Best CO2 system for your aquarium? Ultimate beginner guide for CO2 setup! 

Are you using CO2 in your tanks? What systems work the best for you?

i have 5 liter diy citric acid + baking soda reaction generator co2 system in my 250 liters tank and it lasts for months. i used 2 to 4 bubble per second. im grateful for such system to exist as it enable me to go for CO2 planted tanks. pressurizes system is a hassle in my area. its one hour drive and i have to left my co2 bottle for the entire day for them to fill it up. citric + baking soda is the way to go for me. its a nice middle ground. however for someone with easy access to fill co2 gas, then go for pressurized system.

Excellent summary, thank you!

Fantastic guide! Thank you!

Hmm I might have to look at an upgrade. I use a citric acid reactor but my setup is more like the yeast reactor you showed, but using 2L bottles, one for the citric acid solution and one for the baking soda solution. It's not high pressure either and the solutions mix slowly over time. As the pressure drops it siphons solution from the other bottle keeping a perpetual reaction going until it's used up or they're too mixed to keep producing a reaction. But you can use a magnet to raise a tube inside to stop the reaction and it has a needle valve too so at least I have decent manual control over the CO2 production/flow, although an automated solenoid would be nice lol. But I do get at least a month or 2 of straight production before having to refresh the solutions.

Great overview! Thank you for creating this 👍

Thanks for the wonderful summary. I just got my first DIY citric acid and baking soda setup and I am loving it. The convenience of being able to refill on my own and still having to control how much CO2 I inject in my tank and when is awesome 👏🏽

It was a nice sharing, my friend, with respect and love, I came to support you 👌👍

Very informative co2 subject. I am using two Stainless DIY Co2 systems (Citric acid/Baking soda) which for me easier to refill whenever it gets empty. 1 DIY CO2 for 17gal tank 1 DIY CO2 with splitter for two 10gal tank. Both DIY CO2 last more than two months with a 1bbl/ 3sec.

Amazing video 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

For me the soda stream system is the way to go for tanks up to max. 50 L. Easy and cheap replacement of bottles (6€/425g/lasting 1-2months depending on tank size/available in drugstores), fully controllable, light weight. I bought a quality system for 95€ used which included bottle, selenoid, pressure gauge, tubing, diffusor, check valve. Drop checker and pH liquid were the only items missing. And I needed a timer of course to shut the system off at night.

I have a pressurized system sharing a 29 gallon and a 10 gallon and the citric acid/baking soda cylinder on a 10 gallon. I agree, filling the large cylinder means traveling to a station and hoping they will fill. I may buy another citric acid/baking soda system as they are very reliable and consistent, great for a 10 gallon planted tank.

for the yeast method, there's actually a way to mannually turn it on and off. You can buy air tubing connectors with switch to control the speed of co2, you need two of them, one control the speed, one for on/off.

I have a modifyde System for SodaStream

Using pressurized for my 240L but now I have a 90L as well... So maybe I should try the cheaper option :-)

Awesome video! What is the second system setup called? Looking to buy it for my 20 gallon tank.

How long should my 2 l dyi system last before I have to replenish?

where did you buy the ARKA system from? Most EU shops are selling it for over 120 euros. Thanks!

Hi mate, is this invita only available in Europe but not in US? Thank you

After using the second one for a year, mine has started leaking. The cheap construction doesn’t hold up well.

I'm lazy and I decided to earn money in order to buy a good preassured CO2 system... yes, initial cost is big, but it's clean, safe and last months... and I only have a tank, big, but only one, I thought the effort worth it... regards

opening statement proves there's no climate issues with co 2 greta can kick rocks