Homemade CO2 pump?

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ukfan1976

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Feb 23, 2014
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Jeremy
Greetings all,

I recently watched a YouTube video that showed a homemade CO2 "pump" in a small (5gal) aquarium. Apparently he used a soda bottle, yeast, sugar, and water, drilled a hole in the lid and inserted tubing, and on the other end that goes in the aquarium he put a small airstone. The reaction of yeast/sugar/water releases CO2 which is then "pumped" through the tubing and into the aquarium. Has anyone ever tried this? What would be the tank size limitation on such a primitive contraption??? I left him a comment on the video but it was a few years old and no reply. Anyone had experience with this??

Thanks!
 
Fish_Bone

Fish_Bone

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Yes a ton of members use DIY Co2. It's cheap and effective. Most say 30-40 gallons is the max for the DIY setup. The trick is learning how long a mixture will make Co2 and when to change it out.

This message will self destruct in...1...2...3...
 
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dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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In theory you could use DIY CO2 on any size tank... just add more soda bottles with sugar yeast and water.

in practice... it's a pain in the rear. :), irregular production of gas, and the need to repeatedly refresh their contents just make it problematic. Fluctuating/irregular levels of dissolved CO2 can be a factor in algae growth also

I would probably suggest 1-2 2l soda bottles per 5g of aquarium water. Keeping the bottles at a constant temperature will help regulate the production of CO2 a little better. And the more bottles you have, the more you can switch them out when needed, say you have 4 bottles and they last a month you can refresh 1 bottle per week, which is better than having a single bottle switched out once a month especially when you consider startup time for the yeast to produce CO2, IME it was never instant and took a couple of days or so.

the bottom line is that I'd suggest not doing DIY CO2 except maybe as an experiment to see what it does for your aquarium. for tanks 30 or 40g and under, I'd suggest a liquid carbon supplement; anything bigger I'd be looking on craigslist for a CO2 tank and regulator from a beer setup and going from there.
 
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ukfan1976

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Feb 23, 2014
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dougall said:
In theory you could use DIY CO2 on any size tank... just add more soda bottles with sugar yeast and water.

in practice... it's a pain in the rear. :), irregular production of gas, and the need to repeatedly refresh their contents just make it problematic. Fluctuating/irregular levels of dissolved CO2 can be a factor in algae growth also

I would probably suggest 1-2 2l soda bottles per 5g of aquarium water. Keeping the bottles at a constant temperature will help regulate the production of CO2 a little better. And the more bottles you have, the more you can switch them out when needed, say you have 4 bottles and they last a month you can refresh 1 bottle per week, which is better than having a single bottle switched out once a month especially when you consider startup time for the yeast to produce CO2, IME it was never instant and took a couple of days or so.

the bottom line is that I'd suggest not doing DIY CO2 except maybe as an experiment to see what it does for your aquarium. for tanks 30 or 40g and under, I'd suggest a liquid carbon supplement; anything bigger I'd be looking on craigslist for a CO2 tank and regulator from a beer setup and going from there.
Click to expand...

Wow 1-2 two liter bottles?? yeah that sounds like a big hassle. The vid I watched he just used like a regular 16 ounce soda bottle which was easy to hide. Right now I only have 3 Crypt parva, 1 Anubias nana, and a ball of Java moss. I may add more plants later but for the time being I think i'll see how it goes sans CO2. I wasn't aware there was a liquid carbon supplement - any specific type? Is it made especially for aquarium plants? I'd be willing to look into this.

Thanks! Lots of great info here and thanks for that link!
 
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dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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ukfan1976 said:
Wow 1-2 two liter bottles?? yeah that sounds like a big hassle. The vid I watched he just used like a regular 16 ounce soda bottle which was easy to hide. Right now I only have 3 Crypt parva, 1 Anubias nana, and a ball of Java moss. I may add more plants later but for the time being I think i'll see how it goes sans CO2. I wasn't aware there was a liquid carbon supplement - any specific type? Is it made especially for aquarium plants? I'd be willing to look into this.

Thanks! Lots of great info here and thanks for that link!
Click to expand...
Doesn't seem from the list of plants that you have anything that would really benefit from more carbon right now. The amount of light you have may determine that too.

Flourish Excel is a liquid carbon supplement I've used, it's made specifically for aquarium plants and part of a whole range of liquid aquarium plant nutrients. works well, but can get expensive when used with larger tank volumes.

I know it's possible to use glutaraldehyde, which isn't designed for aquarium use directly and nor do I have any personal experience... but there are members here who have used it.
 
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ukfan1976

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Feb 23, 2014
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Jeremy
dougall said:
Doesn't seem from the list of plants that you have anything that would really benefit from more carbon right now. The amount of light you have may determine that too.

Flourish Excel is a liquid carbon supplement I've used, it's made specifically for aquarium plants and part of a whole range of liquid aquarium plant nutrients. works well, but can get expensive when used with larger tank volumes.

I know it's possible to use glutaraldehyde, which isn't designed for aquarium use directly and nor do I have any personal experience... but there are members here who have used it.
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thanks for the info! Right now I'm gonna hold off on adding supplemental CO2 til i see how it goes. I found a few injection systems on ebay for relatively cheap should I need to go that route. The DIY may be an option later but for now i'll see how it goes :)
 
THE V

THE V

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A 1 liter bottle filled with 2 cups of water and one cup of sugar will provide CO2 for around 10 daysat 80F. This is enough CO2 for a 15 gallon tank.

Its a pain but works just fine as long as you stay on top of the routine. I've used this to establish new planted tanks before. The trick is to have lots of plants and with at least one fast growing stem plant.
 
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ukfan1976

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Feb 23, 2014
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THE V said:
A 1 liter bottle filled with 2 cups of water and one cup of sugar will provide CO2 for around 10 daysat 80F. This is enough CO2 for a 15 gallon tank.

Its a pain but works just fine as long as you stay on top of the routine. I've used this to establish new planted tanks before. The trick is to have lots of plants and with at least one fast growing stem plant.
Click to expand...
How much yeast? my Tank is 10 gallon, I'm including a pic, you can see the plants aren't that big yet so not sure if CO2 will be required.

Tank 2.jpg
 
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