DIY CO2 in 10 Gallon Tank

Try cutting the ammount of yeast you use in half or even use 25% and work up from there.

Rate, volume, efficency and retention

You can vary the rate, the volume or the efficency to control the CO2 in the aquarium.

Volume -- Using a smaller bottle is the first thing to try IMO. A 1 liter bottle is enough for a 10 gallon tank. Try a really large Coke bottle, 20 oz.

Rate -- Use less yeast, less sugar.

Efficency -- Change the way you are dissolving the gas into the aquarium. If you have a Hagen ladder, set the input line in the center of the ladder instead of the bottom. If you can, change to a less efficient method, in the filter input insted of a sealed reactor.

Retention -- Also, you can increase the surface agitation in the tank and control the Co2 by increasing losses. Maybe the top is too covered up, open some of the covers on the back of the hood. Lower the water level a bit to alllow some drop from the filter.

Glad you didn't kill anything. It is always best to start out slow, then increase volume or rate or efficency or retention as needed to get to where you want to be.

Orrrrrrrrrr, save yourself a bunch of aggravation and pick up some Seachem Flourish Excel and follow the directions.
For a ten gallon tank it won't cost you a bundle and will be easier to adjust.


Len

worth trying first

Try it, it may be all you need, no testing, just follow the directions.

Exactly, all you have to do is follow the bottle's directions and the product will do a terrific job for you in supplying Carbon.
In short, yes it should make a noticeable difference in plant growth.

One other thing......remember that fish are an important part of the equation. And hopefully you want to balance the tank so that their best interests are met while at the same time, growing nice plants.
Len

Len,
Are you saying stop the DIY CO2 and just use the excel?

For a small tank like a 10, Excel is the easiest thing. Dose as directed only.

If you have started DIY CO2 and have all the stuff collected, then do that. All you need is to lower the rate you had. DIY will be cheaper in the long run than dosing Excel daily or less. DIY has a few other issues, leaks and spills, varying rate.

If you didn't have DIY CO2 collected, you could also use the Nutrafin/Hagen CO2 system. Higher startup costs than Excel or DIY (but not by much), low running costs like DIY, less leaks, same varying rate, much neater and cleaner than DIY but more junk than Excel..