# Economical Equipment Alternatives



## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

I'm wondering about possible economical alternatives for planted aquarium tank equipment. Such as lighting, and co2 injection. Further will light from the room (such as full spectrum floor lamps) have any significant impact on the overall lighting situation in the tank? All of this equipment seems unreachably expensive. Further if you could provide approximate or a range in prices for such systems. For your reference in determining approximate cost, I have a 29g planted tank .

There are so many pieces and parts to equipment like CO2 systems its pretty much impossible to know what a person needs, and what all of those things do, which is why its especially difficult to tell whats what when just looking at CO2 equipment. If you have a reference for a good source on what all that [email protected] does please pass it on!

I ask because I'm new to all of this stuff, and I'm having algae issues (which you can read about here).


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

If I were trying to go the inexpensive route, I would start with a diy co2 and maybe you can diy your current hood with some light from AH Supply. Ifyou want to go pressurized on your co2. You'll need the following items
1. A tank to hold the co2. You can get them from a lot of places
2. A regulator. This is the part that allows you to reduce the pressure in the co2 tank to a manageable level and hold it there.
3. A needle valve. This is the part that takes the low pressure co2 coming out of the regulator and let you adjust the volume of co2 going to the next part.
4. A bubble counter. This the the part that let you see how many bubbles per second are coming out of the needle valve.
Now that you have the co2 coming into the tank, now you need to dissolve it into the water which is another post on it's own.
I don't think I left anything out for a basic co2. If I have I'm sure someone that actually knows what they're talking about will chime in.
As far as cost go you can spend $10 to upward of $600.00 on co2.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

I was kind of scared of DIY CO2, but I just looked it up on the boards, and now its not so scary, more like cooking which I am used to!


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Economical lighting:
Hardware stores sell fluorescent light fixtures. I got some from a store that was going out of business that were even labeled 'damp location OK'. You would have to make your own hood for these fixtures. A very good reflector is important. 
If you can afford to buy a T-5 fixture you can get by with a little bit fewer watts of light. These are more efficient than the larger bulbs. I have T-8s that are pretty good, too. 

For a 29 gallon the lighting is a little tricky, 30" bulbs are not common. 24" are, though. I have 2-bulb fixtures over my 29 gallon tanks, and they are near a north window. Little bit of sun gets to them in the summer. I use different bulbs in the fixture, hoping that each bulb offers some of the different wave lengths that plants want, and so the tanks look good. 

Another way to create less expensive lighting is to use compact fluorescent bulbs.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

If you want really cheap lighting that does work for a good number of plants follow this thread by hoppy. 
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ects/45208-diy-mod-perfecto-10-gal-light.html 
I use this setup on my 29 gallon and i have never had a problem with to many plants. I am sure if i tried some of the plants that need high light i would have issues but honestly you cant go high tech on extremely cheap lighting.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I used 2 bendable floor lamps for years with high wattage bulbs. Wasn't as pretty but it worked great.

For CO2 look at this thread. I used this for about a year. It's terrific. Just hook it up to a 2 or liter soda bottle. Make sure you keep up with your yeast changes. Nothing to be afraid of here. If you use this you can hear the bubbles coming out so you don't need a bubble counter. $10 for little pump, $2 for soda bottle (with soda), $.89 for yeast package, pennies for 2 cups sugar.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/diy-aquarium-projects/44053-tiny-super-efficient-co2-reactor.html

You can buy dry ferts at Greenleafaquariums.com or RexGrigg.com One variety pack will last you well over a year. Total cost is about $20

For substrate you can use pool sand, 3 mm blasting sand, diamond brite. All these are cheap. You can look at For Sale Forum for leftover substrates people sell really cheap.

Heater - you need one unless you are keeping a cooler variety of fish like white clouds or something.... You can get these on sale at the big box stores or online. Keep a watch. Also check the for sale forum.

Thermometer - $1-2 bucks at walmart.

Filter - there are some used in the For Sale forum. You can make your own DIY pretty cheap. You would have to google DIY canister filter.

For plants watch for RAOK in For Sale forum OR the plant packages people sell. If you have a local plant club join. Plants would be free there.

That's about it.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

*drinks out of his second 2-liter*
Yeah definately doin the DIY CO2. 
I love your post Tex, just gotta couple questions. 

What is RAOK? APC doesn't show any local plant club areas or whatnot, are there other good places to look? I'm kinda in the middle of no where


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## TheNextEpisode (Jul 13, 2009)

grim said:


> If you want really cheap lighting that does work for a good number of plants follow this thread by hoppy.
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ects/45208-diy-mod-perfecto-10-gal-light.html
> I use this setup on my 29 gallon and i have never had a problem with to many plants. I am sure if i tried some of the plants that need high light i would have issues but honestly you cant go high tech on extremely cheap lighting.


