Diy Pressurised Co2

[Dan Robbins]

I've planning on returning to my previous love for the hobby! I am a student so haven't had the time (or room) to house some of the larger tanks that i have previously owned.
I am thinking of starting a 2ft cube planted with t5 lighting and for the time being a 2200l/h internal filtration system. This will be exchanged to an external system when i can house the aquarium on the solid oak stand that i am building ( in time

)

Anyway, I used to have a 600l planted which was well established and very beautiful with pressurised CO2 systems, i sold the entire thing, including the tank, plants, lightings, filtration - everything for £400.

Looking at the CO2 systems on the market, i am shocked at their prices! I was wondering, Could I just buy a regular regulator, and attach this to a CO2 cylinder? I do not have a problem with manually turning it on/off at night.

Hope somebody can share a little light.
Dan

 

[mike455555]

yep you can, some people use Fire extinguishers for there canister, and you can pick up regs for about £40 on ebay, with solinoids (they switch it on and off) read the guide on here about how to set it up, they are dangerous

 

[techen]

He said he can switch it on and off so he won't need a solonoid. The only issue I seebis if you go out theres no failsafe if you don't come back.

 

[Dan Robbins]

failsafe for what sorry? dan

 

[mike455555]

i think he meant if you play with high pressure gas canisters you may not live to tell the tale. they are dangerous

 

[DrRob]

They're not all that dangerous if you handle them sensibly. Much like the electricity and water that we work with all the time isn't dangerous when done properly.

I suspect he was actually referring to not turning the CO2 off at night if you didn't make it back in the evenings. Generally I would advise someone going down the CO2 route to be pretty picky about their lighting timings, as algae loves the variation the more high tech the tanks get. With the CO2 the simple solution would be to leave it on 24/7, although the cylinder would naturally not last as long in that case.