OK, I DID IT. Set up my co2 system on my 72 gallon bowfront!!! I am very excited about this as I was really nervous. I have never worked with any type of TANK before, and understand co2 won't go boom boom, but since I was in such unfamiliar territory...anyway, I have a few questions:

I bought 5lb co2 tank from roberts oxygen, the top gun c02 regulator set and the Co2 Reactor 200 With Rio Pump from aquariumplants. com...

1 - How many bubbles per min?...I read somewhere you should start slow, so I started with 8 bubbles per minute tonight. Doing a search on bubble counters, Tom wood said 1 bubble per sec for 40 gallons, so about 2 bubbles/sec for 72 gallon. That's a 120 bubbles a min?
Just sounded excessive to me, anyone else?

2 - I will get the Solenoid on a timer..on and off with lights...Do I need to turn off the rio pump w/the reactor also..or can I leave it on at night?

Thanks all.....

i have 3 bubbles per second (bps) on my 50g. but, i also have 60ppm co2.

the bps can't be determined without self-experimentation. no tank has the same surface agitation amount, which is the #1 factor of how high you need your bps to be.

i can tell you for sure that in a 72g, you will need at least 2 bps, if not a lot more. fortunantly, the pH changes from co2 do not affect fish, so all you have to worry about is not letting your co2 go so high that your fish start gasping for oxygen.

hope all goes with it! you will enjoy your tank much more now with co2 injection :gw

I have a 55 gallon tank and I have about 140 bubbles a second going in. Hard to count after 2 per second haha.

I think you should start 1 per second and then crank it up. 8 per minute is a bit to low.

Rick