Fluval mini 20g co2 set

[Darren Carter]

Hello guys looking for advice I have just been given an early birthday present by a family member it the fluval mini 20g co2 unit for my 50l tank, I haven’t ever run a co2 unit only ever used liquid co2 has any one got any pointers about what I do how long I leave it on etc sorry for all the questions just wanting to learn

 

[alto]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade

but have a difficult time finding positives about this particular bit of kit
I think the Tropica 60 lists at similar price & is cheaper to run & just as effective as both use a "bell" for passive diffusion of CO2 into the tank - this is more CO2 than if none were provided to the tank but ...

(in my area, Fluval seems to have dropped sales of both the Mini 20 & the 88 kit, Tropica's 60 is priced much less than the Mini 20 was)


I've copied over a comment from PlantedTank as I couldn't find this realistic analysis elsewhere

I just picked up a used one on the cheap. I work in a bike shop and have an endless supply of the 16 gram cartridges for bike use (they use the same threading). I have it hooked to a bubble counter and ceramic diffuser. So for me it's getting me by until I have my dual-stage setup all together. I have found the regulator/valve to be quite inconsistent. It'll drop from 3-4 bps to 0 over the course of a few hours. It is designed to just fill they're plastic diffuser, not hold a consistent rate. Since I have literally like 60 16g cartridges at home, and no fish or inverts, I've just been blasting the tank with it for now.
The retail kit is not worth it in my opinion. The diffuser is huge, and as mentioned refills are pricey. Many people are using the Fluval 88 system with success, again tho it gets expensive.

The thought of the gift was lovely
& it's a fun option to try out on your tank

Look at CO2Art for more practical CO2 kits - with small children & depending on tank location, I'd likely go with a Soda Stream kit (& leave the fire extinguisher version for later)

 

[Darren Carter]

Ok thank you I will look in to it, out of intrest the soda Stream co2 bottles how long do they last run time

 

[alto]

Soda Stream bottles contain 600g CO2 - note you should check bottle weight upon purchase as there are reports of underfulled SS bottles

It rather depends upon what your daily CO2 consumption ends up being
If you have harder water, it takes more CO2 to manage that pH drop (assuming that's how you decide to run your tank)
If you have very soft water, rather less CO2 (by weight) is needed

Obviously larger tanks/water volume mean more CO2 consumption
Higher light also generally correlates with higher CO2 requirement by plants
Loads of fast growing stem plants will generally consume more CO2 daily than fewer, moderate growth rate plants
Individual plant species often have different CO2 requirements (Tropica offers a rating system for their plants)

Sorry I don't recall your tank details

It's also quite possible to have nice planted tanks without adding pressurized CO2

 

[alto]

Low-tech project | 60x35x35 |74
- a rather nice non-pressurized CO2 tank

 

[ian_m]

I get through 0.014gr or CO2 per hour per litre with a green/slight yellow drop checker, with very very very hard water (22º).

Thus for your 50l tank, and having to run 24/7 as no solenoid to turn off during out of hours, you will need 0.014 * 24 * 50 gr per day -> 17gr per day. Thus your 20gr CO2 will last just over a day.....

Using a 1Kg fire extinguisher and solenoid for say only 8 hours will use 0.014 x 8 x 50 -> 6gr per day and 2Kg will therefore last 333 days, about a year. I pay £10 per 2Kg FE.

You need to put your thinking hat on !!!.

 

[Tim Harrison]

I agree with alto and Ian, its an expensive and perhaps unreliable way to add CO2 to your tank. I'd give this particular piece of kit a wide birth and buy a fire extinguisher set up instead.
The initial outlay may seem expensive but you will recoup the cost pretty quickly over what the Fluval would have cost you.

Check out this tutorial https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/fire-extinguisher-co2.266/
And any of these will set you in good stead https://www.co2art.co.uk/collections/complete-co2-systems