# 75 gal diy co2?



## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

ive thought about adding co2 to my tank for a lil while now and was wondering if a diy co2 system would work for me. i was thinking of using 2 1 gal bottles for production and a small water bottle for a bubble counter and feeding it directly into my intake of my canister filter. i have a 4 bulb t5 ho lighting spans across my whole tank. i have one plant bulb one 6500k one 10000k and one _actinic.. was wondering if i should ditch the actinic.. i just like the color it adds to my fish..
right now im dosing api co2 booster in the morning and aqueon plant food about every 3 days also use seachem floursh tabs replacing them about every month or so

thanks for any help or suggestions 
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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

I would agree that you will get much more plant production if you swapped out the actinic...BUT I am also in agreement that the actinic makes things look awesome so I suppose I am not much help there.Production over aesthetics would be the right thing to do so swap out the bulb and blast the CO2 but check your PH frequently until you have things in check.Also don't forget that CO2 will break things down over time and thats why you want to get Polyethylene tubing if you can.


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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

well i have some spare silicone tubing lying around and will probably use this as this is just a temporary experiment till i can afford a pressurized system .. i plan on using 2 - 1 gal Hawaiian punch containers run to a Gatorade bottle then into my 5 stage canister filter i figure this will allow the maxim co2 to be dissolved in my water.. only thing im scared of is over dosing co2 with the diy method.. i may start with one see how it does for like 3 or 4 days then add the second bottle to the mix


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## aquabruce (Jun 26, 2013)

Don't worry, you're not going to overdose a 75 with 2gallon bottles of DIY CO2.


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

Yeah I ran two gallon jug wine jars for a 55 and would stagger the new yeast cultures as to not have as many lulls in the CO2,at least in theory.


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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

Today I knoticed a little bit of algae growing will this go away with co2 or am I over dosing ferts? Or is it the possibility of recently adding a plant/pink color bulb
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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

Is it in correlation with water change time?Is it on the glass? I bet the sudden added lighting did play a small part. I am not sure about the ferts as I have not used the Aqueon products. Some of these dosing methods can be relative to the plants growth rate in your tank,not sure on that product. I may just stay the course and add the CO2 to assist your plants in utilizing the nutrients over the algae. You could look into an algae eater if the algae becomes unsightly or you feel it may inhibit plant and\or bacterial growth.


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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

its not on the glass just some of my rocks and the tubes for my filter i have 1 large pleco about 12+/- inches and another smaller one about 4 or 5 inches and a cory catfish also have about 4 snails roaming the tank plan to have my co2 mix up and running by tomorrow night hopefully that will take care of the issue


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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

Well have the co2 up for about a month noticed increased growth in my an anaChris but that's about it still seeing algae but its green hair this time instead of the brown I was seeing solo I stocked up on some mystery snails and a but load of trumpet sails.. got the free from the pet smart
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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

O and it is possible to over dose co2 with 2 1 gal jugs in a 75 there has been a few times I had to kick on the air stones because all my fish were at the top gasping for air
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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

I like to check my PH especially in the beginning. There are a few methods of measuring CO2 but I found this method to be inexpensive and sufficient 

Drop Checker Test Aquarium CO2 Ph Indicator Solution | eBay

. Fish also have a hard time deriving oxygen from the water when there are high nitrates so I would check those as well.


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## mudbucket72 (Dec 3, 2013)

PH is pretty stable between 7.2 and 7.5 and nitrates is around 10 to 20 ppm I usually only have to run the air stone for about 5 or 10 mins then their fine for the rest of the day
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