[Wet Thumb Forum]-Spending priorities revisited

[Slow Lorris]

Yikes! I go away for the weekend, and there's a whole new board!

I was glad to see that my post on the old board generated some healthy debate. I appreciate all the feedback. Let me give y'all some closure on the original situation.

For the 55 I'm setting up I'm leaning toward a Filstar XP2 canister, pressurized CO2 (I found a reconditioned 5# bottle sold FULL for $35!), and the 130w Coralife strip I've already ordered from hellolights.com. They said they would swap out the 50/50 bulbs and put in 6700k daylight bulbs at no extra charge. Until it arrives I'm trying to keep my faith in human nature that they actually did.

I was interested in the argument that CO2 isn't necessary, but I think I want to try it. The budget can cover it and I'd rather invest in it now rather than wait and see if my plants need it. I think the sheer number of people who have posted on this and other boards about how their plants were more vibrant after adding CO2 makes me willing to spend the $ on it.

Surprising update: the wife is now getting into my project a little bit. I brought some rocks home from the lake and was cleaning them and she got interested in how to arrange them etc. She even suggested that we could put the tank in the living room instead of hiding it upstairs!

SL

[Slow Lorris]

Yikes! I go away for the weekend, and there's a whole new board!

I was glad to see that my post on the old board generated some healthy debate. I appreciate all the feedback. Let me give y'all some closure on the original situation.

For the 55 I'm setting up I'm leaning toward a Filstar XP2 canister, pressurized CO2 (I found a reconditioned 5# bottle sold FULL for $35!), and the 130w Coralife strip I've already ordered from hellolights.com. They said they would swap out the 50/50 bulbs and put in 6700k daylight bulbs at no extra charge. Until it arrives I'm trying to keep my faith in human nature that they actually did.

I was interested in the argument that CO2 isn't necessary, but I think I want to try it. The budget can cover it and I'd rather invest in it now rather than wait and see if my plants need it. I think the sheer number of people who have posted on this and other boards about how their plants were more vibrant after adding CO2 makes me willing to spend the $ on it.

Surprising update: the wife is now getting into my project a little bit. I brought some rocks home from the lake and was cleaning them and she got interested in how to arrange them etc. She even suggested that we could put the tank in the living room instead of hiding it upstairs!

SL

[Rex Grigg]

I would suggest a Filstar XP3 instead of the XP2. I have the XP3 on my 55 gallon and I still have a powerhead in the tank to get enough water movement. You can run the output of the XP2/3 right into a DIY reactor and get great results with your CO2.

So now all you need for CO2 is a regulator and a needle valve!

Semper Fi

[BenMontana]

I'm also running the XP3 with a powerhead in a 55 to get enough current.

[Slow Lorris]

Alas--I have already ordered the XP2. We'll give it a shot and add a powerhead if need be.

Thanks for the info though.

SL

[Ruckus]

Nice buy on the CO2 cylinder!I had to spend $140 for my 20lb'er.I kinda like the sound of the smaller canister/seperate powerhead.I think this gives you some advantages over just the larger canister alone:
1.Mobile Biofilter Redundancy-If you were to have a sponge prefilter on a small powerhead,you would be able to temporarily move the powerhead/sponge to another small tank and conveniently have a fully operational biofilter for a quarantine or hospital tank.
2.Mobile biofilter redundancy-If the canister should ever break down(highly unlikely),you'd still have a functioning biofilter.
3.You could have one of those rotating powerheads and attach it to one of those wavemaker timer things.This would be a really great way to provide circulation.Having the current vary in direction might possibly have a strengthening effect on plant stem/root systems.
4.Having a sponge prefilter attached to a powerhead gives you an easy to clean mechanical filter.I think you'd be much more likely to frequently clean it than a canister.I find that's the whole deal with mechanical filtration-how frequently it's cleaned.I used to use 2 large sponge filters with powerheads.I switched to an Eheim and I miss squeezing out those sponge filters.That really removed alot of crud.