# Choosing a pressurized Co2 system -beginner help



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

sub-80 said:


> I found this kit from JBL, ProFlora m602 which has 500 g refillable CO₂ cylinder with stand, pressure regulator, night switch-off, CO₂ diffuser JBL Taifun 270 mm, 2 meter CO₂ special hose, CO₂ check valve, CO₂/pH Permanent Test.Would this last 6 months for the 125 liter or 70 liter?


No, 500 grams of CO2 will not last half a year on either of your aquariums.

I would strongly recommend you invest in a regular sized CO2 cylinder (5 pounds or up). 



sub-80 said:


> There is also this Co2 set from GLA.
> 
> If there is a better system please inform me, max price range about $350. :icon_cry:


GLA is a good source, if a bit on the expensive side (in my opinion). Orlando provides great service, but due to overhead, it necessitates a higher cost.

There are other users on these forums that will sell completely assembled setups as well (myself, Bettatail, oldpunk78).



sub-80 said:


> I thought a refillable canister would be best so that when the canister is empty I could go to the nearest fire extinguisher store to refill it. I heard it fine to use the co2 from a fire extinguisher for aquarium use, is that true? Is there no difference between the Co2 gas in canisters from aquarium stores and the co2 found in fire extinguishers? If there is, is it dangerous to shrimps or other aquatic animals?


There is no difference, but you cannot use a regular off the shelf fire extinguisher because they often have other chemicals (foaming agents) in them. Also, I believe they siphon from the bottom of the CO2 cylinder instead of taking the gas from the top.



sub-80 said:


> For US resident members, when you order from an online store based in Europe when the item gets delivered does the delivering company ask for an import tax or additional fees?


I live in Canada, so cannot say for certain, but FedEx/UPS usually charge a brokerage fee for anything that comes from out of country.


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

Darkblade48 said:


> GLA is a good source, if a bit on the expensive side (in my opinion). Orlando provides great service, but due to overhead, it necessitates a higher cost.


Is there a brand you would recommend for a novice. The only co2 system kits that I could find that for 5lb cylinders that were available in us based online stores are GLA, which is expensive but seems great and Red Sea which I doesn't appear to be a good product.

Thank you for replying you put my mind at ease for most of the questions. Am currently looking for a co2 refill station in my country. There isn't a refill station for aquarium cylinders so am fire extinguisher stores or stores that deal with compressed gas.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

sub-80 said:


> Is there a brand you would recommend for a novice. The only co2 system kits that I could find that for 5lb cylinders that were available in us based online stores are GLA, which is expensive but seems great and Red Sea which I doesn't appear to be a good product.


I personally don't recommend commercially available regulators like Red Sea, Milwaukee, Aquatek, etc. I have had bad experiences with them, but there are others that have had good experiences with them too, so that is a decision for you to make.

GLA is probably one of the more well known online distributors of CO2 setups. As I previously mentioned, several users on these forums also build CO2 setups. 



sub-80 said:


> Am currently looking for a co2 refill station in my country. There isn't a refill station for aquarium cylinders so am fire extinguisher stores or stores that deal with compressed gas.


I am not sure where you live, but in general, fire extinguisher places, stores that cater to industrial welding or beer making stores will refill your CO2 cylinders. Some hydroponic stores also refill cylinders.


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## watercage (Oct 12, 2009)

Might want to check out this thread, just from the last few days

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203841


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

watercage said:


> Might want to check out this thread, just from the last few days
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203841


Thanks for the link.



Darkblade48 said:


> As I previously mentioned, several users on these forums also build CO2 setups.


I appreciate it but no thanks. I want to gain experience and knowledge by building the system myself.



Darkblade48 said:


> I am not sure where you live, but in general, fire extinguisher places, stores that cater to industrial welding or beer making stores will refill your CO2 cylinders. Some hydroponic stores also refill cylinders.


I live in the hot country of Kuwait. Am sure there is a co2 refill station but there is no info of it online in english, which means I have to go to a few stores and make a few calls. There's a lot of possible stores.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

sub-80 said:


> I appreciate it but no thanks. I want to gain experience and knowledge by building the system myself.


