Anyone using the Nyberg CO2 DIY recipe?

My "adaptation" of this recipe

Here's what works for me...

I bought the cheapest protein powder I could find, and a 25 # sack of sugar from Costco. I get the brown jar of Red Star bread yeast from the grocery store when I need it.

My formula is:

2 L of water, treated with dechlorinator
1.25 C sugar
1 tsp of protein powder
1 tsp of yeast

Pour the bottle out from the last batch and leave a little gunk in the bottom. Mix the ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a whisk, and whip a lot of air into it. Let this sit out for a few minutes to a few hours, and then pour the soup back into the 2 liter bottle (with a funnel) to an inch or so above where the "dome" below the neck starts.

This will bubble for 2 weeks, but puts out the good supply for about 8-10 days. I have 2 bottles going, so one gets resupplied with the weekly water change. My plants have really really taken off since I got into this habit.
The bubble ladder shows a new bubble about every 1.5-2 seconds. The only thing to be careful of is not to siphon water into the airlines when you change out a bottle. This really upsets the regularity of the airflow.

I didn't have much luck with just leaving the gunk in the bottom and trying to bring that colony back to life with a new infusion of sugar and protein powder.

I do clean the bottles out completely about every month or so.

Hope that helps,
--Byron.
 
I had two 2l bottles started up at the same time, only difference was adding Prime to dechlor one. They still ran exactly the same rate and stopped producing the same day. Do you add dechlor when baking bread? The yeast stop producing because of the alcohol not anything else.

It is frustrating that there are 100 recipies out there and nobody has done a test to see which ones actually work better, just ones that are popular because they got printed on a website.
 
Tip:
Don't throw your yeast mixture out. Add more sugar and water to the gunk at the bottom and wait =)

It will start bubblign again within 12 hours and you save yourself a lto of work.
 
How big are your tanks for 2 X 2L bottles at once? Does anyone here measure the co2 amounts they get in their tank water from this? Just curious as I am just about to start my co2 in my new 60G tank and was just going to use one 2L bottle. Think that will be enough? It will be heavily planted.
I used a one liter mix in a 30G tank but I think I needed more co2. The plants went well but could have done better I think.
 
I tried the Nyberg formula without much long-term success. It started fine but diminished quickly. I was mixing the solution vigorously to get things started. After some further research I found the following article http://www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/index.php?page=matt1. In it Matt says that he mixes the sugar and water solution vigorously, but (1) only adds the yeast after letting it warm to room temp for about 10 minutes and (2) then only lets the yeast fall to the surface of the sugar/water solution, in other words, do not mix the yeast into the solution. I tried this and get very steady long-lived production. Regarding the recipe itself, I use 1 cup sugar per liter of de-cholinated, tepid water with a tsp of molassas, 1.3 tsp protein powder, and 1.3 tsp red star bread yeast (from the bottle) for a 3-liter batch (in a gallon container). I don't use baking soda to buffer the solution because my tap water is very hard to start with. I don't add ammonium sulfate. It takes a couple of hours for the yeast to start producing. I use two gallon containers for the generator.

Regarding the yeast smell someone reported. Your system must be air-tight or it will leak foul-smelling gas into the air. I used John Guest bulkhead fittings and JG tubing for the generator setup and feed the output into vinyl tubing and a check valve before injecting the co2 into a fluval filter.

Good Luck, my plants really like the co2.
 
Do you think a 2L mix will be enough for my 60G? I use to use the ladder on my old 30G but on my new 60 I have just plugged the co2 pipe into my internal power filter and it is spraying tiny co2 bubbles into the tank. Has anyone else done this? I'm just wondering if it would be more or less effective?
I think I might need more lighting also. I only have 2 X 4ft 40 Watt fluros over my 60 but I don't know if that will be enough. They are proper aquarium globes which worked well for my 30 but I feel the need for more light, and more co2 maybe. Maybe I'm just gready and want the lushest under-water jungle in my house.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom