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CO2 never seems to be enough?

Sandfire

Seedling
Joined
28 Sep 2007
Messages
12
Location
Fareham
I have a 180l aquarium with a 150w metal halide over it, I have home made DIY CO2 made from 2 x 2l cola, the yeast based system is made up from 2 x cups of sugar and 2 x cups of warm water with half teaspoon of granulated yeast in each bottle, connected to a rotating powerhead which produces a lot of very teeny tiny fine bubbles and then I change them on 1 bottle every 7 days and I am dosing 5ml a day of easycarbo, my plants are growing and appear to be pearling a little but the permanent JBL Test Set I use is constantly dark navy blue?

There is also some stag algae growing, I am putting it down to not enough CO2?

Are the plants using the CO2 faster than its being supplied and does easycarbo work with the permanent JBL Test kit?

Should I increase the easycarbo?

I would love a proper CO2 system but can't afford it as the moment :(
 
I'm using 2x2L DIY on a 100L tank and my CO2 is just about right, so I'd have though you would need more/bigger bottles for a 180L tank.
 
I think with a 180l tank a DIY yeast based system just will not cut it im afraid.

For one thing it just isn't stable enough, and i don't believe you will get to the 30ppm required, especially with a metal halide light.

More light Equals more co2 which equals more ferts.

Thats how i see it anyway.

You have two options cut down on the wattage of your lighting or invest in a pressuissed co2 system.

Have a read of the following link about setting up a Fire Extinguisher system.


http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=266

Cheers Gordon.
 
Thanks guys, and thanks for the link I always woundered how it all fitted together, but I am still not confident enough to try doing my own CO2 Fire Extinguisher system and my partner just shook his head at me when I asked him to help me.

So I have no choice but to save my pennies, I priced up a JBL one today at £200 from my local aquatic shop so until I can afford it, can I continue to use the Easycarbo? What should I dose at and can it be 'read' by the permanent JBL Test kit, I am dosing 5ml and its not changing the reading at all, just dark navy blue and I live in a hard water area so could this be affecting the reading?
 
Don't buy the all-in-one shop kits if you're after saving money. They're very expensive compared to buying things separately online. You should be able to do it for £120 ish.
 
gratts said:
Don't buy the all-in-one shop kits if you're after saving money. They're very expensive compared to buying things separately online. You should be able to do it for £120 ish.

I agree, and the fire extinguisher route is no harder to put together than a all in one shop kit, as with the shop kit you still have to put all he bits together.

Cheers Gordon.
 
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