# some newbie questions



## fxbillie (Dec 12, 2010)

I am a total newbie to planted aquarium and need some guidance or advice what direction to go. Here is what I want to do for my 10g and my 20g, both with standard canopy and fluorescent tube lighting. 
Questions:
1) What kind of light tube(s) I need for plant growth with DIY CO2 set up?
2) I have learned the basic of DIY setup with sugar + yeast, is this sufficient for my small tanks?
3) If I don't want to make my own DIY set up, is there a local source for this sold by anyone?
I am also checking out the pro & con of pressurized CO2 systems vs DIY to see which way suit me best. Is Redsea CO2 system suitable?
4) Plant wise, I wish to try out HC as front carpet plants, is lighting with HO T5 flourescent tubes + DIY CO2 good enough for them to grow compactly on one year old ADA substrate?
5) Is HC able to survive or thrive when used to form trees? (being it may need rich substrate) and if not, can dosing help it to survive as tree top? I just love those aquascape videos on youtube with HC trees. LOL.
6) If HC is not suitable, are there any great alternative compact carpet plants besides Java Moss which I have lots.
7) I plan to just put a few shrimps and some cardinal tetra in these small tanks with just some small Aqua Clear filters. Do you see any problem with their survival in a DIY CO2 setting? 

Just have too many ??? about how to proceed on my first planted tank CO2 project and hopefully some pro here can shed some lights. Thanks in advance.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The biggest probably you are going to have with DIY CO2 is the frequency of mixing the solutions and the regularity of the CO2 dosing. Having said that, here are short answers to your question.

1. Anything that puts down enough light, even spiral compact fluorescents. For the 10 gallon I've used 2x13w CFL bulbs to grow anything I want. For the 20 a single 24" T5HO should be plenty. Maybe more important on what you can grow is substrate.
2. Yes. Or use Seachem Flourish Excel (Or Metricide 14), or both.
3. Yes. http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Watercare/Additives---Supplements/A7690 I got mine at King Ed's. Not sure who else has it but they do. WRT Redsea you mean this kit? Red Sea CO2 System 500 (Standard Bottles) - Refillable There are no cons to pressurized if you want to grow plants. I would talk to Pat (Mykiss about a 5 or 10 lb setup with a manifold and 2 needle valves so you can inject both tanks. It'll be more expensive than the Redsea one but will be better and easier to use and will get the results you want.
4. You answered a question I had. 1 year old ADA will be fine and you can grow beautiful HC carpets with it as long as you are diligent with the CO2 mixture.
5. HC can grow even floating, so it does not need to be rooted. As a point, most aquatic plants can be grow without substrate, but the roots can be long and unsightly.
6. Cardinals will be fine as long as you manage the CO2 or you can choke them out. Shrimps would depend on variety. If you just want cherry shrimps, no problem at all.

I would seriously consider going pressurized. Everyone, including me, wants to start with DIY but eventually you get sick of killing livestock with solution overflows and growing algae with the mixtures because you are away for work/vacation or you get busy.
6. Xmas moss. Fissidens fontanus, mini pellia, all can be grown as "trees" and look very nice. The key is pruning regularly to keep it nice. I could never put up with all the pruning.


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## eternity302 (Apr 22, 2010)

As helpful as years ago when you first taught me everything i know now! =)

As for CO2 solutions overflow, yup... killed about $100 worth of my fish.. still have all the pictures of them dead in my tank. And suffocating them over night.. yup.. bad experience.

If you aren't going to go pressurized, invest in Metricide or Flourish excel, if you're new to everything, try out excel, I wouldn't consider it any different than metricide, but it'll be easier for you to measure into your tank when dosing it daily (because it's watered down).


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

great comments 2wheelsx2,

as mentioned everyone starts with diy co2, but it's a pain and it can get messy, the mixture might get into your tank and that will cause lots of issues.
in the long run it's cheaper to do pressurized co2 than diy, even though sugar, yeast are semi common household items. and it's not consistent, which can be an issue

I ran diy co2 for about 6 months before buying a pressurized co2 system, never looked back, all my tanks run c02 except for my office aquarium , which I am considering getting a paintball setup due to the space there and the 20lbs co2 tank scaring my coworkers


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## fxbillie (Dec 12, 2010)

Thank you for your valuable information. I am leaning on DIY to try out on my small tanks. So even with that Hagen unit you bought at King Ed, there is still issue with solution overflow, algae boom or killing lifestock? Is it because there is no timer or any means of controlling the rate of CO2 release? I have read people switch off the pump used to distirbuted CO2 at night? Do you find you need such a pump? I have seen video on youtube for DIY CO2 where the guy plug the airtube of CO2 into a special airtube connection on the pump and the CO2 got blown out by the submerged pump as in here 



Where do you find these kinds of pump with the airtube connection?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I agree with the above. DIY is hard to control and can cause issues but I think you should build a simple Co2 system. Its part of the learning process. Its cheap and a fun project. You will eventually figure out that pressurized is better and less hassle. I used an Elite mini filter in my DIY setup. You can use the air line spot on the pump to inject the Co2. That might be the pump you are talking about. They are cheap under $20. 

If you do decide to go pressurized. The cheapest place I could find a Co2 tank at was AW fireguard in Port Moody. J&L sells a Milwakee solenoid valve, needle valve, bubble counter all in 1. Its cost me $208 for the milwakee and a Co2 tank filled. The only thing left to buy is tubing and a diffuser. There is also Co2 systems for sale in the classifieds fairly often


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The problem really is the production of the CO2 and not the regulation of distribution of it. You are depending on yeast to consistently produce the same amount of gas which is not possible. It's slow when you first mix it, then it builds up and then as the alcohol content builds up the rate slows down again. And the solution stinks too.

If I were to go pressurized again I wouldn't even buy a tank. I would just use a swap out service. Pay a deposit, grab a tank and then when you're low bring in a tank and grab a full one. Cheap and fast. Lots of the hydroponics places and beverage places offer that.


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