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I just wanted some input...I happen to have a 30 lb co2 cylinder and regulator that I use to drive my airbrush. I have a 29 gallon planted aquarium with some crypts, java moss, elodea, anubias 'nana' and vallisneria. I started supplementing with fert sticks and kent's liquid fertilizer. It's lit with a 36 w/t5 twin tube, 1 6700k and 1 full spectrum. 1. Would it be worth the additional work to add co2 with the plants I have?. 2. What else do I need supply wise? I know I need a needle valve, a bubble counter?, some tubing, a barb, and some sort of in line check valve. 3. I have a hang on the back penguin 200, where do I actually put the tubing and where should the co2 be released? I have looked at many different DIY setups and have only grown more confused.

Alright....lets see...

29G tank
36W light
= 1.24WPG (Watts per Gallon)

You don't really have a ton of light on this tank. Generaly if you are running less than 3WPG you can run without CO2. Though it probably would help your plants out a bit if you want to run it.

The only thing I worry about is your filter set up. Penguins are good filters but they cause a lot of surface agitation which will decrease the amount of CO2 you are able to keep in the water. If you do end up running it you need to make sure to keep the water level up so their isn't any splashing.

An easier method would be to use Seachem's Flourish Excel. This is a liquid carbon source that works really well. I use it in my low light tanks and it helps growth quite a bit.

Ferts~
The sticks are good for plants like the Crypts that are heavy root feeders. I am not sure what the kent's liquid fertilizer has in it though. You are going to want to make sure you have both your Macro's (Potassium, Nitrate, and Phasphates) and Micro's for your plants. With the amount of light you are running you may not need much and could get away with using Seachem's Flourish. It has both Macro's and Micro's.

I know I need a needle valve, a bubble counter?, some tubing, a barb, and some sort of in line check valve

Those are all things you will need to add to controle the CO2 into the tank.

Next you would have to figure out how you want to get the CO2 into the water. To do this you could run it into a small power head, into the filter, or get a Glass Difuser.

I hope I helped!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

First thing first, the basic CO2 set-up:

First you need a regulator set-up. There are many available out there, most offered on planted tank related sites look like this:



In this example there is a solenoid (the black box with the wire coming out - shuts off/ turns on the CO2 when plugged into a timer) and a bubble counter with check-valve (the glass tube thing, which is filled up 3/4 with water so you can see how many bubbles per second are coming out, which allows you to control how much gas goes into the aquarium)

next, CO2 tubing runs from the bubble counter into any of a number of items that mix the CO2 in with the tank water. The easiest method is to just buy a glass diffuser.



The CO2 goes into the diffuser and gets pushed through a ceramic disk with tiny holes in them. The CO2 comes through the holes as tiny little bubbles. Even though it may appear that the bubbles are just floating up to the surface, C is still being released into the water column. With glass diffusers, it's best to place them under the outflow of the filter, so the bubbles get swished around in the tank and have more time to disperse in the water column.



This is the method I would suggest for you, it's just easier with less bulk to go around.

Wings is right to suggest a new filter as well, as Penguins are meant to be splashy. Look into either a cannister filter (eheims, if you can afford it) or even regular Aquaclear filters. Eaither way, keep the water level high so that there isn't a lot of splashing.

As for your other questions, you can inject CO2 no matter what. The issue is, even with a ton of CO2 in the water, the plants can only use a little of it because in your case, lighting will be the limiting factor. Not enough light, and the plants will only grow so fast. If you were to double your lighting to around 60 watts, that would make a world of difference.

If you don't want to go that route, Seachems Flourish excel is always an option, but note that elodea and vals are known to have adverse reactions to the stuff, so those plants would not work with Excel.

Hope that helped as well!

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks for the great replies. I kind of had a feeling that the hob filter was not the best due to surface agitation. I'll probably hold off until I decide to upgrade my lighting or perhaps convert one of my larger tanks to a planted tank. That way I could hide a glass diffuser and tubing a little easier than in a 29. Have a great holiday season everyone!