Afew Questions About Co2 Systems And The Rest

[Fluval-1200]

Planning on setting up a fire extinguisher c02 system on my 323litre tank.

Has anyone ever bought there parts from other countries? (there prices are under half of what they are here in the uk)

Also I have 4 t5 lights on my tank (only running 2 atm but they need replacing)
what bulbs should I go for when im running c02?

Im running a fx5 which is 3500lph (using it as a bio filter), also going to be running a fluval 405 which is 1300lph packed with foam to clean the derbis from the water and run an inline atomiser with that for the co2. Will these 2 pumps running together be to much flow for the plants?

And while im here my plants are going into sand, will they grow well or should I plant them into a pot then into the sand?
 
Thanks in advance

 

[Zikofski]

nice other countries i presume you mean HK and yes they are perfectly fine, altho just remember they may not turn up exactly when you want them i had to w8 nearly 2 months for some drop checkers was not impressed i ended up buying one from the uk until they arrived,
 
with regards to light i would get two types of bulbs the normal arcadia tropical one and the plant pro one both will do great with 2 of each making 4 in total get the highest power your unit will take that way you cant go wrong,
 
your flow is perfect far more perfect than mine you should aim for 10x turn over and the 3500lph filter is perfect i only have two 1200lph so that single 1200 is no way enough for my tank but that fluval will be perfect running inline again spot on, i would recommend the older model UP inline diffuser the more triangular model darker black ish plastic rather than the clear cylindrical type that comes with two tubes
 
again i bought mine from HK, it arrived on time and did the job perfectly
 
and no sand is perfect just be carful they may uproot a few times but keep persisting with them and eventually they will root if you can get some root tabs or under sand substrate your plants will thank you a lot more
 
i have a 330L tank running FE co2 and you can see with my pic in the sig my plants are loving it you will not want to go back to a low tech tank again haha
 
enjoy hope this has helped

 

[Aquamaniac]

I never used fire extinguisher co2 but all my co2 system came from Germany and its still working 2 years after.
Just don't buy the co2 bottle from outside the uk. They will not fill it for health and safety reasons. My 2 kg co2 bottle has been abandoned for a long time but I rented a 3kg bottle from Londonbeergas and use it in my system.
Do not buy from the US as from what I heard their systems are not compatible with ours.
As for planting In sand you don't need the pot they will be fine on their own.
Fx5 from what I heard Is already more than enough for 323 litre tank its up to 1500 litre tanks or pond. Don't see the need for the 405.actually the 405 on its own can do that tank. But filtration is never too much.
Beware some fish might not like and get stressed with heavy current, and yes some plants be hard to keep In place with too much flow.
I would only put the fx5 because from my knowledge is extremely overpowered for your tank.

On the othe hand if you are using the 405 for the co2 like you said it's ingeneous and it's really worth the try.A year ago I bought a second filter for my tank planning to do the same, but the plan never left the
paper.

 

[Fluval-1200]

nice other countries i presume you mean HK

and yes they are perfectly fine, altho just remember they may not turn up exactly when you want them i had to w8 nearly 2 months for some drop checkers

was not impressed i ended up buying one from the uk until they arrived,
 
with regards to light i would get two types of bulbs the normal arcadia tropical one and the plant pro one both will do great with 2 of each making 4 in total get the highest power your unit will take that way you cant go wrong,
 
your flow is perfect far more perfect than mine you should aim for 10x turn over and the 3500lph filter is perfect i only have two 1200lph so that single 1200 is no way enough for my tank

but that fluval will be perfect running inline again spot on, i would recommend the older model UP inline diffuser the more triangular model darker black ish plastic rather than the clear cylindrical type that comes with two tubes
 
again i bought mine from HK, it arrived on time and did the job perfectly
 
and no sand is perfect just be carful they may uproot a few times but keep persisting with them and eventually they will root

if you can get some root tabs or under sand substrate your plants will thank you a lot more

 
i have a 330L tank running FE co2 and you can see with my pic in the sig my plants are loving it

you will not want to go back to a low tech tank again haha

 
enjoy hope this has helped

Yah I mean hk, there stuff is way cheaper than here but thought id ask before buying lol
I will get the bulbs the week, the bulb holders say t5 39watt so I guess that's what I need. Should I have all 4 on at the same time or swap between the pair?
 
Yeah your tank looks good, im aiming for a heavy planted tank as it looks good and will make my fish a lot happier

 

I never used fire extinguisher co2 but all my co2 system came from Germany and its still working 2 years after.
Just don't buy the co2 bottle from outside the uk. They will not fill it for health and safety reasons. My 2 kg co2 bottle has been abandoned for a long time but I rented a 3kg bottle from Londonbeergas and use it in my system.
Do not buy from the US as from what I heard their systems are not compatible with ours.
As for planting In sand you don't need the pot they will be fine on their own.
Fx5 from what I heard Is already more than enough for 323 litre tank its up to 1500 litre tanks or pond. Don't see the need for the 405.actually the 405 on its own can do that tank. But filtration is never too much.
Beware some fish might not like and get stressed with heavy current, and yes some plants be hard to keep In place with too much flow.
I would only put the fx5 because from my knowledge is extremely overpowered for your tank.

On the othe hand if you are using the 405 for the co2 like you said it's ingeneous and it's really worth the try.A year ago I bought a second filter for my tank planning to do the same, but the plan never left the
paper.

Im going to be getting the fe from the uk as ive found a recon 2kg for £25 posted which I think is a bargain.
The reason for the fx5 is I have a sailfin pleco which has a big load once he gets full grown.
I had the 405 on its own for awhile but it was crap, once I had it filled with floss and stuff the flow rate came to a trickle.
 
I would use a inline atomiser with the fx5 but I just don't trust it, ive had a drama with my pipe work...had water coming out of tank and the pump blasting it out aswell lol scary stuff and soaking wet carpet lol + I can only find inline that are 22/16mm and the fx5 uses 1'' pipes, if I put the inline on that it would create back pressure and inturn a weak point in the lines.

 

[Fluval-1200]

Just had a look at my bulbs ones a slight white colour other is yellow and they have a faint mark which says GLO, think they might be marine bulbs.
Just off to buy some new ones.

 

[Fluval-1200]

I have been running the arcadia bulb and dosing daily on my ferts, plants look abit better but I have loads of algea lol

 

[SO19Firearms]

Identify your algae here - Then work on the solutions

 

[Fluval-1200]

Identify your algae here - Then work on the solutions

Thanks for the link, I have green dust algea and oedogonium which is low c02 and nutrients

 

[Royston]

I've just bought the jbl 602 co2 system and am a little worried that I will do something wrong.. Do I need to buy a drop checker as I keep reading I should test with one regually ... ?

 

[Fluval-1200]

I've just bought the jbl 602 co2 system and am a little worried that I will do something wrong.. Do I need to buy a drop checker as I keep reading I should test with one regually ... ?

Its a good thing to have
Orderd a full co2 kit over the net couple days ago, its all almost here just waiting on ceramic diffuser. Just shy of £140 all in which isn't to bad for a 2kg f-e system
I decided not to go inline with a secondary filter as it started to leak.
 
Im running 4 39watt bulbs 8 hours a day with a daily dose of macro ferts, 2 GLO bulbs 1 plant pro and 1 bulb that the lfs recommended (he said its same as arcadia just way cheaper)