Co2 question

• To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
• Subject: Co2 question
• From: George Booth <booth at hpmtlgb1_lvld.hp.com>
• Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 09:55:19 -0600
• In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 24 Jul 1995 03:39:04 EDT." <199507240739.DAA10834 at looney_actwin.com>

> From: mleather at tbdmil_com
> 
> What should I estimate as the average cost of a CO2 sytem that is low
> maintance?

$75-100 for a 5-20 pound tank (new, cheaper if you buy used)
$40-60 for a regulator with high and low pressure gauges
$10-35 for a good fine control valve
$10 for some kind of DIY reactor
----
$135-205.

> And again what should I consider that the aerage cost is going to be
> to keep rechareging the system?

A refill costs about $10 for any size tank up to 20 pounds.  We get
about 2 months from a 5# tank, 5 months from a 10# tank and 15 months
on from a 20# tank (90 gallon setups).  Your use may vary.

> My intention is to set up the CO2 to turn on when the light turn on and off 
> when the lights turn off.  Is this a good idea or not?

Bad idea.  You will have smaller pH swings if you leave the CO2 on all
the time.  If you turn it off at night, it will all diffuse out of the
water and it will take 3 or 4 hours to raise the level once the lights
come on.  The plants are CO2 starved during this time.  When the
lights go out, there is still lot's of CO2 in the water not being
used.  You aren't gaining much by cycling the CO2 with the lights and
there are lot's of drawbacks.

The George

• Prev: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #197
• Next: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #201
• Index: Aquatic-Plants Mailing List