Diy Co2 Plans

Toro Driver

Toro Driver

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May 9, 2003
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Her is my plans for a co2 system for my fifty five gallon freshwater. I have a Emperor 400 for filteration. First I'll upgrade my lights to 2 w/gal. I'm goin to start with DIY co2 production (jello and yeast). For a reactor I'll built the Barr method one discussed in great detail on this forum. To pull water from the tank and through the reactor I was thinking of getting a pump like this one.
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Any input would be appreciated. Also suggestions on intake and discharge tubing or methods would be appreciated.:D
 
I think the biggest limiting factor on your plans is using the Emperor 400. I had one on my 30g tank and could barely keep 10 ppm of co2 with a cylinder based system and 2 bubbles per second even with the E400 always on the low flow rate setting. 10 ppm was helping the plants, but it was very inefficient. That E400 shook the co2 out of the water almost as fast as I could add it. When I used a double 2 liter yeast source, the co2 was even lower and it got pretty frustrating.

After getting the plants fairly well established and taking the fish stock level down a bit, I ditched the E400. I now only have a small prefilter on the powerhead that runs my reactor. No other filtration. If I did put a filter on it, I'd pick up an Eheim 2213 new from ebay for $50 and use it with the return spray bar under the water level. IMO the E400 is a great filter except where you want to add CO2 - I have two of them on a different tank. Taking that thing off your tank will allow you to achieve much better co2 results.

The biggest expense - you'll have to set up another aquarium for that E400.
 
I completely agree with the last post. I also have an Emp 400 on one of my tanks, and even tried using a Penguin 125 on my 20 gal planted tank. I eventually got rid of the thing, since my CO2 concentrations stunk! I now have an Eheim ECCO 2233 and I'm using two Nutrafin Natural plant system CO2 canisters fed into a AC402 powerhead and finally through an active reactor (Gravel vac+sponge method). My CO2 concentrations are just over 30ppm now (all day long). My plants and fish seem very happy, and I'm finally starting to win the war on algae!!:D
 
The Emperors and Penguins are a problem in this way. I had already bought the penguins I still use on my 55 gallon before I realized I was gonna have a problem so I did a simple mod on them which sort of defeats the purpose of the biowheels but at least I didnt' have to buy new equipment to replace new equipment.

I removed the biowheels and attached a sponge on the outflow with a rubber band. Works fine for the mechanical filtration and I suppose my sponges add some biological filtration. I rinse out the sponges weekly in tank water and replace the rubber bands as they decay.

Next time I start up a larger tank, I'll use a canister. :)
 
Wow. Tempest, I tried doing the exact same thing on my 20 gallon, before I finally got rid of my Penguin 125. It is amazing how much CO2 is lost even WITHOUT the bio-wheel. I tried adding an AC300 sponge to the main media chamber and ditching the silly filter pads, too. None of these made any real impact. I even had the water level just above the inside lip of the black trim to cut back on surface agitation.....very dangerous!;)

I finally got a canister and "no worries mate!"
 
Okay-A friend of mines parents had a cabin on the lake. It had one of those cool boat houses were you could pull the boat out of the water and put it in the boat house. On the wall was a sign, Boats-a hole in the water surrounded by wood in which you poured alot of money. Ever get the feeling that fish tanks fit a simular definition. :rolleyes:

I dump the 400 for a canister. I see the recommended one is an Eheim. How about Marineland, Iv'e been impressed with there stuff so far.

Once I get the canister, should I run the two in tandem until the new one is established (cycled).

I'm sick of giving the LFS ten bucks a crack for plants that die, get eaten by the snail or succumb to alge so I realy want to get this goin. I have one amazon sword that is thriving, the rest last just a couple of weeks.
 
If you have some filter pads or filter floss in the E400 now (not the emperor cartridges), you could just put it in your canister filter when you get it, along with the media that goes with the canister. No real need to overlap them then.
 
Thanks for the advice, I just set up a Fluval 304. I'm running it in tandom with the Emperor 400 with the 400 flow turned down until the canister cycles.
 
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