How to compress Co2 for aquatic plants?
I am planning to keep a stock of plants for seeding ponds. Since they would be purely plant or too few fish, i would need to supplement Co2. I would be working with tanks up to 275 gallons and small ponds. Would one of the refill kits take the co2 from the atmosphere and put it into a tank, or does it merely shuttle the co2 from one tank to another? (like this: http://www.rap4.com/paintball/os/tanks-cylinder-re...
What would take the co2 from the atmosphere and put it into a form I could use for plants?
Also, I would be using the Co2 to kill mice and rats for my snakes.
Update:Well, that wasn't exactly what I was asking, but it did answer one of my questions.
Comments
I keep aquatic plants, but on a smaller scale (aquariums). There are couple of methods used by aquatic horticulturists, and each has its pros and cons.
If you aren't worried about overdosing your tank (killing fish or snails, lowering the pH) the simplest and probably cheapest is to make your own reactor using yeast and sugar. This website has the details on making one for an aquarium, you'd just need to make it to fit the size of system you'd be using. http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html The downsides of this system are that it's hard to control the amount of CO2 produced so it's a steady level and you can't turn it off when the lights are out (no light = no CO2 taken in for photosynthesis).
As previously mentioned, you can get compressed CO2 in tanks. But to control the amount delivered, you also need to get a solenoid and needle valve. http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=... One controls the flow from the tank till it's almost empty, then the other controls the release when the tank has very little pressure left. There are many models of these, and some work better and last longer than others. Like the saying goes, you get what you pay for. One piece of advice, don't get one which also has a bubble counter attached (the clear glass tube on the left http://petsupplieslab.com/images/jyxevoku.jpg ) You have to fill these with water to count the bubbles being released, and water + valve = the valve corroding. It's expensive to set up, but once you have it working, you only need to pay to have the tank refilled with CO2. Tip - get the largest sized canister you can.
The last option I'll mention is using liquid CO2 supplements. This is usually bought as SeaChem's Excel. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flou... It's simple to use and you can deliver the exact dose you want. There's no equipment to buy. But you'll need to add this at least weekly, every week. That runs up quite a lot of Excel, and this doesn't come cheap. But it does work. You wouldn't be able to use this method for killing rodents for your snake, though.
The kit in your link by the way, seems to just be a hose to connect the CO2 cartridges from the paintball gun to a CO2 canister so you can refil your own cartridges. But you'd still need to buy the CO2 tank and pay to have it filled just as you would have to do in the second option I mentioned.
Depending on your location, you can get CO2 gas in a compressed cylinder. We get it delivered all the time at work but I think it is likely a pretty limited market so if it can't be delivered to you, it may be quite a drive to get a tank. They work on a system where you essentially rent the tank from them and then whenever it is empty you simply exchange it. Pretty much how gas for your grill works.