# Inexpensive CO2 System



## GhostFish 2012 (Jul 25, 2012)

Hey everyone, new member of the forum. I've been following your posts for the past couple of months and I remember seeing something about a way to create an inexpensive DIY CO2 system using inexpensive items from a hardware store. Can someone give me a quick run-down of what I might need? 

Right now I'm setting up a new 55-gallon tank with different kinds of plants and I'd like to help my plants grow as quickly as possible before I put my fish (from my 29 gallon tank) into the new tank. 

Thanks!


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

There are a few DIY threads on CO2 in the DIY section. A 55g is sort of outside the effective range of a DIY system, but if you gang a few bottles together you can make it work.


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Paintball Co2 Injection DIY Setup with Tons of Photos

Using paintball CO2 cartridges. It's a 5 price-wise on a scale of ten. A DIY yeast fermentation setup is a 2, but utterly ineffective for a 55. The paintball setup will be more effective, but you'll be going through paintball canisters fast. If I were you, I would just bite the bullet and get a full pressurized system, if you can afford it. You can get a good pressurized setup for around $200 if you shop around.


----------



## GhostFish 2012 (Jul 25, 2012)

Personally I'm trying to avoid paying $200 for the CO2 system, but I'd rather have happy, healthy plants as well. I thought I read something, somewhere about only paying ten bucks for a new canister of CO2. 

How "fast" is fast? A month? Two months?


----------



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

They don't pressurize paintball canisters very high, so on a 55 I would give it two weeks tops.

Also not sure if the canisters are refillable.

The comments further down on that thread I posted might shed more light on how the system behaves.


----------



## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Pressure doesn't matter with CO2. It's all high pressure and sold by weight.....a 20oz pb bottle will have 20oz of CO2. Goes for all bottles. You can get a regulator that fits pb tanks directly or get a standard reg. To use with an adapter. I found that pb regs weren't too reliable and used a standard with adapter.


----------

