[jmontee]

I use the Milwaukee setup and I got it from Aquabuys for around $80.00. You can also find som tanks on ebay for about 60 to 70 dollars for a 10lb tank. I have one on my 55gallon and it looks like it will last for at least 8 to 10 months.

I am not sure about Canada but I think that most places will actually just take your tank and you get a different tank for the refill price. I will never have to actually do the 5 year inspection cause it'll be a different tank every time.

I use the red sea drop checker in my tank and it works fine. I just use a regular pH indicator instead of the liquid that comes with the drop checker but the most important thing is to use a 4dKH solution in the drop checker. You should never use the water from your tank because there could be many other chemicals in it that will interfere with the CO2/pH relationship.

CO2 will always help plants grow. There are many who have more than 2wpg and still use excel as there carbon source. It all depends on how you want to set up your tank. I can say that IME I started doing Excel in my tank and then DIY Co2 but in the end I went to pressurized and it was the best thing that I did.

 

[jmontee]

The 4dKH solution needs to either be made or bought. It is made by adding baking soda to deionized water, there are recipes on the forums and the internet to make it. There are also places that sell the solution on the net. Using only DI/RO water will not give you the correct color that you are looking for with 30ppm of CO2. There are also other opinions on this subject as far as good concentrations etc.

It shouldn't really make a difference what indicator solution you use I just wanted to make sure I used something that I knew worked as I had been using it for a while.