FZONE 5.5L Aquarium CO2 Generator System Carbon Dioxide Reactor Kit with Regulator and Needle Valve for 600-800g Raw Material

I have been running this setup on my 29 gallon heavily planted tank for about 6 weeks now. Ive had such a great experience with it that I ordered a 2nd setup for a 75 gallon tank that I am in the process of building. Pros: - High quality parts - Efficient CO2 generation. I have have a half a tank worth of pressure after 6 weeks - Easy to read gauges - All of my plants are growing like weeds. I've already had to trim them twice - The glassware that's included is very nice. - Plenty of length provided for the co2 hose Cons. - The instructions need work. Maybe it was me, but I had a hard time understanding them. I found a very helpful video on YouTube that clarified the math behind the citric acid & baking soda ratios. - The needle valve is very sensitive so you have to be careful to let the bubbles even out after touching the adjuster to get an accurate count. Other notes: - The setup is very tall when built. All the pieces mount vertically as well as the connection for the c02 house. I planned on having it in my cabinet but I didn't account for the bubble counter and hose being on top so it wouldn't fit. - The glass "U" connector is sized for a rimless tank. I had to cut a small notch in my tank to be able to use it. It is an easy modification to do but it something you need to consider. - A smart plug that allows for daily schedules makes controlling the system a breeze. I have it programmed to turn on at 8 am and shut off at 5pm. Running co2 at night is a waste as plants don't utilize CO2 without light. My lights are also on a controlled schedule as well but that's a different topic. Over all, this setup is a great way to get started with CO2 injection without having to drive around a find someone to fill CO2 canisters. It's possible it's more expensive to run long-term, but for me, being able to order citric acid and baking soda on Amazon that will last me an entire year vs lugging a tank to a paint all store is 100% worth it. I hope Fzone decides to make a 1 liter or even a half liter generator that I can use on my nano desktop tank.

No seal problems, all parts there, instructions are mostly good. If you dont have a scale, you'll need to do a little math. I added 13.8 Tablespoons Baking Soda, and 8.3 Tablespoons Citric Acid with my 300ML water and it seems to be working out... but again do your own math and make sure do NOT take my word for it. It's been a few weeks and my plants seem happy and my fish are alive so those measurements haven't killed my 29G just yet... Anyways, the setup seems ideal and is decent price as far as I can tell. It does the job well, and hasn't failed me yet. Seems like it's decently made so I'm happy with my purchace. Would buy from this seller again. On a final note... buy a CO2 drop checker. I did some math and figured 1 bubble per 2 seconds was good.... now I'm using 4 bubbles per 1 second. It will help you figure out how much to be adding to your tank and save you mental stress trying to guess. Just take it SLOW and figure out what rate gets your checker green fastest and keeps it green without going into the yellow (danger) zone.

I bought this for my small 7g aquarium. Original plan was to keep it without co2 because I was out of spare 5lb cylinders and regulator and I needed something small to tuck away. I have used fermentation co2 when if started in the hobby but it never generates enough pressure to use a decent diffuser. This system is great. It arrived next day. I was able to put it in service same day and it was putting out 50psi which is more than adequate for any diffuser. Assembly was easy. Quality of materials is very good. Came with spare orings, co2 tubing, bubble counter, diffuser and a u-tube. Also had a filter which is very essential to keep the regulator out of any issues form the acidic mix. Most of these systems don’t have a good solenoid to run on a timer but I have used fzone regulator and this solenoid is just as good. The bubble counter is solid with not backflow issues. The needle valve is good enough for my needs. Was able to dial it to little under a bubble per second. Also like the 2 guages to show you cylinder pressure and working pressure, which will allow me to know when it’s time to refill the system. It’s been 4 days and the pressure is holding steady and the plants are definitely enjoying it. Would definitely recommend this system to anyone.

This whole kits garbage. Every part except for the canister itself broke. One by one, it was first the solenoid, replaced it with the replacememt solenoid F zone sells, that also broke, and then so did the second one. Mind you, this is all under 2 months. Then the control valve broke and leaked a ton, so I had to replaced that. Then the bubble counter cracked on the bottom thread, again a huge leak. This thing wasn’t built to handle an attack from a butterfly. So in all I’ve bought the kit, 3 replacement solenoids, a new control valve (the part that screw into the top of the canister), and now I’m about to buy a replacement bubble counter. Garbage! The only thing that stands up is the canister itself and I bet that’s the only part F-zone outsourced. From experience, if you guys want a good solenoid, buy the Clscea one in my photos. And I tried replacing the seals on the control valve to stop the leak, to no avail. It literally shot baking soda all over everything for a good 7 minutes straight with no way to stop it. And a citric acid/baking soda mix is so difficult to clean if you let it dry, cleaning solutions don’t dissolve it. So I guess ill just live with the baking soda spray all over my aquarium cabinet. I hate this kit!

