230 gallon im scared

[poptarts356]

i have just purchased a 230 gallon tank that is two and half hours from where i live currently. i am going with a couple guys to pick it up tomorrow. i am building a metal stand which i will case in wood. i have also a small tank that i am going to use for wet dry filter sump. my friend is cutting glass to section it off seeing is he can get it at discounted price. i also have an old air tank with a regulator on it, i belive it is about a 10lb tank that i hope co2 will go into. my main concern is how long the co2 tank will last with my large tank. and any other suggestion, comment, idea, anything will be helpful. thanks

[lauraleellbp]

What lighting will you be running? Lighing is what drives the rate of plant growth, so will determine the CO2 absorbtion rate of your plants.

I don't think a 10lb CO2 tank is going to last very long on a 230gal tank. If you haven't already, I would spend some time reading through some big high-tech tank journals in the Journal forum. Getting a good CO2 distribution throughout that size tank is going to be a challenge and take some careful planning.

Here's a few to start you off:

Tom Barr's 180gal
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...d-scaping.html

Scolley's Son of Kahuna
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...na-56k-12.html

crazy_loach's 240gal
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...st-update.html

Gottobe's 125gal
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...5g-office.html

If you like high tech tanks, those are some pretty impressive setups. Personally, I go for low-maintenance low techs (they're cheaper, too) so that's always another option to keep in mind.

[Hoppy]

The 10 lb air tank will probably do ok for CO2, but you will have to have the shutoff valve changed on it, so it has the right CGA320 (as I recall) fitting to mate with both the regulator you will use and the tank filling equipment the place that fills the tank requires. No one will put CO2 in an air tank that hasn't had that fitting changed - that would be a disaster waiting to happen.