Kaiote Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Heya, I currently have a 4ft 55g tank that I've been playing with the idea of setting up as a densely planted home for my moonlight gouramis and small school of tetra's. As I have very little knowledge of aquatic plants (my plants didnt do so well with my mbuna for example) I've been spending hours reading up on the forums. My question is whether to go with CO2 in the form of cylinder/regulator, or to find a more "natural" method of getting CO2 into my tank. Specifically, I'm wondering if, rather than a sugar/yeast - bubbler if anyone has tried off-gassing CO2 from a couple carboys of homemade wine into their planted tank. It would be easy to switch out carboys every couple weeks during bottling and pretty much have a constant supply. I'm not sure exactly how much CO2 a 55g planted would need, but I found this link to show how much CO2 the wine kits could generate. http://homewinery.info/blog/2009/06/home-w...xide-emissions/ I plan on reading up on this more, but any thoughts or input would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 The trick would be to get the CO2 to be produced at a consistent and sufficient rate for the tank (pretty much the same issues as DIY). Otherwise you have to find some way to store and deliver the gas... in which case you might as well go with a pressurized system. If you've got some wine going now, hook it up to a bubble counter and see what you're working with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 i thought about doing that as well but it probably wouldnt last long and would probably be to much co2. but you could give it a try. also i would just go with a couple of 2 liter bottles with sugar and yeast before spending the money on a presurized system. at least for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 If you're going with heavily planted tank, and plan on feeding all of those plants with fertilizer, you're going to want a constant supply of CO2 so you don't end up with algae issues. I recommend a pressurized system. I used a paintball canister on a 55 gal for quite a while - had to refill it about every month. I switched to a 10lb canister, running it on tanks from 55-135 gal, and have never had it last less than 13 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsFard Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 If you're going with heavily planted tank, and plan on feeding all of those plants with fertilizer, you're going to want a constant supply of CO2 so you don't end up with algae issues. I recommend a pressurized system. I used a paintball canister on a 55 gal for quite a while - had to refill it about every month. I switched to a 10lb canister, running it on tanks from 55-135 gal, and have never had it last less than 13 months. how much did the paintball canister set up cost? forgive my ignorance but about how much space did it take up too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellyfish Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The trick would be to get the CO2 to be produced at a consistent and sufficient rate for the tank (pretty much the same issues as DIY). Otherwise you have to find some way to store and deliver the gas... in which case you might as well go with a pressurized system.If you've got some wine going now, hook it up to a bubble counter and see what you're working with werner the guru is absolutely right, i tried the diy system & had nothin but problems, not worth the headache, couldn^t control the flow very good, had an algae bloom, fish starving for oxygen, my advice go for the pressurized system right off & u won^t be turned off by it, & ur plants will love u for it. i^ve already noticed a difference the system makes. & plus i put another set of compact lights on my tank too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 If you're going with heavily planted tank, and plan on feeding all of those plants with fertilizer, you're going to want a constant supply of CO2 so you don't end up with algae issues. I recommend a pressurized system. I used a paintball canister on a 55 gal for quite a while - had to refill it about every month. I switched to a 10lb canister, running it on tanks from 55-135 gal, and have never had it last less than 13 months. how much did the paintball canister set up cost? forgive my ignorance but about how much space did it take up too? I bought a Sera system about 10yrs ago - I think Nature's Corner had just moved from the 'house' to the 'store', and may have still been called DADs. I think it was about $150 and took up the space of a paintball canister :P It's about 12"high and 4"diameter. I think the regulator might be the most expensive part. Nature's may still have one or two kicking around. Ask Henry or Gillian next time you're in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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