# Which Co2 Set Up?



## Callum (13 Dec 2011)

So i have a couple of ideas for setting up Co2 in my 25l tank.

Here are the two plans: (excuse my paint "skills"    )


whichco2 by callum fish, on Flickr

As it's a 25L tank plan b would look quite ugly since there woul be a filter taking up a large amount of the tank. 
Plan A total cost: £46.69
Plan B total cost: £14.28

So which one should i go for?


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## spyder (13 Dec 2011)

Plan A is far superior to plan B.


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## Callum (13 Dec 2011)

Will it work better in general?


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## Callum (13 Dec 2011)

Might I add that the filter in plan A will turn over 150L/H and the internal filter in plan be will turnover 200L/H


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

No one else can help?


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## John S (14 Dec 2011)

Plan A should dissolve your CO2 much better than Plan B and, as you mention, the fact that the kit is external gives you more room in the tank. If you have the money it would be Plan B for me. If you could get a filter that got closer to 250LPH then even better.


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

davem said:
			
		

> Plan A should dissolve your CO2 much better than Plan B and, as you mention, the fact that the kit is external gives you more room in the tank. If you have the money it would be Plan B for me. If you could get a filter that got closer to 250LPH then even better.


That would be ideal but i cannot find any 250L/H external filters


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## danmil3s (14 Dec 2011)

go with plan a if you have the cash mate.you can get a filter rated a lot high if you want. most filters have a means to reduce the flow, if not you can fit your own method just an in line tap on the out flow
.


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## Themuleous (14 Dec 2011)

How big is the cylinder you'd be using? If it were me I'd go with whichever is cheaper, as unless you're planning to use those tiny co2 cylinders, then a cylinder (600g and bigger) will last you yonks on a 25lt so you'll bearly notice the difference if one system is slightly better at diffusion than the other.

I'll add that on a 25lt tank, make sure the needle value is a good one, I tried using my disposalbe co2 kit on a 30lt and I couldn't get the very very fine adjustment of the co2 rate that I needed, so was either to low or gassing the fish.

Sam


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

danmil3s said:
			
		

> go with plan a if you have the cash mate.you can get a filter rated a lot high if you want. most filters have a means to reduce the flow, if not you can fit your own method just an in line tap on the out flow
> .


What do you mean by an in line tap on the outflow?


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## danmil3s (14 Dec 2011)

to control the out flow of water. in theory your could use an fx5, and just close the valve on the out flow. if you buy a cheap filter that doesn't have this function you can just fit a tap inline like your atomizer
http://www.screwfix.com/p/isolating-val ... 22mm/71412


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## Themuleous (14 Dec 2011)

How about the tetratec 600 or even 400? They'd be ok on a 25lt I would think.


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## Themuleous (14 Dec 2011)

Or one of these taps

http://www.midlandwaterlife.com/inlineh ... -1185.html

Sam


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

How much better would plan A be better than plan B? Just slightly or a lot better?


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

Anyone had any experience with this external filter? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0688485908 (on a bit of a budget here)


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## Callum (14 Dec 2011)

PS: There's a plan C    


plan2 by callum fish, on Flickr


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## spyder (15 Dec 2011)

Plan A is good.

Plan B. I've tried this, was the first pressurised injection method I tried. You have to keep fiddling with diffuser position and watch co2 bubbles rise past filter inlets and vent off to atmosphere.

Plan C is also viable and sometimes used when multiple filters are used. The filter circulating the co2 would run with less or even no media and serve only as a co2 reactor. I've not done plan c myself.

Currently I only use plan A on my 125l that is linked in my sig. If your on a budget, the tank is small so go for plan b. If you want spend a little more and get better flow and distribution with less headaches, less gear in the tank (which helps in small tanks) and having smoother maintenance then plan A is what you want.


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## Themuleous (15 Dec 2011)

Given that many ppople just have the diffucer in the corner of the tank and get good diffusion anyway, I doubt you'll notice the difference between the various options.  

You could also just push the end of the co2 tubing into the fitler intake and the bubbles would get sucked in that way.  Would avoid the need for a diffuser all together.

Have you also considered inline differsers, these are very good.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CO2-Carbon-Di ... 19cbcfb014

Cant say Ive used that filter specifcailly, but the cheapo ones are all a much of a muchness these days.  The main difference I have found is that the cheaper ones tend to be more noisy.

Sam


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## Callum (15 Dec 2011)

Been reading over your comments a couple of times and they have been a great help, thanks! Will see how much money I've got after Christmas and take it from there


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## Callum (31 Dec 2011)

Going for plan A.


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