After a break from aquariums for about a year I got the itch and decided to invest in a 2.6 gallon nano cube due to space constraints in my apartment.
I have done the planted thing once before but never with CO2. I am waiting on my new Aquatop LED light to come in (http://www.truaqua.com/aquarium-led-light-nano-tp.html) and light timer, as well as my ferts (Flourish, Trace, Iron, and tabs) as well as my substrate (Flourite Black Sand). I am planning to replace the internal filter with an Azoo palm filter since the current one creates a bit too much current and takes up too much space. The last piece I feel I am missing is the CO2 as I do not want to use excel. I have looked at this Fluval CO2 system (http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c378121399/p17624673.html) but after seeing the MASSIVE plastic diffuser and reading alot of aweful reviews I am shying away from that one. I do not want to do the DIY route, but am not sure where to go from here without spending an arm and a leg to get some CO2 in my tank...
Does anyone have any suggestions for a nice looking, reliable, and decently economical system? I could justify spending upwards of $80 on something if it is really a good system, but I just cant see myself biting the bullet on something like what I see on the ADA site :icon_eek:.
Here is the problem. Without spending a good deal more then $80, it is my opinion that you won't be able to get anything that is reliable. It's not to say it won't work, or that it won't last a long time without failure, that just means under $80 you might have a big failure at some point.
Thius is why I still dose excel. I don't like it, but I'm not comfortable with putting my fish at risk going the cheap route. When I do go with CO2, I plan out getting a dual stage regulator, from a recognized brand, that is meant for low pressure. I think i may even run 2 solenoids, incase one fails. and all the rest high quality parts. Last time I looked through things I was looking at 300-400 bucks. So for now I just deal with my excel dosing.
Thanks for the suggestion. I just ordered it off of Amazon. So it said it comes with the regultor, solenoid, needle valve. check valve, and bubble counter... I already have CO2 tubing from my LFS, so outside of defuser and actual tank of CO2, is there anything else I am missing to get this thing going?
Thanks for the suggestion. I just ordered it off of Amazon. So it said it comes with the regultor, solenoid, needle valve. check valve, and bubble counter... I already have CO2 tubing from my LFS, so outside of defuser and actual tank of CO2, is there anything else I am missing to get this thing going?
Oh and I already ordered a glass CO2 indicator and some Fluval CO2 Indicator Fluid as well, and a timer for my CO2 to turn on and off with my lights so thats all covered.
I use that paintball setup to run a half gallon tank calculated to just over two years between refills at $7 lol you selected the correct approach. I bet you get almost a year off one fill thats awesome
My experience with these (I have had 3 of them, still using 2) is that fine tuning them for really low output isn't that touchy.. it's actually harder to dial in a reliable bubble count at higher rates than it is for lower.
Also, with the smaller glass diffusers, after a while you will want to cut the tubing off with a razor blade, don't try to just pull it off - you probably WILL break the glass if the tubing has hardened or stuck to the glass.
That said, in a 2.5 gallon tank, I'd suggest upgrading at some point in the future to a zoomed 501 filter with lily pipes (9mm is the right size for the stock tubing, though you may need to heat the vinyl tubing a bit to slip it over the glass tubing), and an inline CO2 diffuser (again, the smallest 8mm size works great) - it's a much cleaner "in tank" look, since with a 2.5 gallon tank space will be at a premium. I ran a 4 gallon tank with that set up for a while, and it worked great.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a certain diffuser?... I want to get a glass one but with so many generic/ questionable ones out there I figured I should just ask some people who may know whats good .
Pick up a 2-3 pack of glass nano diffusers on E-bay and call it done. You can rotate clean ones in while you clean the old ones. (Clean when you notice a reduction in output, but they'll go many months between swaps) I've never had a hard time getting the tubing off. If you do break one (I never had, but have heard others report occasional breakage), you have spares available, and again, they're cheap.
Agreed, but it's $15 more and it's harder to find short lily pipes in the right size.
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