# Help me buy pressurized CO2 system in GTA.



## overthetop2009 (Jan 18, 2010)

Hi All,

I and others (by the number of posts on this and other forums others) am not certain how to proceed with buying pressurized CO2 unit. 

Obviously I want to spend as little as possible for as much quality as I can get and avoid getting a dud. 

I was almost going to buy the Milwaukee complete system (without Canister of course) but I started seeing people advise against it. 

Can someone make my life easy and tell me what they would buy in the GTA, where specifically they would get it to minimize price while maximizing dependability? I've made some disapointing purchases and been misled by some LFS and spend an aweful lot of money on my 75 gallon planted and am looking for a positive experience. 

I think this would be of interest to many people on the forum so maybe a sticky would be a good idea.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Have you taken a look at my thread here?

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12271

I wrote an extensive guide regarding pressurized CO2.


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## overthetop2009 (Jan 18, 2010)

Excellent article. Thanks for the effort on that. What do you think of the Milwaukee complete unit that is being sold around town? I'm a TTCer so the convenience of the one stop purshase (and at 100 bucks) is attractive but I certainly don't want to 'gas' my fish as i've spent around 300 dollars on my stock.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I believe I made my opinions about the Milwaukee MA957 regulator in the other thread quite clear...but I will say it again here.

Personally, I don't think the MA957 is a good setup, mainly because of the stock needle valve that comes with it. Also, the instructions that come with the regulator are not very clear, and many people have blown the delivery pressure gauge because they do not know that they first have to dial back the delivery pressure when using the regulator. This causes a lot of grief for users.

In addition, the stock needle valve floats quite a bit, so you may find yourself having too much CO2 one day, and too little the next, so this may be an issue.

Other people have had similar (bad) experiences with the MA957, while others have had nothing but good experiences. However, it seems that the number of bad experiences outweighs the good.

If you replace the stock needle valve on the MA957, you may have a reasonable setup.


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## overthetop2009 (Jan 18, 2010)

Thanks and sorry about asking for a repeat...


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

If you want quality and something that will last, I suggest:

http://www.bestaquariumregulator.com/index.htm

Worth every cent.


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## overthetop2009 (Jan 18, 2010)

Yep, after looking at all the options I've decided to order from best aquarium regulator. Seems like the way to go to me both on price and convenience. Thanks for the advise everyone!


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

overthetop2009 said:


> Yep, after looking at all the options I've decided to order from best aquarium regulator. Seems like the way to go to me both on price and convenience. Thanks for the advise everyone!


Rex Grigg's regulator is a great build based off on the Cornelius regulator. He is a bit slow with e-mail, but he does eventually respond.

If you want a better price, you could try DIY-ing everything yourself


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## MrScourge (Feb 6, 2010)

I ordered my setup from Rex last week. He said it should ship within a week or so, I'm hoping it will get here soon. I opted to go with the NV-55's as DB48 reccommended. I called around locally and the cheapest I could find them was $36 each and since I'm going to be feeding two tanks, it adds up in a hurry. With everything I needed short of the CO2, it came to just over $200cdn ... I couldn't beat that locally.

Bonus note - picked up my CO2 cylinder from Norwood this week, was planning on paying by credit but they told me they prefer cash. I only had $70 on me at the time and they were happy with just that. 

-George


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

MrScourge said:


> Bonus note - picked up my CO2 cylinder from Norwood this week, was planning on paying by credit but they told me they prefer cash. I only had $70 on me at the time and they were happy with just that.


Cash is always preferable


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