# CO2 in a nano? HOW?



## Curare (Sep 15, 2004)

I have a 2 gallon nano, that I want to inject with c02, trouble is, I don't know how I can do it effectively on such a small scale.

Have any of you come up with ways to make it work?

Right now I'm just plumbing it into a little chiffon sack.


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## TommyBoy (Jan 7, 2005)

*i'm playing with this myself*

A friend suggested using an airstone for a DIY coke bottle / yeast set up. finally got around to setting it all up today and so far it just seems to make small bubbles that all come out one side of the stone. I don't think this is quite the perfect solution.

I've also seen a new "egg"/diffuser bell by Red Sea that looks like it would not be too big in size for one of my 2.5 gal. But its priced at $35.00 (USD) which is more than I wanted to spend initially. And, I'd hate to spend that and have it work less or as "well" as the airstone.


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## New 2 fish (Dec 26, 2004)

Not sure how this will work for you guys, but I'll tell you what I use in my 10g, and will be using in my 5.5. I have a Fluval 1 internal filter in each of them. It's not very big compared to other filters I've seen. I run my CO2 tubing into the back of the filter, into one of the holes used for attaching the suction cups. I soften the force of the water coming out of the filter by attaching a small T adapter to the outlet and directing one end against the glass. I've thought about making a spray bar attachment too. The filter then shoots out CO2, and although I haven't measured the CO2 levels, it gets my plants pearling. The filter is about $12 online, so I've found it's a nice inexpensive way to get CO2 into these tanks.


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## zapus (May 26, 2004)

Just be careful, it's easy to overdose a smaller tank. I switched yeasts once and woke up to a tank somewhere below pH 6. Several fatalities resulted.


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## Laith (Jul 7, 2004)

I think Seachem's Excel would work well in such a small tank no?

I've never tried it but it is supposed to be a good source of carbon.


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## New 2 fish (Dec 26, 2004)

I haven't been too happy with the results from excel, but that may be my own fault for not dosing ferts consistently enough.
BTW...I am agitating my 5.5 gallon right now, bc I just installed the CO2 to the filter and after a few hours, the fish were at the surface!


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## New 2 fish (Dec 26, 2004)

Yup, I give up. The filter method is way too strong here in the 5.5. The tap water is very soft- with a kh of 0, but I added baking soda yesterday and I'm still getting gasping fish today. I have to take some water home to test the kh again, but it looks like this is way too much CO2 for this tank


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

I just use a hagen ladder, just like in a larger tank. In my nano tank it doesn't sit all the way under water, but works great. (It is in the right side of the tank in the picture.) The only time I had a problem with it was once when I took it off the timer and forgot to turn on the lights. I then had a PH crash and had to rescue my shrimp ASAP before they croaked. Check it out:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=625
This tank has been up for around a year now. The only changes I have made is to remove the riccia in the foreground and replace it with H. callitrichoides and add some petite nana.
-Aphyosemion


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

In my 2 gallon, I am using the DIY CO2 with a gatorade bottle. I put the airstone inside a small glass jar - like a tabasco bottle - and the bubbles collect inside, right next to the outflow of Hagen's new Elite series filter. (They're tiny! and you can control the flow on it) If it loks like there's too much CO2 for the fish to handle, I use the filter's airline to inject some oxygen (which I sometimes do at night). 

Also, you just have to balance the CO2 with enough light. I run a 75 watt gro light on the 2g and the CO2 barely affects the pH.


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

Hmmm...let me see if my math is correct here. Seventy five watts on 2 gallons...hmm.... that seems to be... 37.5 watts per gallon!!! So, how's the algae on that tank? Not a problem? Does your water ever boil? :icon_bigg 
-Aphyosemion


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

:tongue: No algae at all. Weird, huh?


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## anonapersona (Oct 19, 2002)

New 2 fish said:


> Yup, I give up. The filter method is way too strong here in the 5.5. The tap water is very soft- with a kh of 0, but I added baking soda yesterday and I'm still getting gasping fish today. I have to take some water home to test the kh again, but it looks like this is way too much CO2 for this tank


With KH=0, I'd think any CO2 is too much, you'd probably get a good pH swing by using a straw to blow bubbles into the tank each time you passed. I'm not kidding.


