DIY CO2 newbie support group

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cobfreak

AC Members
May 1, 2010
385
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Cumberland, MD
I started... scratch that, I tried to start DIY CO2 in my 55 gallon planted tank two days ago. When doing this kind of thing (DIY stuff) I almost always try to start (go from starting to actually having a functioning thing) as quickly as possible. In this case I did the simplest thing I could do. So this is in NO WAY meant to be a primer on what to do. This in fact could very well turn into a primer on how NOT to do it. But here goes.

I used a 2 liter bottle, drilled a hole in the lid, inserted airline tubing, and used GE Silicone I to seal it (just outside the cap, not inside.) I hooked the the other end of the tube to a hanging airline tube splitter/regulator thing (thinking that this thing also serves as a check valve which, it turns out, it doesn't.) Hooked another length of tube to one of the outputs of that thing, and then the end of THAT was hooked up to an airstone thing. I placed the airstone beneath the intakes of my two cannister filters.

I then followed a recipe for making the gunk in the generator. 1/4 teaspoon of yeast (Fleishman's ActiveDry), a pinch of paking soda from a box in the fridge, 2 cups of sugar, and water. I activated, or tried to activate, the yeast by mixing the baking soda and yeast with a little sugar and some warm water in a cup. Then I poured the rest of the sugar into the 2 liter, added more warm water, and finally dumped the cup of yeast mixture into the bottle.

I put the cap onto the bottle by twisting the bottle, not the cap, after trying the other way for about 5 seconds and realizing that that doesn't really work because of course the airline tubing keeps re-turning the cap back the other way.

Then I stepped back and watched my water sprite and waited for it to suddenly grow out the top of the tank. When that didn't happen, I looked at the airstone and waited for a bubble to come out. When that didn't happen I left it all alone and went back to doing whatever it is I probably should've been doing in the first place.

... hours passed ...

I looked and saw that there still weren't any noticeable bubbles. Certainly the plants hadn't filled the tank yet. So I thought that maybe there was an obstruction, or a leak, and so I squeezed the two liter bottle to push some of the air out into the tubing (I had left air space in the bottle per some instructions I'd seen somewhere or other.) Bubbles shot right out of the air stone. SUCCESSFUL TEST!

Still holding the bottle, I thought, "now what's going to happen when I let go of this bottle and it has to suck stuff back in to fill the vaccuum?" Knowing that I couldn't very well just hold the bottle like that for two weeks, I went ahead and let go, and watch the water suck up into the tube, through the hanging spittler valve thing that I thought would work like a check valve but didn't, then back into the other part of the tube. No liquid came into the bottle at first, but I immediately saw that the water just kept flowing. I had succeeded in creating a syphon! Perfect!

So then I unscrewed the cap (by twisting the bottle, of course) and moved the bottle out from under my tank, while some of the water splashed down onto the base of the stand where the bottle had been sitting. I then threaded the tube behind the stand and lifted it up over the tank. Then I put the light hood back on the tank, set the bottle on top of it, screwed it back into the lid, and did not (quite) give in to the temptation to throw the contraption at the utility sink.

Next day I bought a smaller, fine air stone, and a check valve, along with some airline tubing management suction cup things to better attach the tubing to the back of the aquarium. Today I replaced the stupid splitter valve thing with the check valve, and replaced the air stone with the other air stone, and suction-cupped the stone right beneath one of the cannister filter intakes.

Then I unscrewed the bottle, put another cap (with no hole) on it, and shook the crap out of it. It fizzed and foamed. I put the bottle back onto the cap with the airline tubing, and then shook it some more for good measure. I could see some gas sort of pushing through whatever's left of the bits of watever in the tubing. But so far no bubbles out throught the stone, and my water sprite still isn't shooting out the top of the tank.

Future plans:
1. find one of those clear plastic bubbles that come from those kids vending machines that have stupid junk in them that used to be a quarter when I was a kid but now cost like 3 quarters, and attach that thing upside down above the air stone to use as one of those diffuser things so I don't mess up my cannister filter.
2. attach a second bottle to use as a gas separator.
3. Somehow do something magical to make it so some bubbles come out of something and I can see that anything I'm doing has any value whatever.
4. write something even longer and less helpful next time.

