DIY CO2 mess

[sailedNJ]

I'm a fish keeper first & foremost, however I do appreciate the added benefits of keeping a planted aquarium. I keep low maintenance plants that require low to moderate lighting. I dose ferts moderately, provide adequate lighting & I use DIY CO2.

I've used water, sugar, & yeast recipes & I've used recipes that in addition have incorporated JELL-O, uncooked rice, etc. As for equipment, I just used plan plastic bottles (sizes range between 1L - 64oz), airline tubing, check valves, & diffuser stones. My set ups work just fine however I always end up getting at nasty yeast "muck" in my water no matter what I do. I've use an extra bottle as a "gas separator" & I still end up getting that nastiness in my water. Furthermore, I'm beginning to think that the results I'm getting from the CO2 are rather negligible even though I try to diffuse the CO2 as much as possible & I try keeping surface agitation down to a minimum.

My question is Is there a secret to preventing that nasty yeast "muck" from making it's way into your water? If so please share.

If there isn't a way to prevent this other than using a "gas separator" (which I already use) I will pull the plug on my DIY CO2 set up. The mess that it ends up making in my tank (i.e. cloudy water, "mucked up" plant leaves, premature clogging up of my HOB filter) is hardly worth the minimal results I'm getting.

 

[James0816]

Very interesting I must say. The seperator bottle should do just that. Can you post up some pics of your set up so we can take a gander at it?

 

[prober]

How often do you change the water in the "gas separator", or drop checker?I have found that not changing the water in this bottle for longer that 3 or 4 weeks will cause the gunk you speak of. The water in it looks fine but evidently is allowing more deposits through. Looks like lint and dust all over the leafs.

 

[James0816]

Welllllll....I never change the water the seperator bottle. ;o)

No gunk.

 

[Alwaysusa]

Water in the gas separator bottle? Am I the only one who doesn't have anything in the gas separator bottle? Why would you put water in it?

 

[prober]

I beleive he is calling the bubble counter a gas searator. Without water you don't get any bubbles to count.

 

[sailedNJ]

Thanks for the replies guys.

James0816: I'd provide you with a pic if I hadn't already taken my set up apart (I still have it, but it's emptied out & stowed away for now). But basically it's just 2 - 64oz Ocean Spray Juice bottles (I fill both of them about 3/4 of the way full with my CO2 recipe. Those two bottles are then connected via standard airline tubing to another 64oz bottle that I fill about 1/2 way full with plain water (my gas separator). The cap of my gas separator has two airline tubes, one feeding CO2 gas from my two "mixture" bottles via a single airline tube. That airline tube feeds all the way down into the water & serves the dual purpose of "gas separator/bubble counter". The 2nd airline tube in my gas separator's cap feeds into the aquarium itself. This tube is not submerged into the water in the gas separator, it is suspended in air & feeds out into the aquarium directly (there is a air check valve in between the tube feeding directly into the aquarium from the gas separator just in case a failure in the siphon occurs).

However prober might be onto something because I've never changed the water in my separator so this may very well have something to do with it. I have noticed that the first couple of times I used my set up I didn't have the "muck issue" but ever since then it's gotten progressively worse. I might give my CO2 set up another try but this time I'll make sure to change the water in my gas separator between CO2 mixture refills (I'll change my air check valve too just for safe measure) & see how that goes.

Again thanks to both of you for replying & sharing your experiences with me.

 

[dansnyder]

Mine and most standard CO2 setups, are a bit simpler than that. I have 1 two gallon bottle with the yeast culture capped with a hole cut in the top. 1/8" rubber tubing is fed through that hole so that it sticks into the two gallon bottle about an inch or so. My culture is 2/3's of the way up the bottle so there's no contact between the rubber tubing and the culture. On the outside, I have a check valve attached to the tubing, then on the other side of the valve, the tube goes right into my aquarium. I have the rubber tube attached to a submersible filter and the CO2 gets bubbled into the tank that way. I have a bottle attached to the outlet of my filter to act as a diffuser.

You don't want CO2 to come in contact with water outside of the aquarium. Is that what you're doing? It would just be a waste of the CO2 to diffuse it into water you aren't using in the tank. Anyway, If you have any other questions about the setup feel free. My system is pretty bare bones and took me about 20 minutes to put together.

 

[dansnyder]

Edit: mistaken post.

 

[jasonG75]

Well it has to be the tube in the mixture....it is only suppose to be 1 inch long IT doesnt not REACH the mixture nor does the OUT from the gas seperator.