Relatively Simple And Cheap Co2?

Just about everyone says that CO2 is a really big help for growing plants, but I've avoided it so far because it seems quite complicated and, more importantly, quite costly.

I know people make DIY systems but I don't really want to mess around with that. So does anyone know of fairly simple CO2 systems that won't cost me an arm and a leg?

 

You could use an aquatek regulator and a 24 oz paintballs canister but I don’t know how big your tank is so that determines it as well

 

It's just a 10 gallon.

 

DIY CO2 with citric acid and baking soda isn't especially complicated or high maintenance. I use mine on a 47 gallon tank at 30 ppm CO2 for 7 hours a day, and I refill about every 6-7 days for $1. I hooked up a solenoid to it so it comes on/off via a timer with the lights, and all I do is spend about 5 seconds once a day to adjust for CO2 flow rate, and about 5 minutes per week to refill it.

With a 10 gallon tank, one refill should last between 2-3 months at 8 hours a day. $30 for the CO2 module from eBay/Amazon, $15 for a cheap solenoid off eBay so you can turn it on/off via a timer, a refill for 50 cents to $1.50 depending on how much citric acid/baking soda you want to buy in bulk. For better adjustability, you can spend $40 and buy a Fabco NV-55-18 inline needle valve (can also be used on pressurised if you decide later on). You probably don't even need to check it daily given that your tank is small and the pressure fluctuations will be much less.

The issue with the pressurised CO2 market is that there isn't a very good middle ground: there's "cheap and not very good" and "expensive and excellent".

Rarely does "good and affordable" come along. The issue with the cheaper regs (like the Aquatek), at least, is more-or-less the same as on the DIY kits: limited adjustability on the needle valves for fine tuning, inconsistency in CO2 flow rate. You'll probably need the $40 Fabco NV-55-18 if you want to fine tune your CO2 if you purchase a cheaper reg. In addition, the solenoid is generally integral to the regulator, so when the solenoid fails (as it often does on cheaper regulators), you'll typically need to buy an entire new regulator or use an inline solenoid.

Most people at planted tank seem to recommend the GLA MinI SS regulator/solenoid as the best of the paintball CO2 systems. But it's quite expensive at ~USD190.

 

I didn’t like the diy. I had a hard time keeping the bubble count to the way I like it. It was either too high of too low, and would fluctuate when I wasn’t trying to adjust it. I spent the cash and bought a 20lb tank. And a regulator with Solenoid The co2 tank it self was expensive. It’ll last a very long time and refill is about 45 dollars. This is extreme overboard. My tank is 55 gallons though. The set up is easy and all I’ll have to do is have the tank refill once in a great while. The paintball tank or the diy system would be about right for you size tank, plus it won’t take much to do what you want it to do. Also, what do your plants want. Some will do just fine with out it. One last thing, trying to find a place that will fill and refill co2 in paint ball tanks is hard to come by, at least around here anyways. All the paintball stores, sporting goods stores or even the place that does oxygen, helium, propane, etc won’t do it either.