My Humble Low Tech Setup

Thats an awesome idea! I'll see how the venturi thing goes. If it doesn't work I'll look into something like you have there. Still cheaper than pressurized and twice as fun!

I've rescaped my sister's tank and I think it looks quite good. Planted it with cuttings from mine and gonna see how it goes. I'll do the DIY CO2, EI ferts, and a 20W 10000K tube. I was up at 7am and finished with all the fishy things around 7pm.

 

The secret with DIY Co2 is that you should not try and control it that is when the wheels come off, what you should do is just monitor it closely and let nature take it course and depending on what your Co2 readings are in the tank. If it is too much use smaller bottles if it is too little use bigger bottles. I found that a 1.5 litre works for anything from a 80 litre to a 100 litre.

 

Yep I'm also like that. I just let the tank do its thing. Thanks for the great advice! I'm gonna set it up tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

Let me know if there is issues ran DIY Co2 for almost 2 years lots of trail and error and experimenting.

 

Happy to report that at around 14:00 this afternoon my plants started pearling, no small feat considering I am using DIY lights and Co2.

 

I like your double bottle system to filter out any oopsies. very clever. What happens at night though when the lights go out, don't your CO2 levels in the tank spike as it's not being used up by the plants?

 

Not really hey, partly because a DIY setup does not produce a constant stream of Co2 at the best of times. Especially during winter as the water becomes cooler the mixture slows down. I have a disconnect valve I just twist to switch it off and let it eject into the air.

 

Ah ok, so no CO2 is going into the water at night? Could you counter the mission of disconnecting every night by having an airstone on a timer kick in at night?

 

@MattLamm: I created a thread showing how to do you own DIY Co2 setup here pictures and step by step guide: My DIY Co2 setup

 

HI Larch, can I be honest... I like the scape ( I really do) BUT that rock standing upright behind that branch aint doing it. Its way distracting and looks out of place.