:pc::swear::mad2:


Anybody else in the starting-stages feel free to hijack my thread and join the support group. And of course anybody who knows which of the 57 short-cuts I took caused my setup to apparently not do anything feel free to let me know. Thanks for reading.
 

James0816

AC Members
Feb 14, 2007
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Interesting and fun read at the same time. Sry. You did write it up rather well I must say. Altough......you may have a "small" issue with this. I don't believe the DIY Co2 is really going to do much for ya on the 55g.
 

cobfreak

AC Members
May 1, 2010
385
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Cumberland, MD
Interesting and fun read at the same time. Sry. You did write it up rather well I must say. Altough......you may have a "small" issue with this. I don't believe the DIY Co2 is really going to do much for ya on the 55g.
Yeah, I've been through that research. As with everything else related to this hobby, there are as many viewpoints about that as there are fish in my tanks. I settled on the "it can't really hurt" approach. I could also double my output by doing 2 bottles at a time; I've read good stuff about that being effective on this size setup. If I get bubbles to start coming out, that'll be another thing on my list of things to do.

Thanks for the input!
 

KevG

AC Members
Jul 8, 2010
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Mtl.Qc.Ca
How old is your yeast? anything over 4 to 6 months old will be more trouble to activate then going to the store and buying a new jar.
 

KevG

AC Members
Jul 8, 2010
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Mtl.Qc.Ca
I do think it's possible to do produce enough co2 for a 55 gallon tank. It sounds to me like there is something wrong with your Yeast mixture. It doesn't sound to be making any co2 gas.
It is.
I have an 80G with 3 bottles and get about 15 ppm.
 

FishBliss

Detroit Airport - so COOL!
Oct 1, 2006
226
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Peterborough, NH
yay! You did it! You started a thread on this! I was hoping you would.

ok, so you are way ahead of me....
I understand the part where you get a soda or juice bottle and I understand the recipe and variations of the recipe. And I understand a tube is involved, and an airstone. I have all that. I'm picturing my bottle on the floor with my tube coming out of it and going up into my tank and it has an airstone at the end. And the airstone will sit right next to the intake of my canister filter so that scoops up the c02 and spits it out of the outtake so it jets around the tank.

But -- I seem to be missing some thingies....don't know what they are or where to get 'em or what they do. Valves? more tubes?
 

cobfreak

AC Members
May 1, 2010
385
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0
Cumberland, MD
yay! You did it! You started a thread on this! I was hoping you would.

ok, so you are way ahead of me....
I understand the part where you get a soda or juice bottle and I understand the recipe and variations of the recipe. And I understand a tube is involved, and an airstone. I have all that. I'm picturing my bottle on the floor with my tube coming out of it and going up into my tank and it has an airstone at the end. And the airstone will sit right next to the intake of my canister filter so that scoops up the c02 and spits it out of the outtake so it jets around the tank.

But -- I seem to be missing some thingies....don't know what they are or where to get 'em or what they do. Valves? more tubes?
This'll be the blind leading the blind, but what the heck. You definitely want a check valve. I got mine at petco for somewhere in the 2 dollar range I think. You cut the tube that's coming out of your bottle somewhere along its length and stick attach the two pieces you just cut apart to either side of the check valve. You just have to do it in the right direction.

This article here: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html has a nice schematic of all of the parts. I am not using all of those parts yet.

Also note that that guy says you don't want to use the regular airline tubing, but instead want to use silicone airline tubing. The regular stuff degrades more easily. I ignored that part because, again, I don't want to have to run all over everywhere trying to buy the "right" pieces. I have airline tubing from an air pump I don't use so that's what I'm using.

To the other people offering advice up there - thanks! I used brand new Yeast; I suspect if anything I didn't activate it right. I dunno how, though, it seems like a simple process. On the other hand the thing is definitely making SOME gas. I can still see leftover water in the tube that's being every so gradually pushed down toward the stone. When I shake up the bottle it fizzes. So I probably did something wrong in the recipe somehow, and I'll try again. Maybe with more yeast this time.
 

cobfreak

AC Members
May 1, 2010
385
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0
Cumberland, MD
Hey look at that. I just shook up the bottle again and this time a buncha bubbles came out the air stone. Pretty darn fast, too. Then either stopped or slowed enough that I didn't see them anymore. Hopefully that's not enough all at once to hurt the fish or anything. Guess we'll see. But I guess at this point I have a semi-functional CO2 thing.
 
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