# co2 kits



## Shrimplett (Mar 21, 2013)

We're can I find a co2 kit thats moderately priced for a 55 gallon tank? What's the average price for a kit? Is buying stuff seperatly cheaper or about the same in the long run? Thanks


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## rowdaddy (Mar 21, 2013)

As always, I'll give you my $.02 

~ Disclaimer ~ I do not have a pressurized CO2 system. I never have.


I have often thought of going with pressurized CO2. The general consensus I've found is that the cheapest way to go is to buy the pieces individually. Ie. Tank, regulator, bubble counter, etc. You do have to make sure the pieces you find will fit together. 
In turn, you could get a kit that has everything you need. All in one package. Great being a one stop shop, but most likely you'll find it to be the more expensive route.

Through my research, the best places to find CO2 equipment/kits are:

Craigslist: Quite often when people are getting out of the hobby, they turn to craigslist. Moat likely you will five used equipment. That means used equipment prizes. There is the chance the equipment might be faulty, and Craigslist does not offer warranties or refunds. 

Restaurant Supply shops/Closing restaurants & bars: The tanks and regulators used by some restaurants and bars, will work for a planted tank. This is definitely not going to be the place for a one stop shop. However, since they aren't being sold for a specially purpose they'll most likely be cheaper than you'll find from an aquarium supply house.

Local Fish Club/ LFS: Try to make connections with local hobbyists. You might find someone who is getting out of the hobby, or is upgrading their system. You might be able to find a great deal, or maybe a trade. If you decide to go piece by piece, you can proudly support your local lfs by purchasing you're more specialized needs here. 

Google: Google


As far as actual pricing. I'd rather someone with more experience with pressurized systems answer. If nothing else, maybe this will be the longest "bump" in history.



I am Rowdaddy. 
SC Aquaria


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## Shrimplett (Mar 21, 2013)

Craigslist is nice, but horrible at the same time lol. The cheapest tank I have found on Craigslist is about $100 bucks. And that's just the tank and nothing else, though it could be because the tanks are 20lb. I don't even know if I'm going to do pressurized co2 because it's expensive. Whats your experance with DIY co2? Anything good, bad, annoying?


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

I haven't seen a 20 pound tank for sale in my area for less than 100. I have one that lasts on my seventy five gallon for almost a year, but I don't use much. I pieced mine together, I didn't think it was too hard, just a lot of research about thread sizes and adapters. Most definitely the cheaper/higher quality route. Most of the package deals I looked at we're way out of my price range or pretty low quality (it seemed). There are some good threads on the planted tank about piecing regs together, and I sent a few pm's to make sure I knew what I was doing. But in the end, I got a regulator way better built than most 'aquarium' regulators, for thirty five bucks shipped to me house. I had to buy some more parts to make it do what I wanted and connect everything, but it has served me well. As far as DIY co2, it is great, terrible and annoying. I ran it on a fifty five in the past, and it took four 3 liter bottles for a mediocre amount of gas, they needed replacing all the time, always resealing the bottles. But it was a massive improvement in my success with plants, and there is no major initial investment. However in my experience with both methods, I think that it wouldn't take that long to get back the money spent on a pressurized system rather than pouring money constantly into yeast and sugar. Unless you happened to be making some wine anyway, haha.


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## Mountain Maker (Jan 10, 2013)

could always go paintball, but in a 55g, mega-paintball CO2.


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## Shrimplett (Mar 21, 2013)

Thanks everybody, all good answers! Hmm.... I might just piece everything together, it sound like it cheaper that way. I agree that kits are over priced, the kits at my LFS are about $200-300 bucks. Everything I read about DIY co2 says its good, bad, and annoying lol. It seem you have to replace the co2 constantly and that it can also be very unstable at times. I have not found any larger paint ball tanks around my area. I don't really know much about the paint ball co2 thing anyway.


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## tipsy mcstager (Apr 6, 2013)

i use the paintball type setup, well the tanks anyways.
this was convenient for me haveing a large paintball shop close by. (columbus ohio).
the tanks (20oz,24oz) only cost $22 & $24, respectively. with free one year refills
so the proximity (of refills), and cost. was the my reason for going with a paintball tank.



i went with a single stage regulator, Solenoid Valve, with Bubble Counter from Milwaukee Instruments for $89 (bought online).
it took about 4 days to get the right bubble count going, (5 bps) by setting the output psi, and then fine tuneing the needle valve.







if you do end up useing a paintball tank. you'll need a co2 tank to CGA320 adapter, about $10 or so online.



i get about 8 weeks out the 24 oz tank, and 6 weeks from the 20oz tank (75gal-5bps) so plenty of time to get the other tank refilled:wink:

lol...........abit messy under there, but oh well i guess!


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## Shrimplett (Mar 21, 2013)

Thank you for the pics!!! It helped a lot! What size tank do you have this setup in? How often do you refill it? I think I have a paintball place close by me but not sure. How much did it all cost to setup?


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## tipsy mcstager (Apr 6, 2013)

well, as i said the tanks were (20oz,24oz) cost $22 & $24. with free 1 year refills.
the regulator was $89, and the CGA320 adapter was 10 or 12 bucks at the paintball shop.
75 gal(5bps) about 8 weeks on the 24oz and 6 with the 20oz.............................................


i think it is cheaper to buy the pieces individually, that regulator came ready to hook up to a normal
co2 tank. it ain't the best out there, but hay. it works well for me right?
i found if it says "aquarium" on it, your going to pay twice what it really worth.


just my opinion, so.................................................:wink:


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## Shrimplett (Mar 21, 2013)

How quickly do you think I would go through a 24oz paintball co2 in a heavely planted 55 gallon?


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## jseyfert3 (Apr 9, 2012)

Shrimplett said:


> How quickly do you think I would go through a 24oz paintball co2 in a heavely planted 55 gallon?


I just set up my own CO2 system for my first planted tank. Can't say yet how well it works, as I won't get my plants till Wednesday or Thursday this week. But it seems to be able to hold a steady rate (BPS).

I got a used Matheson 8 regulator off eBay, a solenoid and fittings from Clippard, airline, bubble counter, drop checker from eBay or Amazon, and a 20 lb CO2 tank from a local welding supply company.

By far the single biggest expense was the CO2 tank, at $171. This included the tank, the HazMat fee applied to all over the counter purchases (state law), tax, and the first fill at half off (normally $20). The tank is mine, however, because I purchased it from them, if I go to them for a refill it's like a propane exchange, drop off the old tank, get an already filled one, no waiting for it to get filled. Also, because of this, I never have to worry about getting it hyrdotested. AFAIK, all CO2 tanks need to be hydrotested every 5 years, or they can't fill them anymore. This testing is usually able to be done at your local fire extinguisher supplier (they test CO2 extinguisher tanks), and is about $20 or so (when I called them to see, last year).

I've read of 20 lb tanks lasting between 6 months to a year, on 55-75 gallon tanks, or something like that. Lots of variables, I'd imagine. More plants, more light, more ferts require more CO2. Tiny leaks can drain your tank in a couple months or less (from what I've read).

I decided to skip the $90 Milwalkee, and got myself a used dual-stage regulator off eBay. Although cheaper then the Milwalkee at about $55 shipped, it didn't have a solenoid or bubble counter, and required these plus fittings, which put it over the Milwalkee price. But that didn't matter to me, as it is a high quality dual stage regulator (the Milwalkee is a single stage).


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