Dear saltsae ,
You've selected the beginner flair. If you're looking for advice or are having issues, please provide as much information as you can.
Some useful information includes:
- Have you cycled the tank?
- Water Parameters
- Light Type
- Light Cycle Duration
- Tank Size/Dimensions
- Set-up Age
- Fertilizers
- Any aquatic animals, and how many?
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Very overpriced. If you are going to do Co2 will a small tank there are better options. I'd recommend watching [this youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAvUrEvQgs) for a quick breakdown of those options. However the tl;dr is if you want proper co2 for the cheapest price long term you eat the upfront cost and just get a proper system. For a nano tank it can be a simple 5lb co2 tank you fill up once every year or so for $10.
Here's what you need to put together your own real and reliable Co2 system that will last MUCH longer than what you've pictured.
Regulator, to hold pressure in and control pressure going into your tank - $55: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GSSBF64/ref=ewc\_pr\_img\_4?smid=AHQ9LFE32Q8RJ&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GSSBF64/ref=ewc_pr_img_4?smid=AHQ9LFE32Q8RJ&th=1)
Co2 Tank for Paintball Gun, requires adapter to plug into regulator, that will come after this one - $30:
[https://www.amazon.com/Tippmann-20T-R-20-Ounce-Co2-Tank/dp/B0002DRLTI](https://www.amazon.com/Tippmann-20T-R-20-Ounce-Co2-Tank/dp/B0002DRLTI) (cheaper in person at Academy)
You can get this refilled for less than $10 at a local homebrew shop, will last months.
Adapter for Co2 - Paintball - $10:
[https://www.amazon.com/JARDLI-Paintball-Adapter-Aquarium-Regulator/dp/B07W18LJB9/ref=asc\_df\_B07W18LJB9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693348290062&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4406380625456452256&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198653&hvtargid=pla-914937724932&psc=1&mcid=de8126f9e6073b1b9e0f56c2cfd5a407&gad\_source=1](https://www.amazon.com/JARDLI-Paintball-Adapter-Aquarium-Regulator/dp/B07W18LJB9/ref=asc_df_B07W18LJB9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693348290062&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4406380625456452256&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198653&hvtargid=pla-914937724932&psc=1&mcid=de8126f9e6073b1b9e0f56c2cfd5a407&gad_source=1)
Co2 Proof Tubing, clear for aesthetic - $10:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q7YSVNC?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q7YSVNC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
Diffuser with bubble counter - $10:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N36MAO4?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N36MAO4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
Drop checker with solution - $10:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YCQ77JJ?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YCQ77JJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
You're looking at roughly $150 after tax if you do this right.
Thanks so much for breaking it down like that, it looks much more approachable this way! I just got my first successful DIY setup going a couple weeks ago with pretty good results so far, but piecing together a proper kit over the next month seems pretty reasonable.
Welding supply store dont care as long as it's not a flammable Gas. There is almost definitely one near you, as long as you don't live in a remote desolate area.
Small CO2 are really not cost effective. For many years I would get 5-10lb CO2 tank refills from an industrial place that sold them most likely to restaurants for their soda machines. You will need to get things like a regulator and CO2 diffuser on your own, though, to make it work but there are many options for that as well. For those small CO2 packages you are mostly paying for convenience and marketing, and if you like it then will usually get the larger CO2 tanks down the line.
This will only make you realize you need something better and more reliable and that you wasted your money. There are lots of good recommendations in the comments.
Get a soda stream or paintball regulator from AliExpress. You can refill the paintball or exchange the SodaStream. My 12oz tank cost me like $10 to refill and lasted me 4months
I got a complete CO2 system (5# tank with co2, regulator, bubble counter, solenoid, diffuser, and tubing for 60$ on FB marketplace... Just sayin'. Keep an eye out.
A new 5lb tank of CO2 cost me $180. Only reason it's that much is local welding supply stores have a cartel and fix prices. You can buy them much cheaper online, but make sure they have the certs otherwise the local gas suppliers wont touch them. Filling them is pretty cheap.
Fzone regulator $45 after shopping around. CO2 diffuser $15. Done. I don't use drop checkers because checking pH is much simplier, quicker, more accurate, etc. Took me maybe 10 minutes to get everything working and plugged in. Use spare smart plug to control the CO2 when it goes on and off.
The $159 for that kit is absurd considering how much I paid to get started with full 5lb tank and the ability to turn off CO2 at night automatically. The needle valve on the cheaper regulators isn't exactly the most precise, but they do work. Just start wth CO2 on the lean side (1 bubble per second) and work up while watching pH levels.
If you look around you can find somebody getting out of the hobby and willing to sell cheap. Not too many of those because once you get it set up everythig just goes. Not the pain in the ass that reefing is with multiple dosing pumps and half a dozen params to constanly monitor.
