DIY CO2 recipe for 20oz bottles

Well...it looks like I will be purchasing a CO2 system from PetSmart today. DIY still not producing. Frustrating as you know what! I'm not going to give up on it just yet though. I'll move it over to another tank to keep it trying to go.

I did shake it up a bit yesterday. I noticed sediment (probably yeast or by product or something else) sitting on the bottom. After doing so, I got a big influx of CO2 through the air stone. And then it went back to hardly nothing. I'll try and snap some pics for review.
 
James0816 said:
Well...it looks like I will be purchasing a CO2 system from PetSmart today. DIY still not producing. ...
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James:

Please do not give up! Refer to post #59 by Jeff. I am the absolute worst DIY person which you can imagine but was able to get CO2 generation in a 2 liter soda pop bottle going on the first try.

Folks my observations very qualitatively indicate that the darker green pigmented plants appears to more affected by the induction of CO2 than the lighter green pigmented plants. Can anyone confirm this observation?

If this observation is correct I get concerned that the induction of CO2 may not help red pigmented plants?

TR
 
yeah..i got the hagen one w/ ladder. bummed..but i gotta do something. can't let algae rule. ;o)

should the sugar be completely dissolved? I'm grasping at straws here. The directions are so dang simple I can't see anyone screwing it up.
 
BK: I really appreciate the response.

How deep is your 29G, what intensity & type of lighting do you have and what is your daily lighting duration?


James0816 said:
yeah..i got the hagen one w/ ladder. bummed..but i gotta do something. can't let algae rule. ;o)

should the sugar be completely dissolved? I'm grasping at straws here. The directions are so dang simple I can't see anyone screwing it up.
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I used Jeff's formula and shook the bottle until all ingredients were in solution.

I then used a very sharp knife (would shave hair) in order to make a small orifice in the lid and in order to cut a very sharp taper on an air line tube.

I then forced the tapered terminus of the airline through the office such that the air line terminus was approximately 2" above the surface of the mixture.


James:

Have you tried overdosing Flourish by a factor of 3 daily for a week?

TR
 
The tank I am attempting the CO2 on is a 10g. I have the bottle caps tight, tubes are nice a secure. And even tried the water bath at ~ 84degrees to keep constant temp.

Haven't tried the OD of Flourish. Will that be harmfull to shrimps and/or certain plants?
 
Jones the 29g is 18" deep. The lighting is 5 14w bulbs giving me 2.4wpg. The bulbs I am using are screw in compact fluorescent. In this tank I have a few kinds of rotalas, few kinds of ludwigias, few kinds of hygros and all are showing different colors. Though I might have to up the lighting a bit more to get more of the reds out of rotala macrandra..

My other tank is a 10g and is running 2-14w bulbs, but my substrate + stones take up so much space so its really around 7-8g in there. so thats around 3.5wpg I get. In there I have star grass, hc, and Alternanthera reineckii roseafolia which is a deep purple color. I had that plant in the tank for about a week now and its finally starting to show new growth, which is staying redish and not going to green as most plants do..

On all my tanks im running diy co2 10g (3.5L of mix) and 29g (5L of mix) , dosing the flourish line using their weekly plan. So far no algae (knock on wood) and growth is great. In both tanks I keep the light on from 9-11hrs a day.
 
James,

I have been quite intriqued by the problems you are having with your diy system and the methods used by others here. I personally purchased the Nutrafin from Petco myself and love it. It is approximately 20oz. by the looks of it and very simple. Actually, it works just like you were trying in the beginning. The directions are as follows.
1. add sugar to the indicated mark
2. add activator (yeast)
3. add stabilizer (probably baking soda)
4. add warm water to indicated mark.
There is no presoaking of the yeast, mixing a little then remix and let set, etc., etc. I just had to set up a new batch today and it is already making bubbles. Also, I just leave it under the tank with no heater. Our house ranges from 67 at night, to around 76 degrees during the day and it works great all day. The last batch lasted around 2 1/2 weeks. Hopefully you will have some luck come your way.

John
 
James - two questions (apologies if they've been answered previously):

Have you tried it with a larger amount of yeast, just to be sure thats not an issue?

Are you using tap water, bottled water, what? If tap, dechlorinated city water or well water?
 
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