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

sarahbobarah said:


> :tongue: No algae at all. Weird, huh?


Maybe the algae can't stand the heat. Do you ever walk through the room and smell cooking fish? :icon_bigg 
New2Fish I would get that KH up to at least 3 or 4. 
-Aphyosemion


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## New 2 fish (Dec 26, 2004)

Nod... I've been adding calcium, magnesium and baking soda and disconnected the CO2 until I get a handle on this. Thanks.


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

sarahbobarah said:


> Also, you just have to balance the CO2 with enough light. I run a 75 watt gro light on the 2g and the CO2 barely affects the pH.


I have to assume that this is an incandescent bulb, right? I've never seen a 75W fluorescent or PC bulb.


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Oh, and regarding the addition of CO2, I too, would stick with Excel dosing. I have a 20H under a single 65w PC bulb that gets 1-2ml of Excel per day and the plants are doing great (unfortunately, so is the Cladophora algae). With a 3-week vacation coming up in August I'll probably break down and get a presurized CO2 system installed just to keep the amount of maintenance down for whoever we get to tend the house while we're gone.


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## sarahbobarah (May 20, 2005)

Yup, one of those incs that you can get at Home Depot or something. Stuck it in a clamp lamp for reptiles and yeah, makes the water warm. Fish aren't bothered, though.


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## turtlmonkymaster (Jun 5, 2005)

if you are near a pet store or any aquarium store they sometimes have a live plant section or tank made solely for live plants if you look around this arewa in the store there are often 1 or 2 different systems of co2 sold for a realitive cheap price. the one im talking about has to different ways one way is to drop in a pellet that puts off co2. its 1 pellet to 10 gallons. the other is like a less complex way of setting a true co2 system. it has a sounrce thar runs though air tubing and comes out in the place of your chosing. hope this helps. peace


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2005)

sarahbobarah said:


> Yup, one of those incs that you can get at Home Depot or something. Stuck it in a clamp lamp for reptiles and yeah, makes the water warm. Fish aren't bothered, though.


You should switch to using one of the 9 or 13 Watts florescent bulb. They consume 1/8 th of the energy while producing the same amount of ligth for your plants.
Edit: arg, I can't spell


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## gnome (Mar 9, 2004)

In my 2.5-gallon [sort-of] planted tank, I put the output end of my CO2 line through an overturned soda cap, and the cap basically acts as a "bell diffuser." The tubing is held in place with suction cups and the cap is close to the bottom of the tank. Only bummer is that it "burps" once there's too much CO2 collected under the cap. But it seems to work to some degree. I can grow golden lloydiella (Lysimachia nummularia 'aurea') in this tank under an 8W normal-output 6500K fluorescent bulb light. HC is also growing and spreading. HOWEVER, I also dose Excel as recommended, so it's hard to say which one is doing more good. Oh, and I also keep the filter turned off. I only turn it on for a few minutes each day when I dose the ferts. So with no circulation, I think it helps to keep the CO2 from degassing too quickly.

I have algae in this tank, but I think the only way I'll be able to get rid of it is to plant more densely. I had to move a bunch of stuff out of this tank recently, so I only have like one tiny Downoi, a small patch of HC and like four or five stems of golden lloydiella in there - not only that, but the big wad of floating riccia is blocking the light over at least half of the tank. 

Same deal with my 4-gallon 'long.' I have the same sort of set-up, dose Excel, and it has a 14W NO fluorescent light. This tank has green water right now, but it's also growing M. umbrosum, Hottonia palustris, and dwarf lobelia. And when the CO2 peters out, the M. umbrosum starts to look ratty, so I know it's doing *something.* 

-Naomi


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## hman2853 (Jul 24, 2005)

haha i was about to say just get a straw and start blowing, but someone beat me to it! roud:


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