DIY CO2 Question

[Matak]

Hey Roan, Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for a great downloadable calculator that will help you calculate, among other things, your CO2 levels in your tank. When you download it, simply click the tab at the bottom: CO2 Calculator.

I would set the target CO2 level at 25 ppm.

HTH

 

[sardesign]

Roan,

For a quick description of my DIY CO2 yeast...

100 gallon tank
(3) 2-liter bottles
(1) 1-liter bottle
(1) 3-way gang valve
(1) check valve
10 feet of silicone tubing.

For each 2-liter bottle I use 1/2 teaspoon of yeast and 1 cup of sugar. I fill each bottle 2/3 with warm (not hot) water and mix the sugar in well. I then mix the yeast in and shake it well. Each bottle is hooked up to a valve on the gang valve. The output from the gang valve then goes into my 1-liter bottle that is half-filled with water. This is my bubble counter.

This will provide up to 40-50 ppm of CO2 in your tank... obviously you DO NOT want that much as I found out. Before it got out of hand I was able to tweak the caps on the bottles and get myself down to 25 ppm of CO2 consistenly for a week (so far).

I think (and this is only an observation) with a DIY CO2 system, you should be getting a bubble of CO2 every 2-3 seconds for a 100 gallon tank.

Unfortunately the yeast method requires a more watchful eye than the pressurized.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[Roan Art]

Hey Roan, Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for a great downloadable calculator that will help you calculate, among other things, your CO2 levels in your tank. When you download it, simply click the tab at the bottom: CO2 Calculator.

Nod, I have Chuck's calculator already. I run Aquarix and record everything in there. It has a CO2 calc, as well as calc for bubbles per minute. It pretty much agrees with Chucks insofar as my target pH goes. Don't see a bubble counter in Chuck's program though.

I would set the target CO2 level at 25 ppm.

Hrm, These are all low-light plants and my lighting . . . well I don't think that's gonna help much until I get my new lighting in. I have just over .5 wpg right now. That's right, ½ watt. Don't laugh

I've set the current target as 15 and soon as the glass canopy for the tank gets here and the plants get some real light, then I'll start shooting for higher numbers. This is my "experiment and learn" tank. I wanna get the hang of this before I set up a 75Eg with high light plants and pressurized stuff. Don't want to kill anything, including my fish.

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

For a quick description of my DIY CO2 yeast...

100 gallon tank

Hey, this is all for a 100g tank here. I'm working with a lowly 36g

(3) 2-liter bottles
(1) 1-liter bottle
(1) 3-way gang valve
(1) check valve
10 feet of silicone tubing.

Okay, I don't have a gang valve (wazzat?) and I'm using reg airline tubing for now. I know CO2 will degrade it, it's just an experimental set up.

For each 2-liter bottle I use 1/2 teaspoon of yeast and 1 cup of sugar. I fill each bottle 2/3 with warm (not hot) water and mix the sugar in well. I then mix the yeast in and shake it well. Each bottle is hooked up to a valve on the gang valve. The output from the gang valve then goes into my 1-liter bottle that is half-filled with water. This is my bubble counter.

Ah! I still don't know what a gang valve is Okay, so if they are going into your gang and into the bubble counter, then how does it get into your tank after that?

I'm sure I'll have the answer to last question soon as you explain what a gang valve is

This will provide up to 40-50 ppm of CO2 in your tank... obviously you DO NOT want that much as I found out. Before it got out of hand I was able to tweak the caps on the bottles and get myself down to 25 ppm of CO2 consistenly for a week (so far).

ROFL! Yer right, I don't want that much Nod, once I get the lighting in I'll start edging myself up to 25ppm gradually.

I think (and this is only an observation) with a DIY CO2 system, you should be getting a bubble of CO2 every 2-3 seconds for a 100 gallon tank.

Hrm, last count before I put the diffuser on it was at 1.2 per second, but that was when I had it sitting in warm water and a heater. It's much lower now and the pH has been fairly steady at 7.0 (my goal is 6.8 from 7.4). I'm counting on a SLOW drop in pH. I'm going to take a reading in a hour or so and if it's still at 7.0 I'll leave it on overnight. If not, I'll take the diffuser out just to be safe.

Unfortunately the yeast method requires a more watchful eye than the pressurized.

And that's a *good* thing. I want to go pressurized for my new tanks. I'll probaby keep a DIY on this tank and add one to the 20g, 10g and 6g.

It's also fun

Hope this helps!!!

Very much, thank you!

Roan

 

[sardesign]

A gang valve is just a group of connectors (valves) that you can group airlines together into one line. Example: I have a 3 to 1 gang valve. There are 3 airline inputs and 1 airline output. It allows me to connect 3 CO2 bottles into one output for my tank. Think of a gang valve as a double T. However it is just one piece.

For such a small tank, you could try using (2) 1-liter bottles so you can replace one while setting up the second when the yeast runs out.

When you inject CO2 it should raise your KH. The carbonic acid should raise your acidic level (lowering your PH but also raise the KH). That's how you can estimate your CO2 levels. The higher the KH... usually the higher your CO2 levels. If your KH is low already, then you may want to add some (and i mean very little) baking soda.

If it's just an experiment... don't worry about it so much.

 

[Roan Art]

A gang valve is just a group of connectors (valves) that you can group airlines together into one line. Example: I have a 3 to 1 gang valve. There are 3 airline inputs and 1 airline output. It allows me to connect 3 CO2 bottles into one output for my tank. Think of a gang valve as a double T. However it is just one piece.

Ah! I think Hardware store or is this something I can get at an lfs?

For such a small tank, you could try using (2) 1-liter bottles so you can replace one while setting up the second when the yeast runs out.

Nod nod, that's what I'm doing

When you inject CO2 it should raise your KH. The carbonic acid should raise your acidic level (lowering your PH but also raise the KH). That's how you can estimate your CO2 levels. The higher the KH... usually the higher your CO2 levels. If your KH is low already, then you may want to add some (and i mean very little) baking soda.

Poser. My pH has gone down, but my KH has stayed the same. It's at 3, so I'm not worrying too much.

If it's just an experiment... don't worry about it so much.

Heh, my fish are in there!!!
It's an experiment in the sense that I'm learning how to do the CO2 thingy the "hard" way. I'm going to go pressurized on the new tanks. I can see doing this for one 75g+ tank, but not three

Roan

 

[Matak]

Gang valves

 

[Roan Art]

Gang valves

Awesome, Matak, thank you!

Roan