My New Setup

[Ilya]

I ditched the blue gravel and got a more polished, natural gravel. And I bought some new plants!

And my new CO2 setup... It's a DIY.

A few questions:

1) How long does it take for my set up to start producing CO2?
2) Is it okay for my CO2 tube to have some water in it? Don't have an airstone yet.
3) What kind of Plecos don't tear up plants, but instead eat wasted food, and algae?

I'm thinking of having 1 pleco and a few black mollies .

 

[Musho3210]

whatever you do dont get a common pleco. Get a brittlenose pleco, stay small, eat algae, may clean up uneaten food as well.

Your gonna want a diffuser for that CO2, your bubbles are going to the top of the tank and leaving the tank making it useless. You can buy one or make your own, there are many different types.

 

[Ilya]

Diffuser? You mean airstone, right?

I also put the end of the hose underneath the gravel, so it might "diffuse" until I get an airstone.

 

[roseK]

i think some more plants would be nice.

 

[Musho3210]

no a diffuser dissolves the CO2 bubbles, not make them smaller. (well it dissolves them by making them very small but an airstone doesnt make them small enough)

 

[LuckyCricketMafia]

Do you have a hob filter? If so you can run the tube to the impeller and it will dissolve it. Also a lot of your co2 is leaking out of the air line, silicone air line will lose a lot less.

 

[Musho3210]

silicone airlines lose the CO2...

 

[Ilya]

What? How can it loose the CO2?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Most "air line" tubing is not CO2 resistant which means they can "leak".

 

[Ilya]

Well, it's a TOP FIN 25' Airline Tubing. Use for both air and water drip systems. Doesn't say anything about silicone.

Will it leak more than goes in?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

If it doesn't say "CO2 reistant" then it's prob. not... CO2 resistant tubing usually costs more as well, but maybe someone knows something specific about the TOP FIN brand.

As for how much it leaks...not completely sure, but with DIY CO2 you don't really want to waste any more than you have to. ><