Hydor Co2 Green Nrg Natural System - Help Please!

[Nat]

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/co2_systems.asp

I have just bought one of these (not set up yet).

The fish shop where I got it told me to turn it off at night - will this harm the equipment or stop the production of Co2 in the bottle?

(The instructions don't mention turning it off)

 

[Themuleous]

The reason you turn it off is that during the night the plants do not use CO2 (in fact they take in O2 and given off CO2) this means the CO2 in the tank goes up during the night and this can in some cases get it to very high levels which puts your fish at risk. Turning it off also gives the fish a break from the increased CO2 levels in the tank.

All that said, I run both my CO2 kits 24/7 with no apparent ill affects on the fish.

FYI check out the pinned article on nutrafin kits, which are almost identical to these. It gives a recipe for a better yeast mix as the one that come with these are crap. How big is the tank you're running it on? It wouldn't give you nearly enough CO2 for a 150lt, you'd probably need two or three kits on a 150lt.

Sam

 

[Nat]

My tank holds just over 170 litres taking into account gravel etc. It says it's suitable for tanks of up to 150 litres?

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh but I guarantee the quoted tank limit for the unit is based on CO2 levels that are almost undetectable. I.e not nearly enough! The very popular nutrafin unit it supposed to be good for tanks up to 70lt, but you'd need two to get the 30ppm you're after in high light tanks.

If however you're going for a low light tank (below 2WPG) then one kit would probably be ok.

Sam

 

[excaliborg]

Nat, I have the Hydor kit you posted the link to and don't turn it off at night. Been running that way for around 3 months and no problems

The recipe that came with the kit lasted around 2 months, after which I used the Nutrafin DIY co2 mix posted as a sticky thread at the top of this forum. The Hydor kit also had a line which you fill the sugar and water up to aswell.

The only difference with the Nutrafin and Hydor kits is the diffuser, the hydor kit comes with an electrical one which has a small spinning fan in it which helps to disolve the co2 in the tank by splitting the big bubbles coming from the canister. This seems to work pretty well but the little filter sponge in the diffuser does require cleaning every couple of weeks for it to keep working well.

 

[Nat]

Thanks, ok I'll set it up and leave it running 24/7 then!