DIY CO2 help

S

stonedaquarium

AC Members
Jun 6, 2011
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Hi there guys,

I just made my 1st DIY CO2 reactor, here listed below is the recipe i followed

3 cups sugar
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp baking soda.

I just mixed all of them together in warm water.

how long would it take before CO2 starts to build up and to find out if i did it right? thanks
 
Sometimes it can take a few hours before you really start seeing any output. It sounds like you did it right. What size bottle did you use, and are you using a seperator bottle between the mixture bottle and the tank?
 
nope no separator bottle between the tank just a check valve. I just used one of those big 1 gallon milk plastic OJ bottles, i has a of those rubber things at the bottom of the bottle cap. plus i applied silicon to the part where i inserted the rubber tubing to the bottle.
 
No separator bottle = yeast muck in your tank & you don't want that. If I were you I'd use a separator bottle. Just get any empty clear bottle & make two holes on its' cap. Fill up the separator bottle about 1/2 - 3/4 way with water, run a piece of airline tubing from the bottle holding the CO2 mixture into the separator bottle & make sure the airline tubing feeds into the water in the separator bottle. This serves two purposes 1.) The water will separate the yeast muck from the CO2 gas going into your tank 2.) the bubbles produced from the gas feeding into the water in your separator bottle will serve as "bubble counter" which will let you know when your CO2 mixture is "fizzing out". Just make sure the the bottle you use is clear (so you can see the bubbles) & make sure that the airline tube feeding INTO the tank from the separator bottle is suspended above the waterline in the separator bottle (NOT submersed into the water in the bottle).

Here is a diagram of what I'm talking about from another forum devoted to planted tanks http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11625

Good luck
 
thanks for your inputs SailedNJ. I will try that... thanks again... The DIY is now producing CO2 and is diffusing through the air stone. how long does it normally take before i would be able to see an improvement in the plants in the tank. ?
 
stonedaquarium said:
The DIY is now producing CO2 and is diffusing through the air stone. how long does it normally take before i would be able to see an improvement in the plants in the tank. ?
Click to expand...

It really depends on other variables as well like the lighting you're using, how long you're running the lights, the type of plants you have (low light/medium light/high light), are you dosing ferts (how much are you dosing) etc.

Some people swear by it, others can take it or leave it. Typically, people with low light set ups don't rave about it as much because since their set ups are low light to begin with so their plants tend to grow like weeds anyway. People with high light set ups tend to appreciate it more & the difference in their plants is more readily pronounced.

I use it in low light set ups & I started seeing a difference in about 3 weeks. A key factor on how effective your DIY CO2 will be is how efficiently you diffuse the gas bubbles. An air stone is fine, but the more the bubbles the better. I break off a piece of wooden chopstick at the end of the airline tubing & use that, it gives me lots of small fine bubbles that stay suspended in the water longer & don't just shoot up to the surface & "gas off". I know that others run airline tubing through a power head & diffuse that way. Diffusing plays into it a lot.
 
thanks for all the insightful inputs. I have also heard of a DIY pressurized CO2 setup utilizing the tank of a paintball tank. does anyone know how to set this up? Thanks or any info on how to create one ... thanks again in advance
 
Hey stoned, Yeah I've heard of "DIY pressurized CO2 setups" using paintball tanks or fire extinguishers tanks. They involve combining the paintball/fire extinguisher tanks with a regulator but I've never used pressurized CO2 so I wouldn't be able to give advice about it.

If I were you I'd make a post in the Planted Aquariums forum. I know that there you'll definitely get replies from folks that have experience using pressurized CO2 & they'll be able to give you advice on how to procure the items/material you'll need, cost etc.

Good luck!
 
I'm not exactly sure how to make one with paintball CO2 cans. but I do know how it works... I guess you connect it to a regulator which lets the CO2 out at a constant rate. and an airstone, of course.
 
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