Aquarium Co2 Systems

[sww]

I've been looking at the range of CO2 systems available, but there is a lot of choice, depending on how much you can lay out up front.

I like the idea of a pressurised system - simple and low maintenance. But they can be very expensive, and annoyingly, my LFS doesn't stock any. (Or if they do, then I haven't spotted them yet!)

I initially thought I might go with one of the yeast-based systems, as they seem very cheap to buy/run, but I wasn't too impressed with the oversize bubble-counters/diffusers - but I guess that's required with a low output CO2 system. Nor am I entirely sure I want to have to mess around every couple of weeks.

The Tetra system is kind of a half-way between the two. But even less convenient than a fermentation system as you need to squeeze more CO2 into the system once or twice a day!

I am seriously considering the D&D CO2 system, because it uses readily available refills and even at £100 it isn't outrageously expensive.

I haven't checked into a DIY pressurised system, but if anyone know where to get a suitably cheap regulator etc. then I'm quite happy to do some tinkering.

Anyway, I look forward to your contributions.

 

[dave_gray2077]

I've been looking at the range of CO2 systems available, but there is a lot of choice, depending on how much you can lay out up front.

I like the idea of a pressurised system - simple and low maintenance. But they can be very expensive, and annoyingly, my LFS doesn't stock any. (Or if they do, then I haven't spotted them yet!)

I initially thought I might go with one of the yeast-based systems, as they seem very cheap to buy/run, but I wasn't too impressed with the oversize bubble-counters/diffusers - but I guess that's required with a low output CO2 system. Nor am I entirely sure I want to have to mess around every couple of weeks.

The Tetra system is kind of a half-way between the two. But even less convenient than a fermentation system as you need to squeeze more CO2 into the system once or twice a day!

I am seriously considering the D&D CO2 system, because it uses readily available refills and even at £100 it isn't outrageously expensive.

I haven't checked into a DIY pressurised system, but if anyone know where to get a suitably cheap regulator etc. then I'm quite happy to do some tinkering.

Anyway, I look forward to your contributions.

I prefer the pressurised CO2 systems are they are more stable. So long as you have a good CO2 supplier close by they are the way to go.

My setup costs me about £50 a year to run. This is for the rental of a 25L bottle from BOC. Refills are £5 and last about 350 days in my tank.

The initial set up cost me an additional £30 for a CO2 regulator.

£60 for an argon regulator (glorified needle valve as the CO2 regs BOC sell aren’t accurate enough), Teflon tape, ceramic diffuser, permanent CO2 tester and piping etc