DIY CO2 or something cheap?

I got the Carbo+ unit.

I was going to get the full Duplo CO2 kit but Carbo+
is cheaper and what really sold me on it
was the size of it.

I was VERY unhappy with the price of the replacement
Carbon blocks. But the price has dropped and you can
get them now for U$20.

Now they are meant to last 2 Weeks on FULL blast
for a 240L Aquarium (44G) (which is the max the unit
can be used on.
However, you can DOUBLE this to 4 weeks because
you only need it during your light cycle when your
plants actually need it.

I am running it at 20% in 80L (17G) Aquarium.
According to my calculations I should be able
to run it for about 4 months or so for U$20.

When I get a larger tank 88G or so, I will get CO2.
But I wont buy DUPLA who are owned by Israeli company
now called RED SEA. Im sorry but I dont support with my money regimes who ignore over 30 UN resolutions
and have weapons of mass destruction.
 
All the pictures on the www.sfbaaps page of my tanks are DIY CO2. I think I can do that pretty well and can do very well with the gas systems also.
Cleaning algae when that DIY recharge is forgotten and you spend a good deal of time digging algae from the tank.

Everyone forgets at some point to do the DIY recharge and it often results in an algae issue.

Then gas CO2 seems pretty nice.
DIY'er are the most common and highest % of folks with algae issues. That says something right there.

But let's look at this person's goals here which was what the post is about. They are looking for something better than a DIY set up. A gas system is the next step up.

How much for gas system RTR?

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Roughly 150.00 is not bad to piece together a pressurized system and I like the fact that the costs down the line are going to balance things out. I guess one other question I have with regards to the CO2, am I going to need an increase in light and supplements to accompany this? With the current tank setup I have ( Eclipse 2) there really isn't an option of adding additional light. Granted, it would be good as I go forward pending a larger tank with plants in the future. Another thing that scares me is algae issues with DIY. My tank/s is fairly pristine right now with the rare minor spots of algae. The plants don't look super lush like like magazine quality, but they are growing fairly steady at a rate I can keep up with. Am I answering my own questions here?;) Maybe I shouldn' t try and fix it if it isn't really broke huh? If I do go large ( 72 gal + ) I know the route I will take should I have plants. Thanks for all your help everyone, I really value your opinions!

steve
 
When you inject CO2, you don't have to increase lighting. In that case, lighting will be your limiting growth factor. CO2 is just there to help your plants to grow better.

HTH
-Richer
 
S-
If you plan on a larger tank and going for it, then the gas set up will please you. If you stick with what you have now, that's fine for the 20 gal. If you have one 20 gal tank and it's doing okay, I'd not mess with it.

If you add more CO2 to the 20 later it'll help the tank generally. You might need to do a weekly 40-50% water change and dose some macro nutrients back in afterwards, but the effect of this will greatly enhance the tank and growth even if you do NOT increase the lighting.

Your tank will be limited as it should be, by the amount of light. You can add more light if you wish say up to 2-3w/gal range but that's plenty to grow any plant. You'll need to daose 2-3x a week then and if you have less than 2w/gal once a week after the water change works pretty good.
For a 20 gallon after a water change:

KNO3 1/4 teaspoon
K2SO4 1/4 teaspoon
Traces 5mls
KH2PO4 a couple of rice grain's worth.

If you add more light(2w/gal or above), add this same amount 2x a week instead of once. You don't need to add the K2SO4 the second time, just once a week
Plant heavy.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Thanks...excellent information!! It's great to get "real world" experience from people here , to eliminate trial and error. I will see how things go over the next couple months and if I have any further questions I will no doubt come back here for some help. Muchas Gracias...

steve
 
Well, you still need the experience.
Even the best informed/on the ball new person has their ups and downs.

Richer-
No you do not have to increase light at all. Even at low light, the benefits of CO2/carbon source enrichment are very great.

I firmly believe folks do much better at 2 w/gal with CO2 vs 3-4w/gal with CO2.

You have much better results and less critical error. Less dosing etc and the plants look good as well. It also means slower growth and less pruning etc.

So for folks that assume incorrectly that CO2 automatically means lots of mainteance, well..........you are mistaken greatly.

Plant choice alone plays a large role there. CO2 improves plant _health_, which is somewhat different than plant _growth_. I don't want Crappy fast growth but do desire slower healthy growth.

For more info, I have some threads floating around on low light + CO2 enrichment. Claus from tropiuca found similar result independently and did a more thorough job and has a nice write on their site about CO2.

I did not clean my glass on a 55 gallon tanks with 80 watts 4 inches of flourite etc, CO2 20-30ppm, regular dosing once weekly(NPK, traces) 50% weekly water change, for over 6 months, not any algae ever.
Did not need to prune much etc. I spent about 1/2 hour a week on it. Plants looked wonderful.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I did not clean my glass on a 55 gallon tanks with 80 watts 4 inches of flourite etc, CO2 20-30ppm, regular dosing once weekly(NPK, traces) 50% weekly water change, for over 6 months, not any algae ever.
Click to expand...

Sounds alot like my setup....but I think my jumbo sized driftwood and fish-load create quite a bio-load.

What was the fish-load in your tank?
 
Plaintbrain - perhaps you misread my post, I did infact say you do not need to increase lighting to benefit from CO2. I have a low light tank running on CO2 as well =)

-Richer
 
Yep, my bad.
We all on the same page then.

S- high fish load, 50 shrimps, 30 Card's , 30 Rummy's, 7 cories, some ottos.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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