Fizz Factory?

[jahpooti]

I picked up one of these recently only because it was on clearance, and was wondering what the value of it was. It seems somewhat dubious to me, but thought what the heck I'll try it out.

It's a device made by a company with a name that starts with "J" (just in case they don't care for my post). Basically, its a clear plastic box that attaches to the inside of the tank with suckers, and connects to a small canister. The "fizz tablet" is placed in the cansiter and delivers CO2 to the box in the tank, all at once not gradually.

I'm keeping a *very* close eye on the pH in my tank, and will yank the thing out at the first sign of trouble. Seems that it would be very difficult to keep the CO2 concentration constant like this. Would a DIY 2-liter work well hooked up to this contraption? I'm apparently pretty close to the target level of CO2 already, so I only need to raise it 10ppm or so

If anyone has any experience with this product, or any other thoughts please share

55 gallon
160 watts DIY lighting, plant lights and 'day-deluxe' 6500K
pH 7.0
KH 3.0
ammonia, nitrites 0
nitrates near 0 (will be using PMDD)
penguin 125 and AC250 filters
Newly planted, val, crypts, swords, rotala, some others
8 cardinals, 2 dwarf clown plecs, 1 bolivian ram, 1 apisto

 

[125gJoe]

Welcome Aboard! You will find all kinds of great advice here!!

It seems like you have plenty of light wattage for CO2 injection. Initial costs seem high, but it's Well Worth It! There are many here that use DoItYouself CO2 too....

 

[Cichlid Woman]

I tried it, and really liked what it did--but I had to add two many tablets to keep it there (2 a day--gets expensive). My 38-gallon tank has a GH of 12 and pH of 7.8. I think that's why I had to keep the tablets constantly in there. If you start from a lower pH and/or a smaller tank, I think it would probably work fine. (I didn't much care for the plastic box sitting in my tank, though.) Good luck with it. You've got a large tank--how many tablets do you have to use? Also, after a few days, my pH settled at 7.4 and stayed there, with the tablets. Again, probably because of my water parameters.

-- Pat

 

[lorax]

The way that thing works is to trap the CO2 in the box, and let it naturally filter into the water. If you hook up a DIY bottle the CO2 will constantly bubble up over the edge and you wont get it filtering into the water. You need to make a reactor for the co2, or run it through a powerhead. But for a 55G you should probably have either a CO2 System, or 2 2litre bottles DIY.

 

[djlen]

I'm using 4 - 2 liter bottles on my 55 gallon. I connect the hoses together with a "T" connector and run one of the sets into a power head and the other set into an aqua clear 300 filter. And this system is just enough to keep my pH at 6.5 in a low light tank. If you can afford it, I would definately go with pressuized as DIY is ok for smaller tanks, but IMO, not suitable for a large tank. Yes, you can get by with less CO2, but before I started using 4 bottles I had a big-time algae problem. Now the plants seem to be out-competing the algae for the nutrients.
As soon as I can afford it, I will be picking up a regulator and will go pressurized.
Len