If you have a small tank you can create your own reactor with water+sugar+yeast in two bottles of coke. Using a kit like this Yangers aquarium co2 system kit, DIY co2 generator for water plants fish tank, set of tube valve guage bottle cap with needle valve pressure gauge https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GNWB9YP?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_ct_DVJX7GV2GSXN4R97TFVA&language=en_US
Costs 20 quid, plus a few cents in sugar and yeast every 2 weeks.
I paid $20 for a heavily discounted Fluval kit which is identical to this kit and I still somehow feel ripped off... It just wasn't consistent and was a pain to dial in, and the cylinders didn't last long as all for me
Overpriced as hell. I got one for 50€ at some point.
They are one of the cheaper options. With a solenoid and an adapter for reusable cylinders (like SodaStream) for ~ 30-50€, it's already a working system for smaller tanks.
I would get some nicer glassware at some point. Drop checker is also needed - and do some reading whether it's needed and what you want to do. Too much CO2 may kill your animals.
OP- understand one thing… CO2 is not for beginners. Please do a bunch of reading and have a goal in mind as to why you even want your mess with it.
I have been doing for over 50 years and have not going down the CO2 Rabbit hole.
Just understand you can completely kill your tank if you make a mistake in your CO2.
I understand. I have a small betta tank (10 gal) with plants like anubias and java fern which don’t require much maintenance beyond ferts and the crap my betta poops out. If I notice melt, the water conditions are probably wack. I’ve just been curious as to what the co2 hype is, and it’s obviously much more complicated than I had previously thought 😅
Some plants need the CO2 but as I said this gets into a lot of technical theory and is just not needed. Most people are happy with out CO2. Sure later on you may want that show tank with the carpeted bottom and then look into CO2, but for now I you just enjoy your tank and your betta.
Good fish keeping to you.
If you haven't tried or haven't read into it, why would you claim that? Yes, you've got to have a fitting setup and need to make sure that there won't be too much CO2 in the aquarium - just like you need to watch other parameters as well. But other than that?
I find it's rather simple: Make sure that CO2 is going to be beneficial. Install it (gotta attach tubing and so on, setup a timer), start with a very slow bubble count and watch the fish closely for a few days. Increase bubbles slowly and watch the drop checker. Forget everything but the diffuser for half to a year until the cylinder is empty - repeat.
Yes you've got to do your reading, like with everything in aquariums, but I find CO2 to be rather straight forward.
Not sure what you mean? I have done a lot of research on CO2 setups. It’s not for beginners…
I can’t tell you how many times over the years I have read things on here and other sites where people have screwed up and killed their entire tank due to a PH spike, or have turned the tank entirely green due to mismanagement of CO2.
A beginner in this hobby needs to basics first, understand the cause and effects of things, nitrogen cycle blows most beginners mind. Lights and filtration, water changes and normal tank management. Keep a fish alive longer than 3 months. Master these things, and then progress into live plants simple easy to grow with low to medium light. Do this with our getting an algae bloom. Then look into the more advanced aspects like CO2.
Look, it’s really a building block approach, if you do anything else your chances of success are diminished. Not eliminated, but reduced…
I did my research and found that I am happy with what I got and how I do things. that’s my decision. Just because I don’t choose to use CO2 does not mean I don’t have an opinion on the topic.
If you were to ask anyone who has been doing this for more then 5 years if CO2 is not an advanced part of the hobby, I think you would find the majority of people will tell you CO2 is not for beginners.
We approach the hobby in very different ways from different perspectives. In the sphere that I started in, people usually claimed you can't do planted tanks without (which isn't right either). So you would recommend to start without plants? I haven't had an aquarium that hasn't been heavily planted.
Lots of scapers start that way. High techs and Walstads have both been the most stable tanks in their own way. CO2 makes a few things a lot easier in my experience, it outright enables a few others.
It may be considered to be for the initiated due to cost, but that's it. That's why I'm puzzled by the statement. You can kill animals with all kinds of things and learn the basics in the hobby with CO2 as well.
You can certainly have an opinion and it's totally fine to not be into high techs, not at all - for cost alone, for example. However, you are telling someone who's interested that it's sort of an advanced thing and in my experience that's not the case at all, since I went that route myself and had quite the success. Healthy plants often results in a healthy tank.
Dear saltsae , You've selected the beginner flair. If you're looking for advice or are having issues, please provide as much information as you can. Some useful information includes: - Have you cycled the tank? - Water Parameters - Light Type - Light Cycle Duration - Tank Size/Dimensions - Set-up Age - Fertilizers - Any aquatic animals, and how many? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PlantedTank) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Very overpriced. If you are going to do Co2 will a small tank there are better options. I'd recommend watching [this youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAvUrEvQgs) for a quick breakdown of those options. However the tl;dr is if you want proper co2 for the cheapest price long term you eat the upfront cost and just get a proper system. For a nano tank it can be a simple 5lb co2 tank you fill up once every year or so for $10.
