DIY CO2 downfalls?

[red devil]

I have read a few posts and websites about diy CO2. One of the things I have seen in all places is that there is a short time in the beginning when no co2 is being produced, there is a peak and then near the end of the co2 production tails off. Has anyone ever tried hooking up 4 bottles together and staggering the starting time by 4 or 5 days? Please feel free to direct me to other posts here or urls - I tried googling but could not find the right key words to keep me on the subject.

I am trying to find a fairly reliable cheap way to get into plants. I have never been able to keep them alive before, although I was familiar enough with fish and tanks to keep fish happy and healthy, and to keep water clean and fresh.

[J double R]

there are so many variables that change the life of the yeast, the amount of co2 it produces, and for how long..

temperature (the warmer the water, the more co2 is produced, but the faster the sugar gets used up)

sugar (the more sugar, the longer it lasts, but too much and the alcohol will kill the yeast before it uses all the sugar)

yeast (a little will make less co2 for longer time, a lot will make a TON of co2 for a shorter time)

there are lots of other variables and recipes and formulas that work for people.. i found the best way to get DIY to work for me was to experiment with the recipes.. get the right balance, and find what works with your setup.

do some reading at Rex Grigg's site, he has some on DIY if i'm not mistaken.

[mellowvision]

I have 2 1 liter bottles, one with yeast and sugar in water, and the other with yeast and sugar in jello. they were started 4 or 5 days apart. the jello never showed a huge burst, and required a little more yeast after 2 days... think I didn't start it with quite enough... I certainly am no expert, and haven't gotten anything to last me a month yet, but can tell you that stringing 2 together helps maintain consistency longer.

[Mgamer20o0]

i would do them all at once. unless you dont think you can change them at once. many people hook up a couple diy together. i would first look at a few things first.

1 is lighting. what kind of lighting did you have? how much did you have? many times light is the limiting factor. no matter how much co2 and ferts you pump in without the light the plants will die

2 the plants you had. were they low light plants?

[geofied]

I started with Hagen CO2 systems, which is really just DIY using Hagen equipment. Last week Sammie7 guilted me into finally trying true DIY (I was concerned about the mix). I picked up some champagne yeast (handles the alcohol buildup better) and grabbed some 1Liter bottles and derived a recipe from someone's listed recipe on here.

I set up my first DIY in one tank at night and when I woke up it was already bubbling once every couple of seconds. The next bottle I did for another tank started bubbling in about a 1/2 hour (I'm also mixing up the mixture before putting the tube in the tank which excelerates things a bit). Funny thing is, my Hagen mix didn't start for at least 24-36 hours every time (9 times I tried), but I just used my recipe in one of my Hagen canisters and it started to bubble within about a 1/2 hour. Obviously the yeast in Hagen's mixes is a little old.

So no horror stories from me so far, and I'm using DIY on 4 tanks now. The bubbles on all the tanks have been steady and substantial. I'll know more about how long the mix works in a couple of weeks if it slows down or whatnot. I would highly recommend giving it a shot if you are ready to start working with CO2.

[mellowvision]

today's hagen ladder tip: if the bubbles seem to not be getting as small as they did a week ago, as they climb the ladder, rinse the ladder under some hot water and wipe dry and reinstall. the slime coat on it reduces the friction of the bubble on the plastic, and it doesn't roll as fast.

[geofied]

today's hagen ladder tip: if the bubbles seem to not be getting as small as they did a week ago, as they climb the ladder, rinse the ladder under some hot water and wipe dry and reinstall. the slime coat on it reduces the friction of the bubble on the plastic, and it doesn't roll as fast.

Ha. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if the ladder had tiny ridges to agitate the bubble as it travels. Although my snails kind of act like speed bumps in that regard.