milesalive
09-26-2009, 11:26 PM
I made diy co2 out of a old soap detergent bottle washed well (because soap is hazardous to fish) MY mixture was warm water and sugar and yeast is there anythign else I should be using
PsyKick
09-27-2009, 8:03 AM
Nope. Its really all in the ratio of those ingredients...
Although a lot of people like to use two 2-liter soda bottles and rig them together into a single output, and start the second bottle's batch about 3-5 days after the first bottle so that you maintain a constant CO2 output. When one bottle fizzles out you still have another bottle going and you just replace the finished bottle with a fresh batch.
PsyKick
09-27-2009, 10:22 AM
Back in the day I used to dissolve about 2-3 cups of sugar into the 2 liter filled about 1/2 full of warm water, then I would dissolve 1/2-1 teaspoon of yeast into a cup of warm water and pour that into the 2 liter, and fill the 2 liter to about 3/4 full with lukewarm water. Swirl the contents, and then attach your output line and cap.
Depending on ambient temperature in the area where you will keep the co2 setup you may want to have more or less yeast/sugar. Basically you are looking to stabilize the reaction rate so that the co2 is produced for 2 weeks.
I have had decent success with lowering the amount of yeast if the bottle is going to sit in a warm area, less yeast to produce co2, but faster production because of the warmth. Likewise the inverse is true, if it is sitting in a colder place, the yeast will produce co2 slower so you would want to add more yeast to compensate.
This is another reason why having 2 bottles rigged together is prefered, having two offset batches will help to keep a stable and constant supply of CO2 to your tank, and if you keep up with replacing the solution in each bottle you should never end up with a time where there is no co2 being produced.