# Nutrafin my Nano.



## Luketendo (13 Jun 2008)

I'm looking to get a Nutrafin Kit for my nano of 30L, but have a couple of questions.

How much of teaspoon of yeast should I use?
How often should I change the mix (less yeast, longer lasting I heard)?
Do I really need a drop checker?


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## aaronnorth (13 Jun 2008)

I would use 1/2 teaspoon the up it to 1 if you need more
Change it once a week, to make sure you are getting a steady output all the time, 
drop checker would be nice so you can get a constant reading but if not, then refer to the kh/ ph table to work a rough measurement out.


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## Luketendo (13 Jun 2008)

To add more, it's this or Tetra CO2 Optimat. I guess Nutrafin wins?


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## aaronnorth (14 Jun 2008)

nutrafin, the optimat i have heard can sometimes need filling up twice a day, and the nutrafin has a better diffuser.


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## Wolfenrook (14 Jun 2008)

Neither, go DIY with 2 1 litre (instead of 2 litre) plastic fizzy drink bottles and a lime wood or glass nano diffuser.  This will allow for far more stable CO2 amounts than the nutrafin units as you can stagger your bottle fills.

Save the Â£14 and spend about Â£5 instead (lime wood diffuser, length of air line, air line t-piece or t valve, tube of aquarium silicon sealent).

The ladder type diffusers used on the nutrafin units are no where near as good as even a lime wood diffuser, and are really prone to blockages.

Ade


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## aaronnorth (14 Jun 2008)

forot to say i used a glass ceramic diffuser n my nutrafin.


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## Luketendo (14 Jun 2008)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> forot to say i used a glass ceramic diffuser n my nutrafin.



Rhinox?


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## Wolfenrook (14 Jun 2008)

I've read that rhinox type diffusers don't work with yeast, they require more pressure than you get with yeast systems.  However the nano ones are reputed to work quite well with yeast.

The lime wood air diffusers as sold for the marine hobby are really cheap however, and definitely do work.

Ade


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## aaronnorth (14 Jun 2008)

Luketendo said:
			
		

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i used these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/__Fish_Lot-of-2-C ... 286.c0.m14


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## Luketendo (14 Jun 2008)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> Luketendo said:
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Yeah, Rhinox probably.


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## LondonDragon (14 Jun 2008)

Rhinox are not designed for DIY CO2 they need a lot of pressure, I would go for the nano diffusor that you can find on ebay or the flower version. The Rhinox 1000 might work fine, but any higher and you asking for trouble.


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## Luketendo (14 Jun 2008)

Probably gonna try out the ladder.

How much of teaspoon of yeast should I use?
How often should I change the mix (less yeast, longer lasting I heard)?
Do I really need a drop checker?

Need more opinions.


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## Ed Seeley (15 Jun 2008)

Luketendo said:
			
		

> Probably gonna try out the ladder.
> 
> How much of teaspoon of yeast should I use?
> How often should I change the mix (less yeast, longer lasting I heard)?
> ...



I'm going to stick up for the ladder on the Nutrafin kits here.  Contrary to popular belief they are pretty efficient at lower bubble rates.  They only fall down when the bubble rate is very high or they aren't in an area of high flow (but then glass diffusers wouldn't be much good here either).  I have a Nutrafin kit on the tank in my classroom and as the bubbles travel up you can see them getting smaller as the CO2 dissolves, or diffuses, into the water.  When you also consider that there are other gases coming out of solution into the bubble as it travels up the ladder then the reduction in volume is pretty high.  Someone on APC calculated that the ladder must be well over 90% efficient based on just the reduction in volume!  I don't think 90% efficiency is that bad really for CO2; I know my glass diffusers allow a lot of CO2 to go straight to the top and I bet they're not 90% efficient.

(By the way an A-Level teacher was in my class and was amazed my kids knew gases dissolved as some of his A-Level students find that idea tricky.  They learnt it watching the bubbles shrink up the ladder.  He's buying some CO2 kits to help teach this principle now...   )


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## Wolfenrook (15 Jun 2008)

Oh I'm not nocking the efficiency of diffusion from the ladders, when they are working properly they are great.  The problem with them is that in my experience they rarely work properly.  All it takes is a leaf to make it into the path or a snail to lay it's eggs in there (the snail itself is a problem to. lol), and before you know it your ladder is doing a great impression of a bell jar.   I found myself having to try to unblock mine (had 2) at least twice a day, and in the end got fed up of it and switched to using a lime wood diffuser positioned under the outlet from my filter.

As to the mix, I would advise in a smaller tank to use no more than 1/2 teaspoon (2.5mls) of yeast.  Better yet, run 2 canisters hooked up to the one diffuser and stagger the refills every few days and use slightly less yeast.  Using just 1 you are going to have a lot more peaks and troughs in CO2 production.

Ade


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## Ed Seeley (15 Jun 2008)

Wolfenrook said:
			
		

> Oh I'm not nocking the efficiency of diffusion from the ladders, when they are working properly they are great.  The problem with them is that in my experience they rarely work properly.  All it takes is a leaf to make it into the path or a snail to lay it's eggs in there (the snail itself is a problem to. lol), and before you know it your ladder is doing a great impression of a bell jar.   I found myself having to try to unblock mine (had 2) at least twice a day, and in the end got fed up of it and switched to using a lime wood diffuser positioned under the outlet from my filter.



All very true.  I don't seem to get too many blockages on mine, but no snails in that tank!  They also aren't the most beautiful things in the world!!!


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## Wolfenrook (15 Jun 2008)

Clear suckers instead of the ugly black ones would help.  But I tend to find that clear suckers don't stay clear anyway.   

Ade


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## Luketendo (15 Jun 2008)

I will try 1/2 tsp and failing that less.


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