Anyone using the Nyberg CO2 DIY recipe?

[tyoder]

I have been using her recipe (http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/Nyberg_yeast.ppt) with good success. I even bought champagne yeast for it. The problem is that the CO2 production is not lasting me very long. It seems to produce a BUNCH of CO2 for about 3-4 days, then it dies almost completely after about 6-7 days. If memory serves me right, I think her recipe used to last me longer (maybe 2 weeks) when I first started using it (about 3 months ago). I have been keeping the yeast "gunk" in the bottom of the 2 liter bottle and reusing it (just adding more dechlorinated water, molasses, sugar, baking soda and protein mix). Could it be that the yeast have multiplied and I just have too much yeast? Maybe I should dump most of the yeast gunk and leave just a tiny bit for next time? Anyone gone through this? How much of the gunk do you reuse? Thanks!

[dorris]

umm, I always clean mine out every month. I should probably do it every 2 weeks as it is most potent for the first 10 days apparently, but i don't keep any of the gunk. Just clean it and start over. Does it recommend that you keep the gunk? My recipe is a bit diff though.

[fanch313]

have you ever had a problem with it smelling? I have a 10g planted in my office and every morning when I open the door I get hit with a yeasty-odor...if it wasn't for the fact my boss keeps his koi in his office, I think there would be a problem. Is the smell normal (I have only been using it 3weeks or so)

[cmslick3]

I am just getting my 20 gallon temporary Koi tank setup and cycling. I like this DIY stuff and I plan on making some up. I have a whole bunch of plants in there and this would be great for them. I plan on outting the air tube right into the back of the internal filter, it's a Whisper that hans inside the tank, so it's easy access...

I hope this helps plants AND lowers PH a little bit. My water is extremely hard and I am not worried in the least about PH crashing.

[Star_Rider]

tyoder

the same thing happened to me..i think it may have been too much yeast that soncumed the food too quickly
I am playing with how much new yeast I add..I added quite a bit less and the last batch is still producing CO2 after 2 weeks.. it is promising so far.

i will be chanig out the second bottle today ..I leave the white stuff on the bottom and add lesst yeast than the recommendation.

[tyoder]

Dorris:
Yes...I read that you can just re-use the gunk in the bottom and not add any extra yeast (gunk = yeast--at least with champagne yeast). I think I started with just 1/4 tsp of yeast the first time I made the mix, but now I have a bunch of that gunk (maybe a full 3/4 inch at the bottom). Basically I am being lazy and cheap because I'd rather not keep buying yeast if I don't have to.

fanch313:
Mine only smells when I change the bottles; my husband comes in and says "uh... what's THAT smell?!" Hee, hee.

cmslick3:
I have two bottles in a 60 gallon tank and it does lower the pH in mine, but my KH and GH are low.

star_rider:
I agree, I am guessing too much yeast = fast food consumption = less lasting CO2 with a super high burst on the first 3-4 days. I just have too much of the gunk.

Well, I am on my way to change one of my two bottles and I will try to just leave a tiny bit of that gunk. The rest is going down the drain...we'll see how it works. I'll pinch my nose!

[dorris]

It certainly can smell a little off when cleaning out. I think if you could smell it all the time perhaps it's not quite airtight so the smell escapes.

How much more expensive is champaign yeast than normal bread yeast? I've heard champaign yeast is more potent. Have you tried both tyoder?

[tyoder]

Yes, I've used both, regular yeast and Champagne yeast, but not with the Nyberg recipe. With that recipe I've only used the Champagne yeast. In my experience (notice the disclaimer), Champagne yeast seems to be more potent (but that may also be because I am adding the extra "stuff" to it...the protein powder, the molasses, which I never added to the regular yeast). The main advantage that champagne yeast is supposed to have is that it can tolerate higher alcohol levels so it's supposed to last longer than regular yeast for this type of application. I bought it at a local "make your own brew" store. It was not that expensive, but certainly more expensive than regular yeast. I think I paid about $7.50 for about 5 small packets of it and I've only opened one.

By the way, last night I emptied one of my brew bottles and drained all the liquid out, leaving only the stuff that clung for its life at the bottom of the bottle after tilting it upside down. The bottle is already producing a good amount of CO2, so I guess you really don't need a bunch of the "gunk" to get it going again. Now we'll see if reducing the amount of yeast left in the bottle will make the CO2 production last longer...

[Sploke]

Bread yeast is good to about 14-15% alcohol by volume, champagne yeast is good to about 16% or so. IMO not worth the extra cost for the extra few days you might get out of it.

