DIY vs. Paintball

Michwol42795

Michwol42795

CanTANKerous
Dec 28, 2009
1,372
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Chattanooga, TN
Recently i decided to transition my 29 gallon tank to live plants. I have a 150 watt metal halide bulb and im trying to decide on a co2 system. I have a paintball gun so i already have a paintball co2 canister, i was wondering if i should spend the money to get a regulator or make a DIY co2 system. ideas?
 
So should I use a different container and buy a regulator for that? I dont have very many plants and i have the tank fairly heavily stocked, use a good amount of fertilizer, and perform daily water changes, so i was thinking i wouldn't need too much co2 which is why i was leaning towards a DIY instead of the pricey regulator.
 
Use DIY and save yourself a lot of money.If you ever decide to upgrade,get a standard CO2 regulator. I have both,paintball,and standard.The less you have to re-fill the CO2,the better.
 
Michwol42795 said:
Recently i decided to transition my 29 gallon tank to live plants. I have a 150 watt metal halide bulb and im trying to decide on a co2 system. I have a paintball gun so i already have a paintball co2 canister, i was wondering if i should spend the money to get a regulator or make a DIY co2 system. ideas?
Click to expand...

you are kidding right? you are using a 150watt metal halide and plan to use a sugar/yeast setup for co2?

.............
 
150watt over 30 gallon is close to 5wpg assume you have ok reflectors , and meta halide lightings are more intense than cf. With that setup, you will be high tech high growth and requires the same level of co2 (high bubble rate) and nutrient dosing to balance things out, otherwise algae will be the primary plants in your tank.

A sugar and yeast solution is simply not sustainable long term with that setup, unless you like changing the mixture bottles every week.

Get some nutrient sponge plants like hornwort and anacharis initially, even if you dont want them, float them around in the tank until you get a handle on the balance.

5WPG is not an easy setup....
 
i agree, you will need some sort of pressurized system (paintball or regular) with that much light. 5 wpg is ALOT of light to be using diy co2
 
I agree if you go CO2 then get pressurized.

if you decide paintball get the largest container they have ( I believe 24 oz is currently the largest) you will need to refill about every 3-4 weeks tho so get mutiple tanks.
or drop it and go large system.

I currenly have a paintball system with 4 tanks the biggest issue I have is finding a paintball store tha can fill the tanks
next up regular system
 
I already got some anacharis and a paintball system wont be a problem since we already have paintball canisters. I just need a regulator for it. Ive never had such a high lighting aquarium before so thanks for the info. Do you think fish like oto cats would help clear up any algae?
 
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