Nice solution.

I did something similar, using a 7" heater duct pipe cut roughly in half along it's length. I used 2 27-watt 5500K and 2 27-watt 6400K CFLs with decent luck. I also added a spare PC fan, 12v led, and transformer. I CAD'd the side panels out of acrylic, but obviously more common methods of shaping acrylic work just as well.



















The whole unit sits over a 29g as well, which is why I didn't just go with standard shop lights. I ended up spending about 35 bucks including bulbs.

I'll have to look into DIY canister filters.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Nick,

When I started planted tanks about 18 months ago I was on a budget and I wasn't sure I how much I would enjoy the hobby. I did realize I needed more light than a "standard" 20 watt strip light so I built a 96 watt reflector using a kit from AH Supply and using their free instructions to make the enclosure. The kit, the 6700K bulb, and the wood was my biggest expense, about $120.

I did DIY CO2 which I fed into the input of my HOB filter for about 6 months. I used Seachem Flourish and Flourish Trace as my fertilizers. My plants grew and thrived and I was hooked and bought a second tank!

My next expense was pressurized CO2 and a second DIY kit from AH Supply. I bought a CO2 bottle and regulator off of Craigslist for $100 and continued to fed my CO2 into my HOB filter. I bought dry ferts in order to save money on fertilizing and the rest is history. This hobby does not have to be expensive or complicated. I learned most of what I know about planted tanks from this website and the friendly helpful people here.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

For being DIY that lighting fixture looks dang good! All professional and whatnot. If I get my second tank I may just do that! What did you mean by CADing the side panels? 
Seattle,
I didn't know you could get used pressurized CO2 stuff so cheap. If I can get to a major city (St. Louis, or Chi-town, or Orlando in Nov.) I may just use that idea as I'm in the middle of no where right now . 

Anyways thank you both for your responses. All new ideas are welcome as I'm hoping to compile a good list, if one doesn't already exist.

Nick


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## TheNextEpisode (Jul 13, 2009)

taz81 said:


> For being DIY that lighting fixture looks dang good! All professional and whatnot. If I get my second tank I may just do that! What did you mean by CADing the side panels?


Just that I used computer program to design the end caps and then cut them out with a machine at school. It was just a fancy way of avoiding further manual labor.

I'm sure that accurate enough precision can be had just with a jigsaw and belt sander/sand paper.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

I've never heard that called CADing before. Only heard CADing in reference to people designing things with...well...CAD or eCAD. I bet my dad could do it at his work


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I put together a blog post a while back describing a hydroponics strip light for use over a planted tank. This was just around $60 including pendant hardware to light up a 55-gallon. It looks nice too.

http://hydrophytesblog.com/?p=542


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## TheNextEpisode (Jul 13, 2009)

^^^
That does look good.



taz81 said:


> I've never heard that called CADing before. Only heard CADing in reference to people designing things with...well...CAD or eCAD. I bet my dad could do it at his work


Yeap, I used AutoCAD 2009 (one of the standard CAD software programs) and a LaserCamm to cut it out.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

It does look really nice.  And not bad price either! Are those glass panes tempered or just regular? 

Thanks!

Nick


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Thanks very much. And it was real inexpensive for the lighting that I got form it. 

Those pieces are just regular non-tempered plate glass.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Sorry it took so long to respond. Glad I could help. RAOK is random act of kindness. People will offer plants free to others. They do this in the For Sale Forum. You will also find cheap plant packages there from time to time.

Looks like you are getting a lot of nice advice. You'll be all fixed up before you know it.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

Well I need to find some short ground cover, so hopefully people will be offering stuff like that soon, although I have no idea what makes good ground cover. Here's hopin people are highly descriptive! lol


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

CAD = Computer Assisted Drafting. 
Hook up the computer to control the saw and the semicircles and holes for switches and fans are precision cut.

RAOK = Random Act Of Kindness. Someone offers something free or you just cover the cost of shipping.

Dry ferts: www.aquariumfertilizer.com


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

I've used vinyl rain gutters as a hood for AHSupply reflectors.

You don't need fancy lighting and CO2 injection if you pick your plants wisely, 

Val's, crypts, and anubias do no require fancy lighting and CO2 injection . check the forums under "Natural" or "low-tech" for more info.


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## taz81 (Jul 13, 2009)

Diana, ooo nice and concise...I like. thank you for the info 

JERP, I may have issues with being restricted...i like options  lol


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