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Post by ree123 on Mar 11, 2012 23:57:35 GMT -6
Has anyone here ever tried to make their own DIY Co2 using a plastic jug, sugar, yeast, and maybe backing soda ?
I have been experminating with this over the last few weeks, and my testing continues. Not sure exactly how it is all working out, (my plants do seem to be growing a bit better), but do know I made a mistake when I used to small of a jug and mixed to much yeast in. I could not let the pressure out fast enough and created a mini bomb of sorts. You haven't lived until your fishroom smells like good 'ole homemade bread rising and you realize there is sugar/yeast water all over one corner of the room floor to ceiling. It smells terrific, but is a sticky mess to clean up. It smears around a lot as you clean.
So,......who has made this DIY set up before ? Any pieces of advice ?
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Post by rickl on Mar 12, 2012 13:39:56 GMT -6
Are you using a bubble trap, or just tying your CO2 straight from the big jug to the tank? If you want worse than yeasty water on your floor... try yeasty water in your tank!
-Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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Post by ree123 on Mar 12, 2012 15:23:00 GMT -6
Tried the bubble ladders. Wasn't impressed. Have used air stones and although they work well, they don't distribute the Co2 around the tank well. Now I have a air line hooked into a 201 Hagen power head, the smallest they make, and it is sitting atop a sponge filter about 1/2 way down in the water column, so the Co2 is being blown across the tank via the power head. Seems to be working better. The explosion occurred while I was using a air stone.
One tank did get some in it the day of the explosion experience. Made 2 water changes & resolved it.
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Post by rickl on Mar 12, 2012 17:19:59 GMT -6
I think I'm using the wrong word. I'm talking about somethign like this : pardon the terrible drawing, but you have a main reaction chamber, then a "trap" chamber to catch any yeasty water that might bubble out of the reaction chamber. The yeast gets bubbly, and the bubbles might get into the tube coming out of the reaction chamber. There's not much volume there, though, so by running it towards the bottom of a second smaller chamber (20oz soda bottle, whatever) and taking CO2 from the top of that second chamber, you can reduce the chances of yeasty water in your fishtank! -Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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Post by fishguy on Mar 12, 2012 23:44:45 GMT -6
First, I have to say I know nothing about this stuff. I'm just curious. I don't get how the two chamber thing works. Won't the air in both containers have the same humidity after a little while? If so, then won't the gases coming out of either one be pretty much the same in terms of yeast and moisture content? What am I not seeing? Any chemistry majors out there that can explain it?
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Post by bnoel210 on Mar 13, 2012 12:26:36 GMT -6
Not to hijack thread, but I know nothing about plants (wish crazy was here) and plan on starting a planted project with my betta breeding project. Just some low light plants. Do all planted tanks need the co2 setups (even on small 20g tanks)?
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Post by rickl on Mar 13, 2012 12:42:02 GMT -6
It's not the humidity, but actual bubbles getting into the tube that can cause problems, thus the second container. If you keep the liquid level low enough in the primary container it may be a non-issue, I dunno. I've never actually built one myself . bnoel -- with low-light plants, you generally do not need CO2. You have to keep a balance of light, nutrients, and CO2 to get healthy plant growth. With low light/slow growth plants, you don't need alot of fertilizing nor CO2. With high light/high growth plants, however, you need to ensure they have both enough nutrients and enough CO2. You generally want to avoid having one of the 3 high without having all three, but that's a pretty gross simplification of the system. -Rick (the armchair aquarist)
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Post by bunnie1978 on Mar 14, 2012 16:47:57 GMT -6
Yes, I did it. I still have all the stuff if you want it. I had it set up on my 75 gallon before I went full on high tech I used four 2 liter bottles, hot water, yeast, sugar. I don't remember the exact formula now though. I rotated out one bottle per week to try and keep the levels even. The biggest drawback I found was that the levels were just not even over time. My dispersion was similar to what you're doing, good job. I would add an air stone on a timer to come on when the lights go out, and off when the lights come on. Just in case. I never ever had a single issue with yeast getting into the tank. Also, make sure you don't let your nutrition drop or you might see a HUGE MASSIVE, unbelieveably UGLY bloom of cyanobacteria/algae.
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Post by bunnie1978 on Mar 14, 2012 16:52:35 GMT -6
Also, don't expect to be satisfied with a DIY set up for long. That's just not how it works... if you get your balance just right and start to see your plants flourish, you'll be hooked, and there's no going back from that. Anticipating your NEXT question... You can use an old fire extinguisher for the CO2 tank... you can easily go cheap on that. A 10lb tank newly tested and cleaned cost me $36 including filling it with CO2. Volunteer Welding in Nashville for CO2. That tank lasted a year on my 75g. Where you don't want to skimp is the regulator. You want a dual control with a NEEDLE valve. I had two different ones, and I can tell you the one from Green Leaf Aquariums was by far the better one - but it was over $200. If you can find a used GL regulator, that is a better buy than anything else new, IMO.
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