[APD] RE: Hagen CO2 Natural

["Rachel Sandage" <rachelsor at hotmail_com>]

Christine wrote a great response about DIY vs. using the Hagen CO2 natural. 
I completely agree with her about the tiny packets being a rip off, and to 
add insult to injury I have also gotten ones which had expired, so the yeast 
was dead. I have since started using my own activator (yeast) and stabilizer 
(baking soda).

But what I really liked about her reply was how it pointed out everything 
that I love so much about the system - you go to one place and buy one thing 
and it has and does everything you need - much like the Marineland eclipse 
systems. And it looks good, besides. To me, the ability to get into the CO2 
game without having to learn anything at all about CO2 recipes, yeast types, 
getting the hose to seal to the cap, etc, seems to me to be almost 
priceless. When beginners have gotten their feet wet, they can toss the tiny 
canister and do the whole make-your own soda bottle thing, having paid an 
extra $5 for the convenience of plug-n-play ($5 is roughly the difference 
between the entire hagen system and the diffusor alone).

I can't comment about the bakers yeast vs champagne yeast, but I can say 
that I have not noticed the behavior Christine talked about where the CO2 
goes really well for a short time, then drops off sharply in 2-3 weeks. Nor 
have I seen the foaming, but that may be because the canister and contents 
are proportioned differently than a soda bottle.

I had been running canister CO2 into my 75 gallon for 2 years before I got 
the CO2 natural systems for my 10 and 29 gallon tanks. I knew both tanks 
would do better with CO2, but really, really did not want to mess with all 
the DIY stuff I'd seen on the list - and my LFS even sells the soda bottles 
made up already. Jello, no jello, how to get it to diffuse - it was all too 
much for me. Not to mention the ugliness of the bottle on the counter in the 
kitchen! This was a great way to go.

As always, I have no connection with the company, but I really like the 
product.

-Rachel

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