Reddit reviews Luxfer. 5lb co2 Tank- New Aluminum Cylinder with CGA320 Valve

Sure thing! Here's a list of the main equipment:

Lighting - Finnex FugeRay Planted+ Aquarium LED Light Plus Moonlights

Light Risers - OEM FINNEX LIGHT RISERS FITS PLANTED+, RAY2, FUGERAY, ETC.

Filter - EHEIM Classic 250

Co2 - Tank / Diffuser / Drop Checker

Heater - EHEIM Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater

Addon - Finnex Breeder Box with Light

Basically, you need a tank, a regulator some airline, a bubble checker would be good to have and a diffuser. Also, you'd like a timer of some sort as you really do not need to have co2 running 24/7 nor would you probably want to.

My setup:

• 24oz Paintball co2 tank: $30 at paintball shop filled with co2.
  $23 dollars on Amazon - though I would have still needed to get it filled at paintball shop for $5 which brings it $28. $2 more - i think it's better at that to support the local shop and plus I didn't want to wait for the tank to come to my house as that would have arrived later than anything else.
  
  
• Adapater to utilize paintball co2 tank - $9 on Amazon
  
  
• Bubble Counter - $10 on Amazon I know the regulator has a bubble counter, however with the paintball tank it would not work as it'll be horizontal instead of vertical - you can choose cheaper ones. I just liked this $10 one. Btw a bubble counter will show you how much co2 you're adding or at least how fast as not every bubble counter counts it at the same pace but a good gauge to see how much you are adding - ie. you really cannot ask how many bubbles per second you should be running. the 1-2 bps that I run might be different on your bubble counter)
  
  
• CO2 Regulator - $60 on Amazon
  
  Price for this setup: $109
  
  If you need a timer, there's plenty of options. I already had one, but you can find them on Amazon.
  
  
• I was able to get this one as an add-on for $3.54 for something else though now it's $14.50 :/ and ironically I switched to a smart switch idea for my build anyways.
  
  
• Got this smart switch to control my autodoser and some other things -if it works it's a good $20 spent.
  
  Though in the end, you would need a timer and if you already have one then you won't have to buy one. Or if you have extra smart switches either that you can set a schedule on.
  
  Other tanks:
  
  Instead of the paintball tank you can get a regular co2 tank:
  
  
• 5lb from Amazon - $62 + ~$20 to fill at an air place It would have brought my setup to $141 if I went that route. It might be $50 more than the paintball tank, but it only increases price by $40 because you don't need the adapter nor the bubble counter. Pros: It could be cheaper. 24oz paintball is $5 to fill(in most places) a 5lb which is ~80oz can be anywhere from $10-$20. If it's on the lower end of that range where you live it's cheaper. Other pro is that less often you need to fill it. Negative: Larger and harder to hide. It won't fit in my setup or how I have my tank setup.
  
  Of course, that's just buying the stuff to build the system.
  
  You can watch videos about it on Youtube like Aquarium Co-Op's Co2 guide but I can still try to break it down.
  
  Get tank and properly secure it to the regulator.(I'd recommend watching a video on that as the regulator does need to be open for this part apparently). If using the paintball tank, secure the adapter to regulator first. DO NOT secure it on the paintball tank first. If you do it with the way the adapter is built, I'm guessing you'd be losing a bit of co2. Though, I haven't tried it, I'm logically thinking that it ain't good. If you use a 5lb tank or larger, there's something about some disc or gasket or something that is supposed to help keep it from leaking. I'm going to refer you to youtube on that one. I didn't use any on my paintball setup except for the gasket already on the tank. I did use some plumbers tape on the adapter to regulator though. I'm just hoping I don't have a leak and I'd be pretty confident to assume that I don't as I still have CO2 in my tank after a couple of weeks.
  
  All you need to do now is to attach the airline hose(some people will say to use co2-proof hose to prevent co2 loss, but I decided to skip that and you can decide what you wish to do as I might be right or wrong on that part along with other people who claim airline tube is sufficient) to the regulator. So after you attach the hose to the regulator, attach the bubble counter somewhere along the line before the aquarium(I think I did that right). Of course, if you use the 5lb or larger tank, you should be able to use the bubble counter that came with the regulator as it would stand vertical. The line eventually gets connected to a co2 diffuser which will break up the co2 into smaller bubbles to easily be dissolved better into your water. Of course, there are other ways to get the co2 into your tank, but this is the way I do it. Youtube can show you other ways, or other redditors for that matter. One thing to note is that you should also have a check valve to prevent water from going from the aquarium to your system. It should most likely be closer to the water than the co2 system. The bubble counter I use, also has a check valve for whatever that one is worth. Some diffusers come with bubble counters and check valves as well. Speaking of diffusers, i forgot to add that to my price. but that can run anywhere from $5 on up. Also the diffuser might have to be cleaned due to algae once and awhile.
  
  The system should be ran using a timer to coincide with your light cycle and should run basically when the lights are on. I turn my co2 on 1 hour before the lights turn on and turn it off 2 hours before the light turn off. Hypothetically, you can run it 24/7 however it's better not to as the risks are a bit too much for putting something in your tank that is not being used as the plants typically don't use co2 with the lights out and you can risk running into a situation where you deplete the oxygen in your fish.
  
  Overall, I think it's worth it at least for me. But also be cautious that adding too much co2 might be detrimental to your fish. If you are running it and your fish are all gasping for air, you definitely are putting too much in but you should never get it that far which some way to check it would be a good purchase for this. I just use the method of figuring out the ppm of CO2 based on pH and KH. I'm not sure how accurate it might be but it has been stable and my fish are doing fine as well as my plants and the algae is at bay. There's also what's called a CO2 drop checker that you can purchase to measure this.
  
  If you really want to get into this, I'd recommend researching it further yourself and maybe wait on some other more "experienced" redditors to answer as I might and could be wrong on some things. I know I've read some people don't think the ph/kh calculation method is good and to buy a drop checker, but I'm pretty confident in using it for my tank but I might be undosing the co2 for all I know. Though on the flipside, I could be overdosing, though my fish are not showing any signs of symptoms of said overdosing. But I could be wrong on that. If I am, please let me know. :) Definitely do your own research, like you should on anything. :) At least, get a good footing and confirmation from other sources.

Minimum Setup is only 3 items

Tank

regulator

Diffuser