co2 Injection

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nick709r
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co2 Injection

Post by nick709r »

So i just bought a cheap pressurized co2 system. Fluval co2 20, for my 20 gallon planted tank

I was using a yeast and sugar generator, that built up to much pressure popped a hose and sprayed the sticky mixture all over the place.


So i paid around 45 dollars for the compresses system.

The diffuser is sort of like the turned over bottle, you just fill up the diffuser, when its full, you turn off the valve, and wait for all the co2 to deplete.

I am wondering if this is a good way to do it?

If i buy one of those ceramic disk injectors can i just leave it on all day? or do i still need to dose it and turn it off like i am now?

The reason i ask is because I'm not always home during the day and i leave the house in the morning before the lights turn on.


When i was using my diy system i just left it running all day and all night, i was using a bubble latter for it.

Basically what i want to know, is with a ceramic disk co2 diffuser can i leave it on all day? or will i still have to manually turn it on and off during the day?
Hillehaus
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by Hillehaus »

A ceramic CO2 diffuser basically takes your CO2 and...erm...diffuses it. So instead of large bubbles that float to the surface or hang out inside your bottle with a set surface area/time, the ceramic diffuser takes the same gas and creates thousands of micro bubbles that vastly increase the CO2 to water surface area/time making it more efficient in dissolving into the water. Ceramic diffusers are way more efficient than the bottle set up.

that said, with a ceramic diffuser I would be more inclined to monitor CO2 levels than I would with the bottle set up. Because they are so efficient #1 plants love them as more CO2 is made available. #2 it is very easy to dissolve too much gas into the water resulting (to my fishes dismay #RIP #stupidrookiemistake #sorryfish #toosoon) in mass fish kills if you aren't careful and don't have a way to monitor the system.

After my rambling, to get to your question, ceramic disk diffusers can indeed be left on all day IF you have a good way to monitor CO2 levels. This is way less efficient than a high tech system but, hey...I was never willing to dump the cash into a system that would automate it. It is best if they aren't left on all day. Often high tech systems that use ceramic diffusers have wildly expensive setups that include solenoids that close the CO2 valves either at specific times or when certain levels (pH, CO2, etc.) are reached.
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Welch4
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by Welch4 »

I use to use the fluval system. It's OK if you can stay by it all day and monitor. You need a consistant flow of co2 throughout the day. To achieve this pick up a bubble counter and a drop checker. The bubble counter will give you a visual representation in bubbles of how much co2you are pushing to the diffuser and the drop checker gives you a visual representation of the dissolved co2 in the water column. I was able to keep mine semi stable for about a month. After that the cheap neele valve on this system would either shut off or gas the tank(killed 4 of my fish) . I just recently switched to a dual stage medical grade reg with solenoid and ideal needel valve. All said and done ran me about $250. You can get this cheaper but I used all swagelok parts for the post body.
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Hillehaus
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by Hillehaus »

One very important thing to note here...DUAL STAGE REGULATOR. If you go with tanked CO2, you need one of these.

A single stage regulator is inviting death on your fish. Pressure regulation in a single stage regulator is very unstable at the end of the CO2 tank. The way the regulator can deal with this pressure instability is to dump the tank. I lost an entire tank of fish this way. It's a very hard lesson learned.

$250 for that set up is actually a pretty good price. You did well there for good quality equipment. Med-grade regulators aren't cheap! I got mine used from a welding shop. Definitely not medical grade but, it hasn't done me wrong and was recently rebuilt.
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Welch4
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by Welch4 »

Definitely check on ebay for these. I picked up a Victor hpt270-D for $60 shipped. The barrreport has fantastic references for part numbers for the post body builds and the article for leak testing is a must if picking up a used reg.
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freshpuffer1
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by freshpuffer1 »

Not really good at co2, but my dad put too much co2 and I think that killed all of his fish.
Hopefully the helps! :D freshpuffer1
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Re: co2 Injection

Post by Pufferpunk »

This thread is from 2015
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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