Help With BigAls Order
- Thread starter hurricanejedi
- Start date
i'm using the bubble counter right now and it seems to work pretty well the bubbles are almost totally dissolved beofre they get to the top. it takes a while for it to work properly though at first the bubbles don't follow the track i dunno why.
as for an algae scrapper don't bother buying one! just use an old credit card and scrape away.
as for an algae scrapper don't bother buying one! just use an old credit card and scrape away.
I can vouch for the Hagen CO2 system too. You don't have to buy the expensive packets though, yeast and baking soda when you want to save money (there's plenty of recipes for the Hagen lying around the forum, I do believe).
Your setup actually looks pretty compareable to mine with equipment, although I run a smaller heater because I have a 29 gallon. If you're intending to do live plants, make sure you pay attention to lighting too. That's the thing that I kind of ignored for awhile, which didn't help my cause.
I just setup an Eheim 2213 today, and it's working beautifully. Kind of hard to intially setup with all the pipes and stuff, but after you get it working, it's virtually silent which is nice
Your setup actually looks pretty compareable to mine with equipment, although I run a smaller heater because I have a 29 gallon. If you're intending to do live plants, make sure you pay attention to lighting too. That's the thing that I kind of ignored for awhile, which didn't help my cause.
I just setup an Eheim 2213 today, and it's working beautifully. Kind of hard to intially setup with all the pipes and stuff, but after you get it working, it's virtually silent which is nice
I am that excited 
. I've been wanting a fish tank for about 2 years and planning it just as long. Now I can finally do all the things I've been reading about.
. I've been wanting a fish tank for about 2 years and planning it just as long. Now I can finally do all the things I've been reading about.
I feel you. I've been gathering the supplies for a heavily planted 75 gallon tank since December of '04. 20lb CO2 cannister, Eheim filter, 260 Watts light, nutrients, and misc. crap.
*sigh* I should have it going in another month or two.
*sigh* I should have it going in another month or two.
I got the corallife gloves, and I can't feel a blamed thing wearing them, but sakes alive, I do feel a lot better (for my fishes' health) when I have to have the arm in there for an extended time while doing a gravel cleaning. A good rinsing and drying prior to dipping your arm is as good a way to go as any before you put it into your aquarium.
Do not go to the hardware store for epoxies, or even a boat store for polyester monamer and catalyst. Just get the aquarium-safe ones the online pet stores sell.
Since the bowfront is a glass aquarium, get a mag-float. It's just two plastic encapsulated magnets with felt on the outside magnet surface and velcro hooks on the submerged magnet. The piece of velcro hooks does a nice job of safely scraping away algae. They're cheap, and I've got one for each tank. My kids go a little overboard on cleaning the algae...I make sure they leave enough for the oto.
My DIY CO2 setup is a 20 oz. pop bottle (plastic; glass can break) with a tube stuck through a hole drilled through the top, and an airline splice piece jammed in. I pulled the airline through, and the splice expands the tube into the sides of the drilled hole to make an airtight seal. The outlet goes through a check valve and is aimed into the inlet on my HOT Magnum. I get a bubble every 3-6 seconds, and it gets pulled into the uplift tube to get dissolved into the outlet stream of water via the impeller. I think that Hagen counter would be better...my setup is truly a Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) affair, and I got this idea from another amateur at the LFS.
To give you an idea how this small bit of sugar/yeast CO2 can do, a couple weeks of this small bubbling went by, and I finally had to remove one of my amazon swords, cut it into three root sections, trim the leaves and replant them into my big tank. Another of the swords will need pruning soon. It doesn't take much CO2, and I'm a complete amateur. Being a newbie, I'm not sure how much CO2 will harm fish. So far, so good.
v/r, N-A
Do not go to the hardware store for epoxies, or even a boat store for polyester monamer and catalyst. Just get the aquarium-safe ones the online pet stores sell.
Since the bowfront is a glass aquarium, get a mag-float. It's just two plastic encapsulated magnets with felt on the outside magnet surface and velcro hooks on the submerged magnet. The piece of velcro hooks does a nice job of safely scraping away algae. They're cheap, and I've got one for each tank. My kids go a little overboard on cleaning the algae...I make sure they leave enough for the oto.
My DIY CO2 setup is a 20 oz. pop bottle (plastic; glass can break) with a tube stuck through a hole drilled through the top, and an airline splice piece jammed in. I pulled the airline through, and the splice expands the tube into the sides of the drilled hole to make an airtight seal. The outlet goes through a check valve and is aimed into the inlet on my HOT Magnum. I get a bubble every 3-6 seconds, and it gets pulled into the uplift tube to get dissolved into the outlet stream of water via the impeller. I think that Hagen counter would be better...my setup is truly a Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) affair, and I got this idea from another amateur at the LFS.
To give you an idea how this small bit of sugar/yeast CO2 can do, a couple weeks of this small bubbling went by, and I finally had to remove one of my amazon swords, cut it into three root sections, trim the leaves and replant them into my big tank. Another of the swords will need pruning soon. It doesn't take much CO2, and I'm a complete amateur. Being a newbie, I'm not sure how much CO2 will harm fish. So far, so good.
v/r, N-A
Do those floating algae scrapers really work? They just don't seem like they would to me... Do they scratch the glass? I think I"d be more inclined to clean the algea if I didn't have to get too wet 
.
I"m not sure I understand the purpose of the bubble counter. Does it act as a check valve or would I still need to get one of those? Thanks for the explanation of the co2 it definitely looks less scary. I don't think it would be too hard to put together. I'm getting that Eheim canister. Will it have a place for my to plug the co2 directly into it so I don't have to get an air stone?
.I"m not sure I understand the purpose of the bubble counter. Does it act as a check valve or would I still need to get one of those? Thanks for the explanation of the co2 it definitely looks less scary. I don't think it would be too hard to put together. I'm getting that Eheim canister. Will it have a place for my to plug the co2 directly into it so I don't have to get an air stone?
