I think I started off as carefully as I could I wanted a fairly natural planted tank. I am not a wealthy man and I have lots of other hobbies so everything has been done on a peicemeal, somewhat shoestring budget. As my research continued it became apparent that to have a beautiful natural scene like to ones in the amano books would require much more than my budget would initially allow, and frankly the tank would need to cycle up anyways. (There is no way I could be patient enough to wait for budget situation to be fixed first, but I am patient enough to cycle....) I just ordered a new set of serious lights, a new stand, and am ready to move on to an effective CO2 system. My goal is to set up an effective Co2 monitoring and delivery system on the cheap, with the intention of being modular enough that when I add in more pieces it is plug and play. I have a HOB filter right now, but plan to upgrade to a canister when the budget allows. I want to eventually get upgrade to a pressurized Co2 system, but for now I am going to be brewing my own. Initially, I got the peices for a Lavasseur style Co2 reactor with yeast generator. It has a few issues, some of which can be fixed (like me preparing the yeast mixture better) and some you can't fix. (Like the fact that is extremely ugly and eats up a ton of space.) It has never really consistently worked for me. So I am going to try to assemble an inline reactor that eventually can be plumbed into a canister system when I get one. 
Endgin33, You look like you have been doing your research and are off to a good start. You have a lot of questions for one post. That’s probably why you haven’t received a reply yet; it’s a bit overwhelming. Most of your questions can be answered with more research on threads in this forum. A few observations I have after reading your post.
1) Inline reactors work best with inline filters/pumps. Since you have a power head it might be better to just run the CO2 into the input or your power head and let the propeller chop-up and distribute the CO2 around your tank. Or consider making an in-tank power reactor if you want more CO2 dissolved in your tank.
2) You are not able to regulate DIY CO2 with a bubble counter. You should have a bubble counter so you can see current output, but you can’t really regulate DIY down to bubbles per second like you can with a pressurized system. It all depends on your mixture and will fluctuate at the beginning and end of the mixtures life.
3) If you were to do an inline reactor with DIY CO2 you wouldn't want to turn it off at night. This is commonly done with pressurized systems because you are able to turn the CO2 off in a pressurized system. In a DIY system the CO2 would continue to be produced through the night and create a large bubble in your reactor that would most likely be a problem when you turned your pump back on in the morning.
Good luck
1) Inline reactors work best with inline filters/pumps. Since you have a power head it might be better to just run the CO2 into the input or your power head and let the propeller chop-up and distribute the CO2 around your tank. Or consider making an in-tank power reactor if you want more CO2 dissolved in your tank.
2) You are not able to regulate DIY CO2 with a bubble counter. You should have a bubble counter so you can see current output, but you can’t really regulate DIY down to bubbles per second like you can with a pressurized system. It all depends on your mixture and will fluctuate at the beginning and end of the mixtures life.
3) If you were to do an inline reactor with DIY CO2 you wouldn't want to turn it off at night. This is commonly done with pressurized systems because you are able to turn the CO2 off in a pressurized system. In a DIY system the CO2 would continue to be produced through the night and create a large bubble in your reactor that would most likely be a problem when you turned your pump back on in the morning.
Good luck
