DIY CO2

K last night before i went to bed around midnight I added another 1/4 tsp yeast straight into the bottles and didn't shake the bottle. I woke up around 4:30 AM this morning for a few minutes and went and check the bottles. all 4 bottles had brown foam floating on top of the water. It looked like it's going, but around 10:30 am this morning when i got up and check everything my bubble counter bottle was empty and I had to add more water to it. Then I checked the 2 liters no foam on top of the water and the water level is higher in those bottles and one bottle there' is no air space the water is all the way up to the cap.

So it look like during the hours of 4:30 am - 10:30 am the water that was in the 32 oz bottle got sucked up into the 2 liters. I had routed the line to under the intake of my cascade 300 hob pf. ( something I forgot to mention yesterday, how i got the CO2 running into the tank )
 
about 5 minutes ago i shook the 2 liters back and forth, the pressure is builing up in them and seen a little bit of bubbles inthe bubble counter. but 1 of 4 2 liters bottles after i shook it, had sprung a leak around the top of the cap, so I have that line clamped offthat part of the line with a pair of hemostat and the cap removed from the bottle. I re silicone the top of the lid. tomorrow I'll re-attach the lid and hope for the best.

Right now if you try and squeeze the other 3 bottles it feels like when you squeeze a unopen 2 liter soft drink, So I'm taking that is a good sign. I know the yeast mixture is working because when i pop the cap on the one that was leaking it has the alchohol smell to it.

I guess this is one of those very slow DIY's to actually take of. Think I'm gonna just sit back and wait to see if I really get any action in the bubble counter. I do have one question. This is about the air pump should I have this running 24/7 or should i cycle it daytime hours off and nighttime hours on when the lights are out?
 
only when lights are out. best case is for it to turn off an hour before the lights turn on to let the co2 build up before the plants need it.
 
DJDrZ said:
So, I think I am going to go the DIY CO2 route. I have a 72G tank. How many 2 liters should I have feed into the bubble counter? Also, I have ~5 feet of headspace, will there be enough pressure to go from underneath into the tank? I think my wife would be very unhappy with a DIY rig visible.
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You could check out the "DIY newbie support group" in my signature, there's been some discussion of this. with a 72 gallon you're going to get a lot of people saying DIY won't really help you. You'll ultimately want to do quite a few bottles, though to really know the answer to your question you'd need to find somebody who has done DIY on that sized tank, successfully. Start with 4 and go from there, probably?
 
Okay... This is most likely your problem... Yeast gets deactivated in hot water! So this is what I do... Mix 1/2 tsp yeast with a pinch of sugar in a cup of ROOM temp water. Mix the two cups of sugar in 2 cups of hot water till it dissolves, now put sugar solution into bottle then fill bottle with 4-5 cups of cool water to get temp down. Then add yeast mix. Then add 1 cup of FRESH juice (orange or whatever). Mine kicks off in less than an hour :) and shake heaps too! :)
 
How many bottles do you think I would need for a heavily planted 55 gallon with great lighting???
 
I would suggest using this stuff...I get more bubbles longer..

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