my cheap diy co2 project

[budwick weiser]

so i get this bright idea yesterday that i'm going to set up my 30 gallon tank in time for the sunday auction... i know that i want it to be incredibly planted, so i decided to make a very cheap but hopefully effective co2 diffuser... so here is a picture of all the crap that i rounded up this evening...http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f154/dbuffguy/DIGI0002.jpg

[budwick weiser]

so i kind of copied andrew's setup... but i'm using that small pump to pull the water and the co2 thru the fish tank... it will all be completely submerged in the back of the 30 gallon behind some driftwood... of course the co2 canister and the regulator will all be under the stand

[Blake]

did you get it installed yet?

[budwick weiser]

lol.. no... i still have a few odds and ends to buy and to drill and spray paint

[budwick weiser]

sorry my blueprints aren't perfectly to scale like andrew's... but here is my ideahttp://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f154/dbuffguy/diffuser.jpg

[AndrewH]

Looks like it'll work just fine and it seem perfectly sized for a 30 gallon tank too.

[budwick weiser]

what should i put inside the canister portion? just bio balls? should i use gravel or something else also? i'm just building this to the specs of you guys lol!!! and i'm trying to have it done before the auction on sunday!

[ElijahTurtle]

what should i put inside the canister portion? just bio balls? should i use gravel or something else also? i'm just building this to the specs of you guys lol!!! and i'm trying to have it done before the auction on sunday!

Gravel would probbably get sucked into your powerhead so I wouldn't use that. Bio balls will be fine.

[AndrewH]

The only problem with putting something in side is the fact you have to make a way to open it back up later on to clean it out.

Mine was designed not to have anything in it at all (but it is 24" tall), but if I were going to put something in it I'd go with bioballs ;).

[ambitionz]

how much did you spent on this? where can i get all this stuff i want to do a 30g planted i have 2 plants in it theyre growing fast but i want to add co2 and more plants :D

[budwick weiser]

well.... i have it still.... but i scrapped it until i get a canister filter and can run it inline.... the powerhead wasn't strong enough to make the bubbles drop through the tube. right now i'm just using a co2 bell

[supersmirky]

Build a reactor out of clear PVC, Bioballs, and hook it to the canister filter.

[biggin]

Why clear PVC? I would go with regular pvc and save the $$.

Build a reactor out of clear PVC, Bioballs, and hook it to the canister filter.

[budwick weiser]

ya... one of these days i'll use it

[supersmirky]

Cause clear PVC looks cool!!! :hehe:

[biggin]

Just making sure I was not missing something.

Cause clear PVC looks cool!!! :hehe:

[Typical Tony]

any update on this? im thinking of making one myself.

[budwick weiser]

it's sitting in the corner of the room. i'm just using a plastic bell that i manually fill up with co2.

[supersmirky]

You could always just rig the airline tube up the the power head and let the impellar chop the bubbles and disperse them...or there is always the ceramic diffuser method as well