Newbie To Co2 And Need Some Advice Please

[Nosnibor]

getting back onto co2 how are you finding your setup noshnibor
going to collect my wages today and pay them into the bank, im going to go for the cheaper option and make a diy bubble counter i think, diy co2 doesnt seem to cut it. im getting 1bs without a diffuser.
ill re-invest in plants once ive got better conditions

Hiya,

Yeah it's great mate, I wish I did it sooner but I didn;t know about it then. If I think about how far I've come since I started and how far I've got to go it's amazing. I mean when me and the girlfriend first went to the shop to purchase the tank we were looking at something small, and it just grew and grew from there hee hee.

Anyway, yeah it's great. I think I have the balance right now, I started with about 16 bpm for a couple of days, then 44bpm now I've got to around 2bps and I think I have a nice green colour in my drop checker.

I'm waiting to AE gets something in stock then I'm ordering a KH tester so I can get my readings for the CO2 spot on, it looks like it's around the 20ppm mark at the moment and I'm aiming for around 30ppm.

I don;t know if it's me but I think the fish are happier now too. I had a very shy male Pearl Gourami who hardly ever came out when we were around. I started working in front of the tank and hanging around after feeding them so he would have to come out and I'm not (after 2 months) pleased to say that he's caved in and is coming out a lot and not shooting behind the wood whenever we walk passed the aquarium - I'm a well happy bunny and I'm blaming it on te CO2 system

Martin

 

[garuf]

getting back onto co2 how are you finding your setup noshnibor
going to collect my wages today and pay them into the bank, im going to go for the cheaper option and make a diy bubble counter i think, diy co2 doesnt seem to cut it. im getting 1bs without a diffuser.
ill re-invest in plants once ive got better conditions

Hiya,

Yeah it's great mate, I wish I did it sooner but I didn;t know about it then. If I think about how far I've come since I started and how far I've got to go it's amazing. I mean when me and the girlfriend first went to the shop to purchase the tank we were looking at something small, and it just grew and grew from there hee hee.

Anyway, yeah it's great. I think I have the balance right now, I started with about 16 bpm for a couple of days, then 44bpm now I've got to around 2bps and I think I have a nice green colour in my drop checker.

I'm waiting to AE gets something in stock then I'm ordering a KH tester so I can get my readings for the CO2 spot on, it looks like it's around the 20ppm mark at the moment and I'm aiming for around 30ppm.

I don;t know if it's me but I think the fish are happier now too. I had a very shy male Pearl Gourami who hardly ever came out when we were around. I started working in front of the tank and hanging around after feeding them so he would have to come out and I'm not (after 2 months) pleased to say that he's caved in and is coming out a lot and not shooting behind the wood whenever we walk passed the aquarium - I'm a well happy bunny and I'm blaming it on te CO2 system

Martin

thats brilliant! getting any pearling or anything yet or is it a bit soon? my shrimp are the same, theyre getting better though before id only ever see them in passing now theres always one bussing about in full veiw normal in the e tennelus patch, somthing they like must be there

 

[SuperColey1]

If you get pearling under 1 WPG then you can come and look after my tank. lol

Riccia will grow under lower lights but much slower (which IMO is a good thing) under my 2.5 WPG it goes from flat and visible hairnet to nearly 2 inches thick within 3 weks, which then means you have to cut it down or the bouyancy pulls it away from the net!!! Thats one reasson I've got rid of a load.

PC stands for power compact which is basically a T5 bulb thats bent in the middle so looks like 2 bulbs in the one connector.

I doubt it's the CO2 making your fish happier, more the effect the consistent CO2 is having on your plants that they are enjoying.

Andy

 

[Nosnibor]

If you get pearling under 1 WPG then you can come and look after my tank. lolRiccia will grow under lower lights but much slower (which IMO is a good thing) under my 2.5 WPG it goes from flat and visible hairnet to nearly 2 inches thick within 3 weks, which then means you have to cut it down or the bouyancy pulls it away from the net!!! Thats one reasson I've got rid of a load.PC stands for power compact which is basically a T5 bulb thats bent in the middle so looks like 2 bulbs in the one connector.I doubt it's the CO2 making your fish happier, more the effect the consistent CO2 is having on your plants that they are enjoying.Andy

Yeah I knew that I wouldn't get pearling from anything with the wpg I have I'm glad that the Riccia will be growing slowly in that case, sounds like it can be a bit of a pain.Those PC units sound good, very clever really.I think you could be right about the fishes wellbeing, but whatever it is I'm glad it's happening. I was having a great close up visual on 'Charlie' the Bamboo Shrimp, he was out and exploring big time tonight. Gave me a chance to practice my photography too trying the get the white balance correct without a flash.Martin

thats brilliant! getting any pearling or anything yet or is it a bit soon? my shrimp are the same, theyre getting better though before id only ever see them in passing now theres always one bussing about in full veiw normal in the e tennelus patch, somthing they like must be there

Hey Garuf, what's your set up by the way?Martin

 

[garuf]

[Hey Garuf, what's your set up by the way?Martin

me, i have a cheap tank 18x 12x 12 "tahiti aqua" (£16, bargain), one of them eden 501filters, 36watts of powercompact t5, diy coke bottle co2 and a "supafish" 25watt heater, knocked up in a rush hood that looks terrible, got to get some black paint or figur out how to get the shockingly disgusting plastic trim off the tank so its just wood and ADA aquasoil amazonia substrate.

have a look at my recommendations (possibly in the wrong forum) thread in this forum for some sub-standard pictures

 

[scottca]

Hi All,

Sorry to reopen an old post (but it has all the right pictures etc) - I have purchased the exact same kit - has anyone used the reactor that came with it? I need to purchase an external pump/filter to run the co2 reactor but cant work out how you connect it all up, i figure you have the co2 connecting at the top and it goes down the tube, the bubble then tries to rise and the flow of water goes from bottom to top so pushing it and forcing through the grid like honeycomb stuff diffusing it further into the water?

I also have one of those T-pieces which has like a tap connector on it so you can shut off 1 direction ? - Can anyone post pictures of this reactor working or what sort of size pipework I need to run the reactor?

Thanks,

Craig