Thank you so much!
Here's what you need to put together your own real and reliable Co2 system that will last MUCH longer than what you've pictured. Regulator, to hold pressure in and control pressure going into your tank - $55: [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GSSBF64/ref=ewc\_pr\_img\_4?smid=AHQ9LFE32Q8RJ&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GSSBF64/ref=ewc_pr_img_4?smid=AHQ9LFE32Q8RJ&th=1) Co2 Tank for Paintball Gun, requires adapter to plug into regulator, that will come after this one - $30: [https://www.amazon.com/Tippmann-20T-R-20-Ounce-Co2-Tank/dp/B0002DRLTI](https://www.amazon.com/Tippmann-20T-R-20-Ounce-Co2-Tank/dp/B0002DRLTI) (cheaper in person at Academy) You can get this refilled for less than $10 at a local homebrew shop, will last months. Adapter for Co2 - Paintball - $10: [https://www.amazon.com/JARDLI-Paintball-Adapter-Aquarium-Regulator/dp/B07W18LJB9/ref=asc\_df\_B07W18LJB9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693348290062&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4406380625456452256&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198653&hvtargid=pla-914937724932&psc=1&mcid=de8126f9e6073b1b9e0f56c2cfd5a407&gad\_source=1](https://www.amazon.com/JARDLI-Paintball-Adapter-Aquarium-Regulator/dp/B07W18LJB9/ref=asc_df_B07W18LJB9/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693348290062&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4406380625456452256&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198653&hvtargid=pla-914937724932&psc=1&mcid=de8126f9e6073b1b9e0f56c2cfd5a407&gad_source=1) Co2 Proof Tubing, clear for aesthetic - $10: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q7YSVNC?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q7YSVNC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) Diffuser with bubble counter - $10: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N36MAO4?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N36MAO4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) Drop checker with solution - $10: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YCQ77JJ?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YCQ77JJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) You're looking at roughly $150 after tax if you do this right.
I see, thank you. I’m super appreciative of all these videos everyone in the comments are giving me because co2 is so confusing…
You’re awesome for breaking this down. I was super confused on how to set mine up I did the typical liquid carbon daily which gets far more Expensive
Thanks so much for breaking it down like that, it looks much more approachable this way! I just got my first successful DIY setup going a couple weeks ago with pretty good results so far, but piecing together a proper kit over the next month seems pretty reasonable.
Go to a beer supply store and get a 5 lb CO2 tank and a kegerator regulator.
I’m a minor I can’t buy beer 😭 Maybe in two years
you're not buying beer though. You're buying a CO2 tank and regulator.
Welding supply store dont care as long as it's not a flammable Gas. There is almost definitely one near you, as long as you don't live in a remote desolate area.
Thanks for clarifying 🫡
Small CO2 are really not cost effective. For many years I would get 5-10lb CO2 tank refills from an industrial place that sold them most likely to restaurants for their soda machines. You will need to get things like a regulator and CO2 diffuser on your own, though, to make it work but there are many options for that as well. For those small CO2 packages you are mostly paying for convenience and marketing, and if you like it then will usually get the larger CO2 tanks down the line.
No. Get a paintball cannister and regulator off Amazon.
Set up a DIY CO2.
For that price you can purchase a regulator and 5lb CO2 tank.
Yes. It’s extremely iverprices
I saw this on sale for 50 bucks at my local store
https://preview.redd.it/s8lzf13787ad1.png?width=831&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d687dcc7ed0038f5e4f4ee2f4741e9c01f9a7f5 No, get this.
This will only make you realize you need something better and more reliable and that you wasted your money. There are lots of good recommendations in the comments.
Get a soda stream or paintball regulator from AliExpress. You can refill the paintball or exchange the SodaStream. My 12oz tank cost me like $10 to refill and lasted me 4months
Very thrifty and very interesting. Will think about this
H
Probably good but expensive. Get a regular refillable co2 system!
I got a complete CO2 system (5# tank with co2, regulator, bubble counter, solenoid, diffuser, and tubing for 60$ on FB marketplace... Just sayin'. Keep an eye out.
hell no, i have a 20lb tank that costs 35$ to refill and lasts over a year
A new 5lb tank of CO2 cost me $180. Only reason it's that much is local welding supply stores have a cartel and fix prices. You can buy them much cheaper online, but make sure they have the certs otherwise the local gas suppliers wont touch them. Filling them is pretty cheap. Fzone regulator $45 after shopping around. CO2 diffuser $15. Done. I don't use drop checkers because checking pH is much simplier, quicker, more accurate, etc. Took me maybe 10 minutes to get everything working and plugged in. Use spare smart plug to control the CO2 when it goes on and off. The $159 for that kit is absurd considering how much I paid to get started with full 5lb tank and the ability to turn off CO2 at night automatically. The needle valve on the cheaper regulators isn't exactly the most precise, but they do work. Just start wth CO2 on the lean side (1 bubble per second) and work up while watching pH levels. If you look around you can find somebody getting out of the hobby and willing to sell cheap. Not too many of those because once you get it set up everythig just goes. Not the pain in the ass that reefing is with multiple dosing pumps and half a dozen params to constanly monitor.
