DIY CO2 problems

[amf17]

I'm a beginner at dealing with planted tanks and I have some questions about DIY CO2...

Currently I have a 20 gallon lightly planted tank.

After a few weeks of messing around with different set ups, I was able to get CO2 of 10 ppm using the 2L pop bottle method with a wooden air stone.

After doing much research I figured out that the 10ppm I was getting was pretty much the max I would get from this set up.

Then I looked into the powerhead with gravel vaccum set-up... direct the water against the upward flow of the bubbles in the tube and have the co2 enriched water escape out of the end...

My powerhead set up "appears to be working well", but i can still only get about 10ppm co2. It looks as though the only thing that is coming out of the end of the tube is water and some tiny,tiny co2 bubbles. My setup looks as though it is working at almost 100% efficiency, so shouldn't my co2 concentration be closer to 15-20ppm??

The only thing I can think of, that might be keeping the concentration low, is the fact that my filter runs fast creating a bit of surface turbulence. Could this be gassing off the co2???

Another quick question. Is it true that the oxygen provided by an airstone with air pump displace co2 and cause concentrations to drop????

Any advice is appreciated, thanks

 

[Orlando]

I would try to limit surface agitation to keep co2 from out gassing. It sounds like you have a good working reactor so try to limit agitation as stated.

 

[Fordtrannyman]

My thoughts are the yeast mix you are doing may be inadequate.
I like using a HOB as a reactor and still do in one of my tanks.
Excessive surface agitation and 02 dispersement through an air stone will cause a drop in concentration.

My past experience with a yeast setup was 2-16oz. bottles, a couple check valves, plumbed into a HOB on a 29 gal. I alloted a steady C02 concentration of 20ppm for 18-20 days.

 

[lizziotti]

My thoughts are the yeast mix you are doing may be inadequate.
I like using a HOB as a reactor and still do in one of my tanks.
Excessive surface agitation and 02 dispersement through an air stone will cause a drop in concentration.

My past experience with a yeast setup was 2-16oz. bottles, a couple check valves, plumbed into a HOB on a 29 gal. I alloted a steady C02 concentration of 20ppm for 18-20 days.

What was your recipe? Mine seems to only last a little over a week!

 

[Fordtrannyman]

What was your recipe? Mine seems to only last a little over a week!

Gosh, let me see if I can remember.
1-Cup Tepid water (NOT HOT!) hot water will kill it, add 1/4-3/8 tsp yeast
let sit 15 min. Filled bottles 5/8 full of little less tepid.
Add 1/4 cup sugar, shake well add a pinch of protein powder, shake again.
Pour in fermented yeast mix.
Don't hold me to that, I never did right it down.
I was using 2-20oz. bottles. Not 16oz.

Good luck! You'll get the hang of it.

 

[lizziotti]

Gosh, let me see if I can remember.
1-Cup Tepid water (NOT HOT!) hot water will kill it, add 1/4-3/8 tsp yeast
let sit 15 min. Filled bottles 5/8 full of little less tepid.
Add 1/4 cup sugar, shake well add a pinch of protein powder, shake again.
Pour in fermented yeast mix.
Don't hold me to that, I never did right it down.
I was using 2-20oz. bottles. Not 16oz.

Good luck! You'll get the hang of it.

Thanks I'll try that. Did you use Molasses at all? I've heard of that with the protein powder.