Post Your Recipe! (CO2)

carfey · 12-01-2002, 6:29 PM

Since there's a certain amount of variation in DIY CO2 setups, I figured everybody could post their recipe. Right now this is what I use:

1 tsp baker's yeast
3/4 cup sugar
6 cups water

This recipe is OK, but I'm looking for something that lasts a little longer. I think using less yeast might help but I'm not sure. I usually get 10 days max out of the solution.

Now I'm interested in the gelatin mixture I heard somewhere. I'm very curious to try it. I have also heard about adding a little baking soda to increase alkalinity which yeast supposedly does better in. Anyway, post your thoughts or recipes or whatever and maybe all of us DIY CO2 users can find a better way of going about this sometimes tricky affair!

Turbo · 12-02-2002, 12:24 AM

This is the recipe that I use and a link to where I got it from along with some other helpful information: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#3[/URL]

5-5 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups sugar
1 tbl spoon yeast

One trick that I learned is to activate the yeast early. Im not posotive that it does a whole lot better but it seems to work. What I do is take a small glass of warm water and add a little sugar and the yeast and mix it up good. Then let it sit while you make up the rest of the stuff. I do this all this in a two liter soda bottle and once all is set and mixed well I add the yeast I mixed earlier and make sure that mixes well. With this recipe no lie....if gotten a couple of batches to last over two weeks before I need to make a new batch to avoid to large of a pH swing. Otherwise it normally lasts me a week and a half before I mix a new one. Anyhow...thats my story.

Richer · 12-02-2002, 12:38 AM

Here's the recipi I used before I moved onto pressurized.

1/4 teaspoon baker's yeast
2 cups of sugar
1 pinch of baking soda
enough water to fill to the shoulder of the pop bottle.

Using less yeast usually means a slower start on CO2 production, but it does allow the mixture to last quite a bit longer.

HTH
-Richer

Matak · 12-02-2002, 10:28 PM

I use a DIY gelatine recipe. I have had it going for about 3 weeks and by observing its rate of consumption it should go at least another 5 weeks.

Here is the recipe:
Get an empty PET (the kind with the extrusion dot on the bottom) 4 Litre (1 gallon) drink container.

In the container, add sufficient gelatine (unflavoured or flavoured) to 2 cups boiling water. Always add gelatine to water, not the other way around.

Boil two more cups of water and add two cups of sugar and one teaspoon of baking soda. Stir until disolved, then add to geatine mix. Let set overnight in a cool place.

When it has set, sprinkle 1½ teaspoons of bakers yeast (I use bread machine yeast) evenly over the surface of the set gelatine. I find a funnel usefull for this task.

I get about 1 bubble / second which is just right for my set-up.
I make the batches two at a time. If everything goes as it has been, I should still have an active mix going from this batch in February.

djlen · 12-03-2002, 9:38 AM

I use a combo of Turbo's and Richer's recipies with a minor change. I use 1/4 tsp. yeast, mixed in the 2 liter bottle and another 1/4 tsp. mixed into the extra little bit that Turbo refers to.
This definately gets it off to a quicker start. Mine seems to be very steady for one week and then starts to drop off in production. When this happens the PH starts to fluctuate and I don't like that.
I kept reading that many of these recipies were supposed to last for 2 weeks or more and just recently started hearing that many people were getting the same production durations as I was, atleast with a consistant output, for about 7 - 10 days. For me, the 7 days route is the way to go. It's just so cheap and easy to mix up a batch of the stuff that I don't want to put my fish through all the stress of PH swings.
It'll all be academic shortly, cause I'll be going pressurized, hopefully around New Years. YEAH!!!
Len

DIYMatt · 12-03-2002, 10:39 AM

One thing that helped my batches last longer is using Champagne yeast instead of bakers yeast. It can handle a much higher concentration of alcohol than bakers yeast. It also seems to reproduce more evenly. But, it does a bit longer to get going than the bread yeast. You can get it any home brew store. Just tell them what you are trying to do and they will recommend a yeast(there are hundreds). This is the recipe I used to get consistant output for two weeks in my 75g tank: You can adjust the amounts down for a smaller tank.

3 cups sugar
2 tsp. Champagne Yeast
1 pinch baking soda if your water is soft.
enough water to fill a 1 GALLON juice bottle 2/3 full

I found that you must rehydrate the Champagne yeast per the packet instructions before you add it to the bottle to get consistant results. I also found that adding a pinch of sugar to the rehydration water gets it going faster (less than 24 hours to full ouput). Then I add the sugar to the water shake well and add the yeast mixture. I got an average of 15 bubbles per 10 seconds output with that mixture, which was perfect for what I wanted. I tried a version of the gelatin method and for my tank it wasn't worth the extra effort. Here's why: It's a two day process to make for me, you have to wait overnight for the Jello to set. It took mine almost to the third day to get going. So I would have to start it 4 days before I wanted to switch out the bottle. It never had the same output the regular sugar method did, I never even got 1 bubble per second no matter how much yeast/sugar I added. It would last a long time though. Finally, all that boiling water and making Jello is more work than the regular method. So, I just made the mixture one day and switched it out the next. Worked well, most of the time. It is still however, fermentation. Which is always going to have some variation no matter what you do. So, its not perfect. So, I would try this for a while and if you still love your fast growing plants and tank, check out compressed CO2. It's probably less expensive long term than the sugar method anyways.