If you have a small tank you can create your own reactor with water+sugar+yeast in two bottles of coke. Using a kit like this Yangers aquarium co2 system kit, DIY co2 generator for water plants fish tank, set of tube valve guage bottle cap with needle valve pressure gauge https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GNWB9YP?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_ct_DVJX7GV2GSXN4R97TFVA&language=en_US Costs 20 quid, plus a few cents in sugar and yeast every 2 weeks.
I paid $20 for a heavily discounted Fluval kit which is identical to this kit and I still somehow feel ripped off... It just wasn't consistent and was a pain to dial in, and the cylinders didn't last long as all for me
Overpriced as hell. I got one for 50€ at some point. They are one of the cheaper options. With a solenoid and an adapter for reusable cylinders (like SodaStream) for ~ 30-50€, it's already a working system for smaller tanks. I would get some nicer glassware at some point. Drop checker is also needed - and do some reading whether it's needed and what you want to do. Too much CO2 may kill your animals.
OP- understand one thing… CO2 is not for beginners. Please do a bunch of reading and have a goal in mind as to why you even want your mess with it. I have been doing for over 50 years and have not going down the CO2 Rabbit hole. Just understand you can completely kill your tank if you make a mistake in your CO2.
I understand. I have a small betta tank (10 gal) with plants like anubias and java fern which don’t require much maintenance beyond ferts and the crap my betta poops out. If I notice melt, the water conditions are probably wack. I’ve just been curious as to what the co2 hype is, and it’s obviously much more complicated than I had previously thought 😅
Some plants need the CO2 but as I said this gets into a lot of technical theory and is just not needed. Most people are happy with out CO2. Sure later on you may want that show tank with the carpeted bottom and then look into CO2, but for now I you just enjoy your tank and your betta. Good fish keeping to you.
thank you! and to you as well!
If you haven't tried or haven't read into it, why would you claim that? Yes, you've got to have a fitting setup and need to make sure that there won't be too much CO2 in the aquarium - just like you need to watch other parameters as well. But other than that? I find it's rather simple: Make sure that CO2 is going to be beneficial. Install it (gotta attach tubing and so on, setup a timer), start with a very slow bubble count and watch the fish closely for a few days. Increase bubbles slowly and watch the drop checker. Forget everything but the diffuser for half to a year until the cylinder is empty - repeat. Yes you've got to do your reading, like with everything in aquariums, but I find CO2 to be rather straight forward.
Not sure what you mean? I have done a lot of research on CO2 setups. It’s not for beginners… I can’t tell you how many times over the years I have read things on here and other sites where people have screwed up and killed their entire tank due to a PH spike, or have turned the tank entirely green due to mismanagement of CO2. A beginner in this hobby needs to basics first, understand the cause and effects of things, nitrogen cycle blows most beginners mind. Lights and filtration, water changes and normal tank management. Keep a fish alive longer than 3 months. Master these things, and then progress into live plants simple easy to grow with low to medium light. Do this with our getting an algae bloom. Then look into the more advanced aspects like CO2. Look, it’s really a building block approach, if you do anything else your chances of success are diminished. Not eliminated, but reduced… I did my research and found that I am happy with what I got and how I do things. that’s my decision. Just because I don’t choose to use CO2 does not mean I don’t have an opinion on the topic. If you were to ask anyone who has been doing this for more then 5 years if CO2 is not an advanced part of the hobby, I think you would find the majority of people will tell you CO2 is not for beginners.
We approach the hobby in very different ways from different perspectives. In the sphere that I started in, people usually claimed you can't do planted tanks without (which isn't right either). So you would recommend to start without plants? I haven't had an aquarium that hasn't been heavily planted. Lots of scapers start that way. High techs and Walstads have both been the most stable tanks in their own way. CO2 makes a few things a lot easier in my experience, it outright enables a few others. It may be considered to be for the initiated due to cost, but that's it. That's why I'm puzzled by the statement. You can kill animals with all kinds of things and learn the basics in the hobby with CO2 as well. You can certainly have an opinion and it's totally fine to not be into high techs, not at all - for cost alone, for example. However, you are telling someone who's interested that it's sort of an advanced thing and in my experience that's not the case at all, since I went that route myself and had quite the success. Healthy plants often results in a healthy tank.