# Carbo-Block



## Marcom1234 (Aug 16, 2006)

has anyone used this product yet? it looks promising but what do i know 

how about anyone know of anyone who has?

Carbo-Plus


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## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

I hear its real expensive to maintain as the replacement blocks are rather expensive.

If it was on a small scale i.e. 10 gallons and below I suppose it could be ok.

For about the same price you could get a decent pressurized CO2 system and be done with it....


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## Marcom1234 (Aug 16, 2006)

but it does work? thats really what i want to know..... 

yeah c02 pressurized is probably best but i don't know if i want all the tank and stuff sitting around... i suppose i could hide it somehow but my tank is on an antique ( not valuable, but nice looking ) chest of drawers... so not alot of places to hide stuff as the drawers are kinda full lol


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Just a friendly tip, most questions can be answered by using the Search function on the top right-hand corner of the forum block. Anyway, I dug up this useful post by Robert Hudson using the search function. Hope it helps.



> The main advantage of the Carbo Plus is that it is un-intimadating, user friendly, very easy to set up. Safety wise, you do not have to worry about overdosing your aquarium, or back pressure, end of tank dump and the things asscociated with pressurized gas.
> 
> The cons are that the most C02 you can hope to get out of it is about 10ppm. It will not work in softwater as it needs carbonate to make C02. The bar and holder need frquent cleaning. Even though it has different settings, at maximum you still won't get more than 10ppm. The larger your aquarium, the less effective it becomes.
> 
> Gas gives you absolute control at all times as to how much C02 and when. You can shut it off at night, and you can keep it at a pretty stable level at all times. You can not do that with anything else.


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## Marcom1234 (Aug 16, 2006)

thanks for the tip....

looks like i'll be going pressurized  .... someday lol right now i'll be using DIY... 

thanks


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## Pyro (Nov 20, 2005)

From what I've heard, the Carbo-Block thing is not worth the money. It cost me about $170 total to get a CO2 cylinder/CO2 regulator, and that was everything new. (and $87 for a filled 5# was a bit expensive, but it's about the only place around here). The Carbo-Plus sells for $160, and costs about $24 per block, compared to $8 for a CO2 cylinder fill. In the long-run, the Carbo-Block thing is _significantly_ more expensive.

Yes, you can't kill anything with a Carbo-Block (but 10 ppm of CO2 is almost about as low as a inefficient DIY system). You can turn of CO2 at night if you get a regulator with a solenoid, and besides a bit of inherit danger of killing off all life in your aquarium and jacking up CO2 levels to 1000 ppm, you'd really have to try to have a CO2 cylinder be dangerous.

I think pressurized is really the way to go to get CO2 in the right quantities. Sure, there's a little bit of risk...but with great power comes great responsibility  (I had to say that, I swear)


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

plus the carbo block works by stripping the hardness out of the water making it harder to control your water chemistry.


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## Pyro (Nov 20, 2005)

ianiwane said:


> plus the carbo block works by stripping the hardness out of the water making it harder to control your water chemistry.


Crashing your hardness into the ground wouldn't be good either, hehe


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

> The main advantage of the Carbo Plus is that it is un-intimadating, user friendly, very easy to set up. Safety wise, you do not have to worry about overdosing your aquarium, or back pressure, end of tank dump and the things asscociated with pressurized gas.
> 
> The cons are that the most C02 you can hope to get out of it is about 10ppm. It will not work in softwater as it needs carbonate to make C02. The bar and holder need frquent cleaning. Even though it has different settings, at maximum you still won't get more than 10ppm. The larger your aquarium, the less effective it becomes.
> 
> Gas gives you absolute control at all times as to how much C02 and when. You can shut it off at night, and you can keep it at a pretty stable level at all times. You can not do that with anything else.


I am glad some people find my posts usefull. The Carbo Plus has been around for several years now and is not new, in fact it is getting much harder to find because of the high price and dwindling interest. Hawaiin Marine is the distributor that imports it into this country from Germany. The last I saw the blocks were selling for over 40 dollars. I had one running for over a year, and I had to replace the block about every 5 weeks, even though they are supposed to last 3 months. When I was selling it the blocks were more of a money maker than the unit. Supposedly there is a chinese knock off of this german product that is much cheaper, but it is real hard to find.


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