DIY CO2 Question

[Roan Art]

Read all through the DIY stuff (I hope, it's a hot topic here ).

I used the water/yeast/sugar/baking soda method. Installed a check valve. I have the bottle sitting in a bucket of water with a heater in it.

I got bubbles within 5 mins of setting it up and it's been 3 hours since it started running. It's not consistant at all. It's taking the yeast a long time to generate enough gas to push through the tubing.

The bucket is on the floor, so the gas does have to travel up. I found that if I swirl the contents of the bottle, the gas shoots up the tube. Kinda tells me that the gas is collecting under the cap etc.,. and not really passing into the tube. If an oto lands on the tube, it passes a lot of bubbles nicely, but I doubt I can train the otos to jiggle the line for me

Suggestions?

Roan

Edit note: I seem to be getting 5 bubbles a minute now, so long as the rainbows keep playing in that area Geez, y'know I think they are doing it on purpose 'cause they are chasing the bubbles when they are released.

 

[Matak]

Give it one full day to get a full head of steam up. Have your next batch ready when you see this one begin to slow down.

 

[anonapersona]

Be sure there is no water in the line. I used to keep the generator on top of the fish tank until it was bubbling well, for if you put the generator under the tank, and it is slow, the water in the tank will absorb all the CO2 in the line and water will creep up the line. When that water gets over the lip of the tank, gravity starts to help and it can flood the generator. Now, that hardly ever happens, but once is enough! What is a lot more common is to have just a bit of water in the line, even taht little inch or so can make it hard for the gas to get going well, so tap and shake that bit of water out of the line. Just chase it back to the fish tank. Sometimes that is all it takes to get it bubbling well, removing that few inches of back pressure.

 

[Roan Art]

Give it one full day to get a full head of steam up. Have your next batch ready when you see this one begin to slow down.

Guesstimate on how long a batch lasts?

Glad some brands of 2L pop on sale for 79 cents at the grocery store this week

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

Be sure there is no water in the line.

Or Jello I first tried the Jello method and ended up with Jello in the tubing. Heh. I ditched the Jello and made a batch of the other stuff. Blew out all the lines and the check valve, so it was clear last night.

I used to keep the generator on top of the fish tank until it was bubbling well, for if you put the generator under the tank, and it is slow, the water in the tank will absorb all the CO2 in the line and water will creep up the line. When that water gets over the lip of the tank, gravity starts to help and it can flood the generator. Now, that hardly ever happens, but once is enough! What is a lot more common is to have just a bit of water in the line, even taht little inch or so can make it hard for the gas to get going well, so tap and shake that bit of water out of the line. Just chase it back to the fish tank. Sometimes that is all it takes to get it bubbling well, removing that few inches of back pressure.

It's running more consistantly now, but still with gaps of nothing.

I'll check it again in an hour or so and move my bucket on top of Ricky's (snake) canopy. It's kinda early to be mucking around down here and I don't want to wake the kids up too early. I need coffee first

How long does it take for the pH to start to drop?


And, just so I know what I'm supposed to be doing here:

My starting pH is 7.4 and my KH is 3. I want 15ppm CO2. Only 15 for now because I don't have even 1 watt per gallon (glass top is in transit and will be installed when it gets here along with lighting to bring it up to 60 watts, which is 1.7wpg. Still low, but I have to wait until Christmas when I can get a real light strip for this tank or better bulbs. I'm going to use a reptile light fixture on top of the glass for now. They're low light plants, too. )

So what I'm trying to do here is monitor the pH decrease until it gets to 6.8, right?

Should I be monitoring the KH as well?

I went to AH Supply and another place and got totally lost with the kit stuff. Since I'm buying all new tanks with glass tops and sans light strips, wouldn't it be a better idea to just buy wholly new light strips rather than refit the ones that normally come with the tank?

What kind of strip (brand name, etc.,.) would you recommend for a 75E moderate to high-light plants? I'm looking at the Current ones with moonlight ( :dance: ), but most of those are 50/50 actinic(sp) bulbs. I can just replace those bulbs with 6-10k ones, right?

I'm so lost with lighting

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

Okay, I blew out the lines again and moved the bucket about an hour ago and now it's very consistant with about 70 bubbles per minute.

That too much? I can drop the temperature down in the bucket if so.

Roan

 

[Matak]

Okay, I blew out the lines again and moved the bucket about an hour ago and now it's very consistant with about 70 bubbles per minute.

That too much? I can drop the temperature down in the bucket if so.

That depends, do you have a test kit? What is your pH & KH?

 

[Roan Art]

Been mucking around with stuff on the tank all day. I didn't really have anything to diffuse the bubbles with and am reluctant to put a hole in my Magnum or futz with the Penguin.

Around 12:30pm I put a very fine micro bubble diffuser on the end of the tubing and it works great! The bubbles do not float to the top, they get caught up in the current and swing all over the place.

pH was still at 7.4 at that time.


pH 6.6??? YOIKES! Is that possible so fast? Testing it again with another kit.

Whew! That's what happens when you don't have proper lighting. Viewed in a darkish area it looked like 6.6, but I checked it with Red Sea and it said 7.0. Retested it with Aquarium Pharm. under BRIGHT light and it no longer looked greenish, so 7.0

KH 3
pH 7.0

That's quite a drop over 3 hours, no? I've taken the bottle out of the bucket of heated water. I think that's too fast a drop.

Advice?

Roan

 

[anonapersona]

natural light, always, for testing

LOL, I had that same experience, I panicked, then took the same test over to a window and it was OK.

I think that if the plants are not growing much, then you may have more CO2 in the water since the plants are not using so much. So, yes, turn the temp a bit cooler in the bucket. I actually skipped the bucket after awhile, for in the winter when the house cooled at night I didn't need CO2 anyhow. Or maybe I was just rationalizing.

My advice is to keep counting bubbles per minute and make a chart of what pH you get a different counts. You will get a feel for how much is enough and how much is too much after awhile. Until the plants are growing better, that is more light to drive them, and a larger plant mass, those numbers will probably be relatively stable, but certainly do check them from time to time to see if they are changing as to the bpm vs pH you test.

 

[Roan Art]

LOL, I had that same experience, I panicked, then took the same test over to a window and it was OK.

Heh, yah :duh: The worst thing is -- I've done this before and you think I'd know better

I think that if the plants are not growing much, then you may have more CO2 in the water since the plants are not using so much. So, yes, turn the temp a bit cooler in the bucket. I actually skipped the bucket after awhile, for in the winter when the house cooled at night I didn't need CO2 anyhow. Or maybe I was just rationalizing.

Nod, I have a sheet of acrylic out in the garage that just might fit over the top of the bowfront enough that I can put the reptile lights on it.

My advice is to keep counting bubbles per minute and make a chart of what pH you get a different counts. You will get a feel for how much is enough and how much is too much after awhile. Until the plants are growing better, that is more light to drive them, and a larger plant mass, those numbers will probably be relatively stable, but certainly do check them from time to time to see if they are changing as to the bpm vs pH you test.

Hrm, okay, I'll take the diffuser off and count them. Tracking them in my aquarium software. According to the software I should be shooting for about 8 bubbles per minute. Wonder if that calc is correct.

Thanks. I guess then that a .4 drop in pH over 3 hours isn't a cause for alarm then?

Roan