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.
c::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.
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.
c::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.