It’s a pretty solid system. The needle valve is a little sensitive for my taste. It’s not bad but it could be a little better. The materials are all high quality. The system is running well without any issues. The diffuser is a little on the low end. The bubbles are a mixture of good micro bubbles and some larger bubbles. I would recommend getting another one if you want tiny bubbles all around. It’s solid though as none of the bubbles were large. The system was easy to set up. They say use 200 grams of citric acid and 200 of baking soda. Chemistry says you need 200 grams citric acid and 260 grams of baking soda to get a perfect consumption in the chemical reaction based on the mole weight of each. I went with science to avoid having a lot of left over matter when the tank needs to be refilled. You can avoid the crust or unused citric acid some complained about in the tank this way as all the citric acid will be used in the reaction. That’s a pretty minor issue though. All in all, it’s a good build and quality materials. I got some pearling of my plants day one. The price isn’t bad given everything. I would have given 5 stars for a slightly better needle valve and a slightly better diffuser but it’s a good quality system. Update: Day two my diffuser is even worse. The plate doesn’t seem attached and all the co2 is just leaking out the edge of the diffuser. Definitely a four star product because the diffuser is worthless. But that’s my only complaint. Solenoid runs cool, everything else works great.

Overall happy with my purchase and the price of the kit. The instructions included could be a bit clearer and seemed to skip over the installation of some of the parts, which I think is especially important for someone like me who is brand new to CO2 in aquariums. That said, assembly was easy enough. Needs a separate timer switch to utilize the solenoid valve, which seems to do a much better job of sealing the whole thing off than the valve on the canister itself anyway. Only other thing I'd note is the diffuser that came with my kit was cracked/chipped and not working correctly (still diffusing but not very efficiently, and with a pretty unpleasant hissing sound), but the seller was quick to send me a replacement which is working perfectly. Can't yet speak to how the whole kit will last over time as I've only been using it about a week now, but so far I'm quite happy and would recommend it (and the seller) based on the overall experience, my limited knowledge, and having shopped around a bit before buying.

I'm a first time CO2 user and this is my second venture into the aquarium hobby. My first go round, I always wanted an nice lush planted tank but I was in my early teens and couldn't afford the size tank or the items required for that kind of setup. Now on my second go round, I decided to follow that path of my dream aquarium and with that came the initially overwhelming prospect of CO2 systems. The Fzone CO2 generator system has made that very simple and significantly less daunting for me. It comes with almost everything that you need to set up the system. The only things the system doesn't come with is sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, a digital scale, or check valves. I highly recommend you spend a couple dollars on check valves. Those check valves will keep water from backflowing into the co2 lines when you have the system off. If you want to make your life super simple, you will need them. They also allow you to easily disconnect the bubble checker when it comes time to refill the bottle with your baking soda and citric acid. Now, I did say I'm new to CO2 so I did make a mistake when filling the bottle. The directions specifically state to hold the bottle at a 45 degree angle when filling. I did this until I went to grab the cap. When I reached for the cap of the tank I set the canister straight up, which meant I ended up having a fountain of the chemical reaction shoot out of the top of the tank until I was able to screw the cap onto it. Don't make the same mistake I made. That was my own mistake I made, like I said I knew it had to be held at an angle and I had an airheaded moment. Now I will say, if you have a larger tank, go for the 5L kit. I have a 75 gallon and I have had the CO2 on a timer, and my tank pressure has gone from 400+ PSI when freshly full to 150 PSI in 4 days. I will most likely need to upgrade to the 5L bottle here in the next month or so, but I also have my system running for 11hrs a day. As stated, the tank pressure goes up to over 400PSI, which already tells me that the build quality is quite superb, and I noticed some other reviews state that the knob to adjust the bubble flow was a bit touchy. My specific system was just touchy enough to where it was actually pretty easy to set my flow rate at 3 bubbles a second without really struggling with having to fiddle around with it. The tank is pretty weighty, but I believe that's due to the fact that it is built very well. When you initially fill the tank it will get cold enough to condensate on the outside, but that is due to the chemical reaction. It's not a flaw. Overall the 2.5L was perfect for me to dip my toes into the beautiful world of planted tanks, and is good value for people who have a smaller setup, such as a 29G or less. For my specific use case, I will need the 5L so I don't have to refill every week.

I bought this kit about a month ago and it has been working very well. Haven’t had any issues at all.