[dorris]

How is it now? Are you using 1 cup of sugar for 2 liters of water llike in the recipe. The thing with that recipe, I have noticed it doesn't say wether or not to add more yeast when you do the change. Even though you leave the gunk in the bottom, I think perhaps we are suppose to add a little more yeast at the change also. And like you have just done, just leave the gunk that clings on and not all of it.

How much of this co2 mix do you use for what sized tank by the way? Do you have any way of measuring the co2 content or are you like me and measure it by plants growing or not? Risky but I doubt I will have too much co2 I need more i think but then I would need more light.

[greyhound_pdx]

Here's what works for me...

I bought the cheapest protein powder I could find, and a 25 # sack of sugar from Costco. I get the brown jar of Red Star bread yeast from the grocery store when I need it.

My formula is:

2 L of water, treated with dechlorinator
1.25 C sugar
1 tsp of protein powder
1 tsp of yeast

Pour the bottle out from the last batch and leave a little gunk in the bottom. Mix the ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a whisk, and whip a lot of air into it. Let this sit out for a few minutes to a few hours, and then pour the soup back into the 2 liter bottle (with a funnel) to an inch or so above where the "dome" below the neck starts.

This will bubble for 2 weeks, but puts out the good supply for about 8-10 days. I have 2 bottles going, so one gets resupplied with the weekly water change. My plants have really really taken off since I got into this habit.
The bubble ladder shows a new bubble about every 1.5-2 seconds. The only thing to be careful of is not to siphon water into the airlines when you change out a bottle. This really upsets the regularity of the airflow.

I didn't have much luck with just leaving the gunk in the bottom and trying to bring that colony back to life with a new infusion of sugar and protein powder.

I do clean the bottles out completely about every month or so.

Hope that helps,
--Byron.

[quadpants]

I had two 2l bottles started up at the same time, only difference was adding Prime to dechlor one. They still ran exactly the same rate and stopped producing the same day. Do you add dechlor when baking bread? The yeast stop producing because of the alcohol not anything else.

It is frustrating that there are 100 recipies out there and nobody has done a test to see which ones actually work better, just ones that are popular because they got printed on a website.

[twig]

Tip:
Don't throw your yeast mixture out. Add more sugar and water to the gunk at the bottom and wait =)

It will start bubblign again within 12 hours and you save yourself a lto of work.

[dorris]

How big are your tanks for 2 X 2L bottles at once? Does anyone here measure the co2 amounts they get in their tank water from this? Just curious as I am just about to start my co2 in my new 60G tank and was just going to use one 2L bottle. Think that will be enough? It will be heavily planted.
I used a one liter mix in a 30G tank but I think I needed more co2. The plants went well but could have done better I think.

[greyhound_pdx]

My tank is a standard-sized 55 G. I use a bubble ladder like this one:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8981&N=2004+113779

I get champagne bubbles every evening. :D

--Byron.

[gwallace123]

I tried the Nyberg formula without much long-term success. It started fine but diminished quickly. I was mixing the solution vigorously to get things started. After some further research I found the following article http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/index.php?page=matt1. In it Matt says that he mixes the sugar and water solution vigorously, but (1) only adds the yeast after letting it warm to room temp for about 10 minutes and (2) then only lets the yeast fall to the surface of the sugar/water solution, in other words, do not mix the yeast into the solution. I tried this and get very steady long-lived production. Regarding the recipe itself, I use 1 cup sugar per liter of de-cholinated, tepid water with a tsp of molassas, 1.3 tsp protein powder, and 1.3 tsp red star bread yeast (from the bottle) for a 3-liter batch (in a gallon container). I don't use baking soda to buffer the solution because my tap water is very hard to start with. I don't add ammonium sulfate. It takes a couple of hours for the yeast to start producing. I use two gallon containers for the generator.

Regarding the yeast smell someone reported. Your system must be air-tight or it will leak foul-smelling gas into the air. I used John Guest bulkhead fittings and JG tubing for the generator setup and feed the output into vinyl tubing and a check valve before injecting the co2 into a fluval filter.

Good Luck, my plants really like the co2.

[dorris]

Do you think a 2L mix will be enough for my 60G? I use to use the ladder on my old 30G but on my new 60 I have just plugged the co2 pipe into my internal power filter and it is spraying tiny co2 bubbles into the tank. Has anyone else done this? I'm just wondering if it would be more or less effective?
I think I might need more lighting also. I only have 2 X 4ft 40 Watt fluros over my 60 but I don't know if that will be enough. They are proper aquarium globes which worked well for my 30 but I feel the need for more light, and more co2 maybe. Maybe I'm just gready and want the lushest under-water jungle in my house.