If you want to build the system yourself, then I would avoid commercially available products such as the ones you mentioned.

You can build a much cheaper (or for the same price, a much higher quality) pressurized CO2 setup. 

For details on all the parts, take a look at the pressurized CO2 guide that I wrote (linked in my signature).



sub-80 said:


> I live in the hot country of Kuwait. Am sure there is a co2 refill station but there is no info of it online in english, which means I have to go to a few stores and make a few calls. There's a lot of possible stores.


Sorry I can't help you with that, but that's some legwork you'll have to do.


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

Darkblade48 Thank you for compiling this info on pressurized Co2 system it's a great help.


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

Hey Darkblade48.

I found an app called aquarium calculator with a blue and green logo. It calculates the bubbles per minute you should set depending on your tank size and it gave me 12 bubbles/min for 125 liter tank. And another tool states the lifespan of the Co2 cylinder and according to the calculation 5lb running on 12 bubbles/min for 24/7 lasts 62 months. 124 months if there is a night cut duration of 12 hours. Are these values close?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

sub-80 said:


> Hey Darkblade48.
> 
> I found an app called aquarium calculator with a blue and green logo. It calculates the bubbles per minute you should set depending on your tank size and it gave me 12 bubbles/min for 125 liter tank. And another tool states the lifespan of the Co2 cylinder and according to the calculation 5lb running on 12 bubbles/min for 24/7 lasts 62 months. 124 months if there is a night cut duration of 12 hours. Are these values close?


I doubt the values are close.

There are so many factors at play here, bubble size, whether or not you have leaks, etc.

If you run CO2 24/7 at 1 bubble per 5 seconds, I doubt it will last 62 months (this is more than 5 years...).

The calculator then goes on to say that if you only have it on for 12 hours a day, you will get 10 years out of it? Very doubtful.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

sub-80 said:


> I found an app called aquarium calculator with a blue and green logo. It calculates the bubbles per minute you should set depending on your tank size and it gave me 12 bubbles/min for 125 liter tank. And another tool states the lifespan of the Co2 cylinder and according to the calculation 5lb running on 12 bubbles/min for 24/7 lasts 62 months. 124 months if there is a night cut duration of 12 hours. Are these values close?


Bubbles will vary in size depending on the set up so this is very inaccurate. You should get a drop checker. It's a bit better than bubbles per second thing.


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

yeah something seemed off.

For 125 liter tank how many bubbles per minute should i have for a heavily planted tank?

And for a medium planted 60 liter tank. How much should the CO2 concentration be?

Second, cylinder sizes am thinking 10lb for the 125 liter so it might last 6 months and the 60 liter 5lb, what do you think?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

sub-80 said:


> yeah something seemed off.
> 
> For 125 liter tank how many bubbles per minute should i have for a heavily planted tank?
> 
> And for a medium planted 60 liter tank. How much should the CO2 concentration be?


Regardless of aquarium size, you should not be looking at bubble rate as a determination of how much CO2 to inject. So many factors play into bubble size that it is meaningless other than as a quick method to determine approximately how much gas you are injecting into the aquarium.

On top of this, once the gas is in the aquarium, it does not mean the CO2 is actually being dissolved. This then depends on your method of diffusion; some are more efficient than others.

The cheapest way to determine how much CO2 you have in your aquarium is with a drop checker (with a 4 dkH reference solution). This will turn green when there is ~30 ppm of CO2 in your water.



sub-80 said:


> Second, cylinder sizes am thinking 10lb for the 125 liter so it might last 6 months and the 60 liter 5lb, what do you think?


This is fine. I always recommend the largest cylinder possible for your setup; that way, you do not need to refill it as often. I used to run an ADA Mini-S (13.4L ~ 3.5 US gallons) off a 10 pound CO2 cylinder.

Another possibility to consider if your aquariums are close together is to just run both of them off a single cylinder.


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## sub-80 (Oct 29, 2012)

Yeah I have a drop checker installed already. For the small tank I am going to use seneye reef, got it cheap from a friend.


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