Ich habe mir das Gerät gekauft, um langfristig eine konventionelle CO2-Anlage zu ersetzen und die teuren Flaschenfüllungen und TÜV-Termine zu umgehen. Dazu habe ich gerechnet: Eine Füllung der FZone mit Natriumbicarbonat und Zitronensäure kostet etwa 2,50 Euro (beim Kauf der „Zutaten“ als Sackware und Verwendung in der 4-Liter-Version der FZone). Also auch noch in je einen 25 kg-Sack Natron und Zitronensäurepulver investiert … na ja, kann man ja auch sonst noch gut im Haushalt gebrauchen, das relativiert die hohe Anfangsinvestition etwas. Zum Gerät selber: Die Lieferung erfolgte vor dem angekündigten Termin, die Verpackung ist ordentlich und besteht fast ausschließlich aus Karton (Kunststoff wurde so gut es geht vermieden). Die Verarbeitung wirkt hochwertig und stabil. Das Ding kann man sich auch im Wohnzimmer neben das Aquarium stellen, wenn es z.B. nicht in den Unterschrank passt - mit Blasenzähler, Relais für die Nachtabschaltung und nach oben weggeführtem CO2-Schlauch baut das eher hoch. Das Netzteil für die Nachtabschaltung muss mit einem beiliegenden Adapter an kontinentaleuropäische Steckdosen angepasst werden - auch das geht einwandfrei. An der Nachtabschaltung befindet sich eine rote LED, die leuchtet, wenn die Anlage in Betrieb ist (das Relais angezogen hat). Das ist praktisch und sieht „stylisch“ aus - eine grüne LED (grün = „läuft“) hätte das Ganze noch getoppt. Die Angaben zur Menge von Natron und Zitronensäure sind in der beiliegenden Anleitung und auf dem Flaschenaufkleber unterschiedlich (aber auf Deutsch ;)). Ich habe den Mittelwert genommen und jeweils 700 g eingefüllt. Mit einer Küchenwaage und dem beiliegenden Messbecher ist das einfach. Da es sich bei beiden Substanzen auch um ungiftige „Hausmittel“ handelt, macht es nichts aus, wenn ein paar Krümel danebengehen. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, dass die Flasche nach dem Einfüllen des Wassers schnell verschlossen werden sollte. Ich habe deshalb mit einer starken Reaktion gerechnet, aber die Zeit reicht locker, um den Verschluss sauber aufzuschrauben. Die chemische Reaktion führt dazu, dass sich am Anfang bis zur Füllhöhe außen an der Flasche Kondenswasser bildet. Der Druck baut sich dann langsam auf, nach zwei bis drei Tagen sind trotz laufendem Betrieb 420 PSI erreicht (ca. 30 bar). Es vergehen etwa 12 Stunden, bis der Druck so groß ist, dass die Anlage läuft. Das alles lässt sich an den montierten Manometern gut ablesen. Mit der Druckangabe in PSI werde ich nicht warm, aber das ist Jammern auf hohem Niveau. Die Anzahl der CO2- Blasen, die ausströmen, kann sehr gut am Blasenzähler abgelesen werden. Die Regulierung ist sehr feinfühlig möglich und reagiert direkt, das kenne ich von meiner herkömmlichen Anlage anders. Die Nachtabschaltung funktioniert einwandfrei und dichtet komplett ab. Nachströmendes CO2 oder ähnliche Funktionsstörungen hat meine Anlage nicht. Also: Wer seinen CO2-Dünger fürs Aquarium selber herstellen möchte, eine hochwertig gemachte und einwandfrei und stabil laufende Anlage sucht und die zugegebenermaßen hohe Anfangsinvestition nicht scheut, kann hier zuschlagen. Man muss sich im Klaren sein, dass der Wechsel der „Zutaten“ Arbeit bedeutet (dieser Schritt hat bei mir 15 Minuten gedauert) und sich das Ganze nur auf lange Sicht rechnet. Erfahrungen, wie lange eine Füllung hält, habe ich noch nicht … im Moment ist seit einer knappen Woche kein Druckabfall zu erkennen und ich entnehme zwischen zwei und drei Blasen/Sekunde bei einer Laufzeit von 11 Stunden täglich. Ich hoffe, diese Rezension hilft euch weiter. Edit am 11.02.23: Die Anlage ist heute vier Wochen mit der ersten Füllung in Betrieb. Der Druck ist auf ein knappes Viertel des ursprünglichen Maximums gefallen - in den nächsten Tagen wird also eine Neubefüllung nötig werden. Ich halte mit der Anlage einen CO2-Wert von 20 mg/l in einem 260 Liter-Auarium konstant. Da finde ich eine Standzeit von vier Wochen+ akzeptabel. Positiv ist, dass bei fallendem Druck nicht nachreguliert werden muss, um die Anzahl der ausströmenden Blasen konstant zu halten. Der verbaute Druckminderer ist also auch von guter Qualität. Edit am 04.05.23: Inzwischen läuft an meinem zweiten Aquarium ebenfalls eine FZone. Das oben Geschriebene gilt auch für diese Anlage, die von einigen anderen Rezensenten beschriebenen Probleme tauchen auch hier nicht auf. Die Standzeit hat sich in beiden Anlagen auf 4,5 Wochen bei 20 mg CO2/l im 250 l-Becken eingependelt. Die Neubefüllung dauert jeweils zehn Minuten und ist zur Routine geworden. „Chemieunfälle“ gab es nicht, die Handhabung der Chemikalien ist mit ein wenig Sorgfalt problemlos. Nach Ablauf der chemischen Reaktion kann der Inhalt der Flasche im Ausguss entsorgt werden. Er ist ungiftig und reagiert nicht mehr. Tipp 1: Ein Trichter mit einem WEITEM Auslauf erleichtert die Befüllung mit Natron erheblich. Die Substanz ist sehr feinkörnig und rieselt schlecht, der beiliegende Trichter ist dafür ungeeignet. Die grobkörnige Zitronensäure macht das Problem nicht. Tipp 2: Wenn man die FZone-Flasche während des Betriebs ab und zu schwenkt, lösen sich Zitronensäure und Natron komplett auf. Das erleichtert die Reinigung der Flasche hinterher erheblich. Keine Sorge, es kommt durch das Schwenken nicht zu einer gesteigerten Reaktion mit Überdruck. Ich habe bei der ersten Füllung das Wasser nur zugegossen und die Flasche verschlossen. Die Folge waren große Verklumpungen, die beim Reinigen nicht durch die Flaschenöffnung passten. Auf die Standzeit hat das alles aber keine Auswirkungen.

