Co2 On A Budget.

[james_fish]

Basically, i'm already adding CO2 in my aquarium in the form of the cheap Tetra stuff. But I now want to use different stuff which will give me better results with the plants.

I'm looking at spending around £60 but will be reluctant to raise it to £70 maybe £80 if there's something on offer thats decent.

Help much appreciated, as always.

James.

 

[sted]

What tetra product you using now?

 

[james_fish]

Just the Optimat stuff. But I'm running two of them, as my tank is 55gal's.

Plants are Java Fern, Anubias, Elodea Densa and Cabomba.

James.

 

[Verminator89]

For just under £100 i rigged up a DIY Fire Exstinguisher. Certainly better than buying a ready made kit that costs £100+. On a tank that size ideally you want some form of pressurized canister to get decent results.

 

[james_fish]

Cheers guys, keep the input coming.

James.

 

[james_fish]

Anyone heard what this is like?

http/www.petscrazy.co.uk/index.php?case=product&proddb=18&pid=5912

James.

 

[JenCliBee]

Cheers guys, keep the input coming.

James.

There's often JBL proflora ones that sell below £100 second hand on ebay, i also think Gav is selling one for £100?.

There a few fully complete kits from around the place, hong kong and lunapet do a good complete one for around £130 ish. There's one on there complete without CO2 bottle for around £80ish FE would cost about £20ish.


Other than that you could buy each part as mentioned above which is usually around the £100 mark with co2 2kg bottle included in Price... really does depend on if your willing to shift on price and by how much.

 

[JenCliBee]

Anyone heard what this is like?

http/www.petscrazy.co.uk/index.php?case=product&proddb=18&pid=5912

James.

Disposable bottles with the biggest been 88g i think and would last five minutes on a 55g tank... be far more cost effective to use a FE setup which would last a few months not a couple of weeks if that.

 

[james_fish]

How would I go about the FE route? It's something i've never really looked into. Can you buy them readily, despite being "DIY"?

How much would setting a FE system be?

Any articles on this would be great.

James.

 

[ian]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=212550

and

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=254568&st=0&p=2104940&#entry2104940

You should be able to get an FE for about £15, its the regulator that costs.

 

[Verminator89]

Apologies if this isnt allowed, but its a very usefull link in this instance. I used this link by Themuleous over on UKAPs when setting up my DIY FE CO2 kit, very usefull.

DIY FE CO2


As for cost it's not too bad. This is roughly what i spent on mine, i forget the exact cost, but this is pretty much it;

FE............................-....£25 (eBay)
Regulator + Solenoid -....£40 (eBay from Hong Kong)
Diffuser.....................-....£15? (AquaEssentials)
Tubing.......................-....£5 (AquaEssentials)
...............................____

................................£85

Happy as larry with mine

 

[james_fish]

Thanks very much both of you.

There's my research for tonight

James.

 

[james_fish]

Had a good read of several articles. Much more simple than what I expected it to be

James.

 

[Verminator89]

Incredibly straight forward. I don't know why more people don't do it! The only scary bit is 'testing' it somewhere safe. I lay flat on our stone table in the garden and leant just my arm over the edge and squeezed it. Quite dissapointing really as apparently nothing happened, but it was

 

[james_fish]

Yeah I have heard a few horror stories

What was the actual FE and regulator you used James? Because if it worked for you, im all for copying!

James.