over the place and also hope I have the right one. I just want a simple, compact system that doesn't look too awkward and get it done. As it's only a 16g and I probably won't go above a 20g or 24g at any point, something compact, quality and that is easy to refill as needed is good. I've just seen a few sytems and not sure whether they are worth it, e.g. drfostersmith has a few. I don't know whether paintball or regular cannisters could present challenges, whether I should just get one of those simple Hagen systems with cartridges that allegedly need to be replaced once a year, etc.
 
There is no such thing from hagen of a system that has cartridges you change once a year. Hagen has a yeast/sugar thing just like the Red Sea unit that lasts 4 weeks or less.

You are not going to be able to get a COMPLETE pressurized system with every single componant for under $300. A paintball system is a pressurized system, its just much smaller than a regular c02 cannister. Paintball C02 cylinders come in different sizes, the biggest I think are 24 ounces or somewhere around there, which last 4 to 6 weeks. Some are refillable, some are not. You buy them at any sporting goods store. They do NOT come with the regulator kit.

The only paintball c02 regulator is made by Red Sea. You can buy a complete kit that includes everything but the paintball c02 cartridge.
That goes for $179. You can get the same kit with the solenoid for $279

There is a cheaper chinese knock off of the painball regulator out there, but it is sold by itself, not in a kit, so you would have to find the needle valve, check valve, bubble counter, diffusor and solenoid somewhere else. Thats your only alternatives for paintball.

If you want more info, call me.
 
coach_z said:
you can pick up a milwaukee regulator and tubing for 85 from water-testers.com
a 2.5lb tank for like 60 from aquariumplants.com
fill it for 20
and diffuse it through a power head, reactor, glass diffuser, for under 30 bucks.
Click to expand...

This would be the most economical option. The Milwaukee regulator combo comes with pretty much everything you need except the tank. Unless size is a big issue get the largest tank you can afford and hide, pricing from a 2.5g and a 10g tank is quite small.
 
coach_z said:
you can pick up a milwaukee regulator and tubing for 85 from water-testers.com
a 2.5lb tank for like 60 from aquariumplants.com
fill it for 20
and diffuse it through a power head, reactor, glass diffuser, for under 30 bucks.
Click to expand...
:thm::thm::thm:

it is not very difficult at all to piece together.

the $195 (including tax and shipping) system i mentioned will cost you much less than any 'prepackaged' system out there. Or, I can buy all of the stuff make it into a package, mark it up 10% and then sell it to you?
 
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