Easy, reliable, painless DIY CO2

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Cichlid Woman

Dwarf cichlids rule ...
Nov 27, 2002
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central Illinois
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Easy, reliable, painless DIY CO2?!

I was at an lfs yesterday and finally found the CO2 Fizz Factory that Jungle makes. This store had it marked $26.95, but I've seen it online for $15 or so. Anyway, since I had a $10 credit there, I went for it. The lfs owner knocked off another 15% because he wants me to be his "guinea pig" to see if this stuff works. His tanks are too big, and mine's a 38-gal (it's supposed to be effective for tanks up to 40 gal.). Yes!!

Brought it home, set it up. Tried it. I had a chamber in the tank full of CO2 in about a minute and a half. It took it all night to completely disburse in the water, and took my pH from 7.8 to 7.6. This morning, I put another tab in the reaction chamber. We'll see what that does. Each chamber-full contains 350cc CO2, and the reaction chamber is designed to hold 450. One tab just about fills it up.

Here's how it works: All the parts are plastic. You use airline tubing and an airline connector (included) to connect a small, plastic "fizz" container to a "reaction chamber" inside the tank. The reaction chamber is actually a rectangle (about 2"x10"x2") with one open side which faces down in the water. So the diffusion mechanism is really a bell-type system. The airline from the fizz bottle plugs into the side of this rectangle, and as the tablet fizzes in the fizz bottle outside the tank, the CO2 runs (quickly!) down into the bell, displacing the water there. The CO2 then slowly dissolves into your tank water. When the water has eventually filled the reaction chamber back up again, the CO2 is gone and you need another tablet. All you do is reconnect the fizz bottle to the outside airline tube, drop in another tablet, close the lid, and wait two minutes for the chamber to fill again. Then you can disconnect the fizz bottle until next time. There's also an airline plug connected with a short piece of tubing to the top of the reactor, for venting if you need it. Works slick!!

The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the fact that the reaction chamber attaches with suction cups to the inside of the tank wall about two inches or so from the top of the water. Which puts it squarely in the upper middle of your tank, totally visible. It's clear plastic, and you can't really see it unless the lights are on, but when they are, it's an eyesore.

Is there any reason I couldn't just run longer airline tubing so I could move the reactor down behind my plants closer to the bottom of the tank? It would be a LOT less visible that way. Would it still work, or would the added distance create pressure problems getting the CO2 down into the reactor?

What really impresses me (especially after my pop-bottle attempt) was the speed and ease of getting the CO2 in there. Those tablets rule!!

What do you guys think of this system? Will it really work?

-- Pat
 

Bremer

AC Members
Oct 3, 2000
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Houston, Texas
How much do the tabs costs? If you have to use one every day, I wouldn't think that is very cost effective.

I am pleased with my pressurized system. After the up-front costs, the only cost is to refill the tank every few months...other than that, I never pay any attention to it.
 

Richer

AC Members
Aug 7, 2002
888
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Edmonton, AB
Agreed, if you are going to have to add a tablet every day, its probably not going to be a very cost effective system. You are probably better off using Hagen's method of CO2 injection (Plant Gro CO2 Natural System). Apparently, each mixture pack can last at least a couple of weeks. A 3 pack costs about 9 bucks CDN, so it'll probably cost less in USD. The CO2 generator sits outside the tank, and you can have the CO2 line either go into the reactor that comes with the kit, or run it through a powerhead/filter/airstone/etc. Hagen's CO2 generating method is essentially a tweaked and commercialized form of the DIY method. In other words, tried, tested and true =)

I am concerned about the effectiveness of your current method... it doesn't sound like its producing enough CO2, or its method of distrubution is effective enough. A drop of 0.2 from 7.8 is not very impressive. If you compare your KH and pH to ths table you will likely find that your CO2 levels have only risen by a tiny margin. You usually want to reach levels of about 15-25ppm. The most CO2 you currently have would be 14.8ppm, and _thats_ only assuming you have a KH of 20 (which is pretty unlikely).

In the end, the best method is the pressurized method. Coupled with a good power reactor, a 5 pound tank can easily last for months on end... I currently have a 5 pound tank on my 70 gallon plant tank, its been working since the beginning of September, and the pressure inside the tank hasn't dropped yet. After the initial cost, pressurized literally costs a few bucks every few months to maintain. In the long run, it is much more effective than constant refil packs or tablets. You can also easily run multiple tanks on a pressurized system. All you need are brass Ts, and more needle valves and you can branch your CO2 lines into other tanks.

HTH
-Richer
 

Cichlid Woman

Dwarf cichlids rule ...
Nov 27, 2002
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central Illinois
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Don't have the bucks for the pressurized CO2, which definitely would be better. But for now, trying something better than a Pepsi bottle for $14 looks good.

Price on the tabs on the internet is $4.35 for 16 tabs. If I can get by with using one a day, that's not too bad.

What I'm really going to be interested in seeing is if the water will retain its current level of pH after I stop dropping tabs in the fizzer. After two tabs, one last night and one this morning, the pH dropped from 7.8 to 7.4. I just added a third tab and measured again; pH is now at 7.2. I wonder: will it stay there if I don't add another tab? Or will the pH start coming right back up as soon as I stop adding tabs?! (KH is 8, by the way.)

-- Pat
 
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