CO2 SYSTEM - Seeking Advice & Suggestions

[Aaron]

The addition of CO2 will certainly enable you to use your original lighting scheme.

[Bgssamson]

I am wondering why so little space? isn't it this is 65g tank? unless you are using the other space for other purposes? with that big of a tank if you use lets say a paintball size co2 you will need to refill often and refilling with that size is almost the same price filling 5, 10 or larger lbs. I know here in Springfield is!

-Brian

[Tyger]

That wood is pretty cool. Where did you find it?

Believe-it-or-not, I spent about a month looking through eBay and found the four pieces, each being solid as sets of two, from the same seller. I was fortunate that the auctions where listed under terrarium taxidermy which kept the bidding at a reasonable rate. What appealed to me most was the combination of beautiful spires and towers and lots of natural holes which are favorites of the amano and cherry shrimp, celestial dianos, hi-fin-lyretail sword, and tiger hillstream loach.

I never asked the seller her reasons for listing them under terrarium and texidermy though my ventured guess is the wood was dry and even after four weeks of soaking did not stay submerged. It was actually a bit of a battle to get it to sink. First, I ordered slate from a company that sells slate for arts-and-crafts though the slate was 1/3" and could not hold the two paired sets down (each had it's own large piece of slate). I wanted to stick with slate for water chemistry purposes and I got pretty lucky... a local pool table company had gone out of business and had several broken pool tables by the dumpster - pool table tops are slate so I found and cleaned-up two huge pieces about 1-inch thick, which worked out even better as I used two different sized drill-bits to create a beveled insert for the stainless steel screws so the heads would not rest on the glass bottom of the tank. Anyway, I had a friend with a wet-saw cut them to size and their you go.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to know... .

~Tyger~

[Rick Dotson]

I agree with just about everything said.

Two things I wanted to stress:

1) Milwakee regulators will dump and kill your tank. I have killed Mary's tank twice and mine once. Her tank is 6 gallons so it was affected a lot more but when my 20 Ib tank dumped on my 70 I still lost fish. We have switched to the good regulators sold on Greenleaf Aquarium and they a hold both pressure and bubble count beautifully. Like Arron said you could buy the parts and assemble yourself but any leaks and you have to refill your tank. So if you are good with fittings and teflon tape go for it.

2) Get the biggest CO2 tank you can afford and hide. After the first couple of refills it is a pain to have to plan a trip to the gas distributor.

Good Luck and Welcome to the hobby.

Rick Dotson

[Ltrepeter2000]

It is especially a pain since most of the Gas distributors are only open on weekdays during business hours. I got lucky my latest coincided with a holiday they were open for.

[Rick Dotson]

It is especially a pain since most of the Gas distributors are only open on weekdays during business hours. I got lucky my latest coincided with a holiday they were open for.

And they close at 5 o'clock.

With a 20 Ib tank I only have to refill about every 18 months.

[Tyger]

Well, I think that I have the message - go with the biggest possible size tank . Unfortunately, I am limited in space (see pictures).

On the good news front, I followed a link (from GWAPA, I believe) to www.brew.burp.org that provided a list of places for CO2 refills and hydrotesting (Map). So, I believe I have Roberts Oxygen in Annapolis & Glen Burnie as nearby options. Laurel Bottled Gas Company looks has a combination of decent prices for refills and hydrotesting and operates on Saturdays & Sundays (Mon-Sat 8a-5p & Sun 10a-4p). I work at a clinic and so have 2-days a week I work 11:30a-8:00p. So, for the time being, hours of operation are less of an issue.

Given space limitatios and hassle of refills, I am not sure I can do much about the expense though it sounds like building-up to a supply of 2-3 tanks might not be a bad idea. I know the cost to refill will be higher though refilling 2 2.5lb while the 3rd is in operation might do the trick (as storing tanks outside of the bedroom is more of an option than equipment sprawl ).

~Tyger~

Aquarium Stand (Space in Pictures - Center Stand Is Open Shelf Space):

Aquarium Stand (Storage Space For Tank & Inline Reactor):

[jcali10]

If that were my stand, I would remove the shelf on the right side. It may be a bit of a hassle now that your tank is set up and all. You can always hang some kind of inexpensive wire shelving like the ones that are used inside kitchen cabinets, on the inside of your doors to hold your misc bottles and stuff. That would make better use of the space as well.

[tug]

Hi all,

If you keep the light as is, but add CO2 you should still get about five times the growth under the same amount of light. More light would create a higher demand for nutrients/CO2, so you are right to start low and work your way up slowly when it comes to CO2.

"At low light and low CO2 there is not much energy to play around with for up or down-regulation of the pools of Chlorophyll or enzymes. If we then add a little more CO2 to the system the plant can afford to invest less energy and resources in CO2 uptake and that leaves more energy for optimizing the light - more Chlorophyll can be produced without fatal consequences from the energy budget. Hence, we have not raised the light and the plants can now utilize any available light - more efficiently." - Tropica

Tropica's study on Riccia and the affect of resource availability on growth.

Diagram courtesy of John LeVasseur


The other thing I would suggest is you rethink the 24/7 CO2. I don't see the advantage when you will get the same results if you turn on the CO2 an hour or two before the lights come on and shut it off at night but what ever you decide, slow and steady wins the race. Don't forget the need for O2 in your zeal to raise the levels of CO2.

Some additional links you might find helpful.
CO2 and light
http://www.tropica.com/advising/technic ... light.aspx
A Primer for Pressurized CO2
http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... urized-CO2
Two Stage Regulators
http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... Regulators
Gerry's regulator build thread
http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... ild-thread

[Tyger]

Folks,

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all the great advice. I am happy to provide the following update.

• CO2 Regulator: I purchased a Victor 2-Stage High Purity Regulator (HPT279B-2​50) fitted with CGA-320 with reducer bushing (1/4" to 1/8") shipped unattached. I was fortunate enough to find a used regulator in great shape at the cost of a cheap-o set-up and given the life span of these medical grade two-stagers I will be set for more than a handful of years.
• CO2 Tank: I am convinced by your advice on size of CO2 Tank (and am looking at 5-lb to 10-lb depending on what fits under cabinet with regulator attached. In terms of space, I am hoping to put the tank in the opposite cabinet (fingers crossed).
• Needle Valve: Although I have not purchased a needle valve, I am looking at a Fabco NV-55 (given the regulator is medical grade two-stage no worries about end of the tank dump though still a need for low count, fine adjustment in a needle valve).

Of course, I am at a complete loss as to what fitting I need to get me from here to there (regulator or bushing to tubing) though I am working on that side of things.

~Tyger~

Discussion Link-Over : GWAPA (Thread #4247)