This kit has been an excellent addition to my aquarium setup. The setup process was easy, and the build quality is solid and durable. The regulator works smoothly, offering precise control over CO₂ output. The system maintains stable pressure consistently, which has helped improve overall aquatic plant growth. Overall, this is a great value for beginners looking for an efficient CO₂ system.

I’ve been using this DIY CO₂ cylinder on my 50 gallon tank for about a year now, and it’s been consistently reliable. Setup was straightforward, and even if you’re new to planted tanks, it doesn’t feel overwhelming. The design is simple and intuitive, which makes day to day use pretty hassle free. One of the biggest advantages is how easy it is to refill. You don’t need any complicated tools or special skills, just a quick recharge and you’re good to go again. That makes it much more convenient compared to some pressurized systems. In terms of performance, it does exactly what you need. CO₂ output is steady enough to support healthy plant growth, and I haven’t faced any major issues over long term use. For beginners especially, this is a great starting point before moving on to more advanced setups. Overall, it’s a practical, easy to use solution that delivers solid results without overcomplicating things.

Llevaba varios años usando el sistema de dos botellas de plástico y la verdad, si llego a conocer esto antes, antes lo uso. Es una maravilla se recarga fácilmente y sin perder tanto tiempo como con las botellas (mezclar independientemente ingrediente, apretar, agitar hasta que coja presión, etc....en fin una tortura). Con este sistema echas los tres ingredientes, bicarbonato, ácido cítrico y agua y a correr. En un cuarto de hora o menos ha cogido la presión suficiente. Una maravilla y sin el peligro de que te explote una botella (que ya me ha pasado). Estoy encantado, espero que me dure años.

After carrying out a lot of research I decided this system would be the best bang for bucks system for my 120L system. I've been running the generator for 3 months now and I'm really impressed with it. It was easy to set up and the raw ingredients are cheap and easily purchased from Amazon. The powders are added and then the water is added very slowly with the bottle at a 45 degree angle. pouring it slowly slows down the chemical reaction and stops you wasting gas as you screw the regulator on to the bottle. I was getting 2 weeks of CO2 from one charge and when I added a CO2 reactor that figure went up to almost 4 weeks. 4 weeks of CO2 from 200g of acetic and 260g of Bi Carbonate is in my opinion amazing. The regulator is easy to adjust and the solenoid valve works as it should. The kit itself contains everything you need, except the raw materials and a drop checker. These can be picked up cheaply from Amazon. CO2 has made a big difference to my plants and algae growth is virtually zero now. This kit has been the best piece of kit I have bought for my aquarium in a long time. If you want to add CO2 to your system this is a great straight out of the box solution.