
My paintball regulator graveyard.
DON'T BE CHEAP LIKE I WAS! I wasted plenty of money trying to mess with DIY paintball regulator setups only to learn in the end how important manufacturing quality and threading is in order to make it work. I don't want to hurt anyone's home-built equipment sales or whatnot, but I figured I would give a fair warning to beginners about to setup paintball CO2. I spent well over $100 messing around with cheap junk setups, spent frustrated hours trying to fix gas leaks through cheap threading, rubber gaskets, teflon tape, etc. In the end I just gave in and bought an Aquatek $90 Mini regulator and it has been perfect. It has steady gas flow, it doesn't leak, attaches very solid. I wish to God I had listened to the vocal minority on the boards and just spent the honest money up front.
This can be applied to almost everything else about this hobby. I mean, I cringed at the thought of spending $50 on a bag of quality substrate, and for several months used cheap substrate and experimented with dosing. It's all crap. You end up ripping yourself off in the end. Fork out the cash for ADA Amazonia or equivalent, you will have rapid, robust growth. The only reason you should be dosing is to maintain plants that need additional supplement such as iron for red plants, etc.
I wonder if my advice will be controversial. That's fine. Have at it, planted tank.