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I have been searching all over town for a place that sells big C02 tanks and have come up empty.Every store including all the sporting good stores only carry paintball tanks.I have noticed that www.drsfostersmith.com now sells a c02 setup that fits the paintball tanks.However it does not come with a Ph controller.Do I really have to have one,or are Ph controllers just something that makes things a little easier?

Pristellapower,

Hard for me to believe that you cannot find a welding supply shop anywhere near. I would have assumed that these places must be more common that a paint ball supply carrying Sports Store .

Even the nearest welder might be ablt to tell you where he/she gets the tanks from.

or are Ph controllers just something that makes things a little easier?

I have one that is still in the box, since 1.5 years. If you have an idea what you are doing then a controller will make your life easier, at best (IMHO). More essential would be a bubble counter, a solenoid, and a return valve to avoid backflow of tank water into (onto) the regulator.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Look up welding supply in your phone book. They will have 5lb and larger CO2 tanks. I got my 5lb for about $70 filled I think. It was a long time ago now. Anyways, they fill 'em up for $8-10.

pH controllers make life a little easier by maintaining CO2 concentration by the pH value using a solenoid on the regulator. If you have a decent regulator with bubble counter, it's not too difficult to get a constant bubble rate to keep the pH and therefore CO2 concentration where you want it.

So what you need for a CO2 setup are the 5lb cyllinder, the regulator, and something to dissolve the CO2 into the water, usually a reactor or diffuser.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients