CO2 and non-CO2 tanks
Hello Scapers
I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences injecting CO2 for the first time a little over a year ago on my 65 and my first impressions running my 16 without CO2 for about 2 months. I have two other 16s coming online soon and I may add CO2 to 1, 2 or all three of them in the future, but I wanted to have both types running now because I enjoy the experiences and challenges of a variety of setups.
To be fair we are not really comparing apples to apples here as the 65 has more room for failure than a 16 as changes (and "oops" changes or oh %&!# !!!) are seen a lot quicker in tanks with smaller volume. In addition as I stated above, the 65 has been online for over a year while the 16 has only circulated water with plants for about two months.
So having said all that I will speak about my experiences within the first 2+ months of each setup and what my impressions are from CO2 injection on the 65 up until today.
A bit of background.... I started the 65 a bit over a year ago and immediately knew I wanted to try CO2. The last aquarium I had before this was almost 30 years ago running a 55 with plastic plants, a HOB filter and African cichlids. Water changes were done with a siphon and dumping the water in the shower 🤣. So, it was not only a long time from then till now but deciding to get back into the hobby wanting to go hi-tech running CO2 it was a steep learning curve.
After watching countless videos and doing a bunch of other research, I decided to go with a CO2Art Dual Stage Regulator, a NilocG reactor and a 5lb CO2 canister. Pluming was straight forward. Canister filter (out)--reactor (in)--reactor (out)--tank. Attached the assembled CO2Art regulator to the CO2 tank using yellow Teflon gas tape
and ran CO2 tubing from the regulator bubble counter to a brass check valve then used the pre-attached reactor CO2 tubing to connect to the other end of the brass check valve. Make sure the brass check valve is rotated in the correct direction 🙂. I added vegetable glycerin to the CO2Art regulator bubble counter rather than water since it doesn't evaporate; though I do have to add more every 3-4 months.
Cost was about $400 bucks for all the gear and the tank ( I think I got some coupons for some holiday or something but I don't remember). I also pay a smallish $ for CO2 tank refills which I have to do about every 4 months on the 65.
I then ran the tank with plants testing the PH (what it is out of the tap basically or now through my RODI filter) and then used the CO2Art regulator adjustment to add more\less CO2 to get that 1-point PH drop. So, I kick off the CO2 on a timer one hour before the light comes on getting that 1-point PH drop and then making sure that PH drop stays for the duration of the photo period until one hour before the light turns off - the light is on a separate timer. I found these that work well for my purposes.
This whole process took "a while" to get dialed in but after much trial and error I finally got it set (this was/is all fun work so I loved the process and learned a lot). So, if you decide to go this route be patient and have fun!
For the non-CO2 tank, it felt like I was initially missing something (which was CO2) but I had to keep reminding myself that I wanted to run both, to challenge myself and learn from both. The non-CO2 setup is a lot more straight forward, canister filter (out)--tank (out)--tank (in)--canister filter (in) and I don't need to worry about PH adjustments. So the non-CO2 setup is a lot easier from a tech perspective and less expensive at least from how I did it.
As far as plants generally go injecting CO2 in my experience gives a pretty significant boost to plant growth (also adding ferts) compared to the non CO2 injected tank. I also find myself weekly trimming plants in the CO2 tank, so that could be factor for anyone as far as maintenance goes. Currently I check PH every so often to make sure things are still dialed in (1-point PH drop), let the CO2 run on its timer and check the CO2 regulator to see when the CO2 tank needs to be replaced. It is also a lot of fun to see "pearling" from the photosynthesis process.
If your so inclined, injecting CO2 is heck of a lot of fun and you get to learn a lot, but be patient and embrace the trial and error with dialing in that 1-point PH drop.