DIY CO2-system

[Neithan]

As discussed in this thread (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=2539), here is the english version of an easy DIY CO2-system.

http://lehtis.arkku.net/enghiilidioksiidinlannoitin.php

I know several questions may arise for the first time builder so don't hesitate to ask, if it's something I don't know about I'll find out and get back to you. If there are enough questions I'll even compile a FAQ or a Q&A for this. :thumb:

Any feedback is appreciated :)

[jman]

That's good you should post it along with the stuff i find under General question section as links.

[jeffs99dime]

YOU DID IT!! good stuff. i like

[Lady Hobbs]

Very good idea......good directions and pictures as well. Nice job.

[Typ]

forgive my ignorance but what is the CO2 for? how does it improve the tank? Im new to this business. Thank you for your patience.

PS: i think it's great that it is so easy to make!

[Lady Hobbs]

I've been thinking of ordering this and having plants in my 30 gallon.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18478/si1501563/cl0/plantgroco2naturalsystem

Same thing PetSmart has but $9 cheaper at Big Al's.

[Lady Hobbs]

It's used to help plants grow if you have live ones.

[turbomkt]

I've been thinking of ordering this and having plants in my 30 gallon.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18478/si1501563/cl0/plantgroco2naturalsystem

Same thing PetSmart has but $9 cheaper at Big Al's.

That's an OK way to get started and not worry about how your system will do. Then, when the packets are gone, you can find one of the DIY recipe's available on the web for exactly that system.

[Lady Hobbs]

Hey Mike......how's it going with you?

I didn't know you could find the receipes on the net. Kool. Thanks for the heads up.

[turbomkt]

Yeah...someone out there figured out a pretty good combination of sugar, yeast, etc. for that size container.


One example from here (http://macheads.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_macheads_archive.html):

One Nutrafin co2 kit producing about 28 to 30 bubbles per min using a DIY mixture rather than the supplied sachets. (sugar till the first fins inside the nutrafin container, about 3/4 of a teaspoon of alison's bakers active yeast (bought from tesco) and a 1/2 teaspoon of bicorbonate of soda.

[Lady Hobbs]

bicorbonate of soda??????? What is that? Baking soda?

Nice to see you.

[Lady Hobbs]

Put 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of yeast into the bottle with about a cup of warm water (bread yeast is fine). Some people have theorized that champaign or wine yeast should last longer (due to its ability to tolerate the alcohol generated from the brewing process), but recent tests reported on the net have not indicated any difference.
Shake to mix the yeast well.**
Add water to bring the solution up to 3/4 of the bottle.
Add 1 to 2 cups of sugar and shake well. The amount of yeast and sugar will determine the rate and duration of CO2 generation. More yeast will result in stronger CO2 production, but will exhaust the sugar quicker. Using 1/4 teaspoon of yeast and 2 cups of sugar will result in CO2 production for about 4 to 5 weeks.
In areas with soft water, some people recommend adding a teaspoon of baking soda to buffer the water and extend the life of the solution (prevent the acid formed by the brewing action from destroying the yeast prematurely).

[Neithan]

Over here people use gelatin to make the mixture last longer, although I'm unsure of the amounts and the specific procedure. Could look it up of course, if anyone is interested.

Oh and hobbs, bicarbonate of soda is baking powder unless I'm mistaken.

[jeffs99dime]

Over here people use gelatin to make the mixture last longer, although I'm unsure of the amounts and the specific procedure. Could look it up of course, if anyone is interested.

Oh and hobbs, bicarbonate of soda is baking powder unless I'm mistaken.

the gelatin method is used over here as well. and yes, you are correct, bicarbonate of soda is baking soda.--jeff

[Danny M]

the gelatin method is used over here as well. and yes, you are correct, bicarbonate of soda is baking soda.--jeff
Bicarbonate of sodium is, indeed, baking soda. Carefull, though, some manufacturers are adding some starch - this is ok for making bread, but this will make the mixture too foamy, and the foam will get into the tube, polluting your water.
The pressure given by this type of generator, is not constant in time; in the first one-two days, it could be too high, after that it will be almost constant for a certain period. The purpose of the gelatin, used by some aquarists, is to avoid raising too fast the pressure. But, if you add too much gelatin, the mixture will become foamy. You could avoid the pressure building too fast, by adjusting the initial quantity of yeast - and this, only by trials, the conditions are very different for each aquarist - temp, water hardness, ph, etc.

[jman]

o i was about to say what the? Baking soda lol

[alien]

How Can I count, how many bubbles are going to my tank?, I mean there's most be a limit or some, I've using an Hagen System works pretty good, but now they I seen this one, I want to make for my 15gal. how can I count the bubbles then??

xD

PD. One more thing wich is the lowest tempeture to the CO2 to be produced?

[Neithan]

How Can I count, how many bubbles are going to my tank?, I mean there's most be a limit or some, I've using an Hagen System works pretty good, but now they I seen this one, I want to make for my 15gal. how can I count the bubbles then??

xD

PD. One more thing wich is the lowest tempeture to the CO2 to be produced?

I've never bothered to count bubbles, mainly because the yeast mixture I do is a rather slow bubbler. If you want to count them, I suggest getting one of the commercial spreaders with spirals and stuff in them and just attach that to the DIY-bottle. Or you could do a washing bottle and count how many bubbles goes in there. Since 15 gallons is a rather small tank, use a small amount of mixture.

Lowest temperature for a successfull fermentation is somewhere around 20 degrees celsius - if you can get a yeast dough to rise there should be no problems with the yeast mixture either.

[jeffs99dime]

How Can I count, how many bubbles are going to my tank?, I mean there's most be a limit or some, I've using an Hagen System works pretty good, but now they I seen this one, I want to make for my 15gal. how can I count the bubbles then??

xD

PD. One more thing wich is the lowest tempeture to the CO2 to be produced?

one way is with a bubble counter. most of the "bought c02 units have them built in

[alien]

I'll keep that on mind thanks and I'll let you know how the system worked

xD

[jman]

Hey i wanted to know that to, thanx

[Lady Hobbs]

You could go One, Two, Three........LOL

[Incredulous_Ed]

I was thinking about making this, but I'm not sure if I should follow your instuctions, this guy's instructions: http://www.hallman.org/plant/CO2.html, or a combo of the two.
Any help and tips are appreciated!
thanks!

[MrKickalot]

I have a yeast CO2 setup in my 110... I have the bubble tube running into the intake of a powerhead. This makes the bubbles very small and the float around in the water a lot longer, letting more of the CO2 get absorbed!! My plants have seemed to take off since I added it...

[Neithan]

I was thinking about making this, but I'm not sure if I should follow your instuctions, this guy's instructions: http://www.hallman.org/plant/CO2.html, or a combo of the two.
Any help and tips are appreciated!
thanks!

It's basically the same thing, just slightly differently done, ie. bigger bottle, more mixture, using the filter to distribute it. It's simply a matter of how much you like to tinker with stuff =P

The idea with the bell in the first link is that the CO2 gets absorbed through the water inside the bell, instead of bubbles coming from a filter or an airstone that eventually make their way to the surface and vanish, hence less CO2 is "wasted".

Go with something you're comfortable with - if you don't feel like making a bell, use an airstone or a filter. Or buy one of the ready made spreaders. Or think of one yourself and test to see if it works :) The main thing is to keep the CO2 in the water for long enough to absorb as much of it as possible.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Well, I followed your instructions (kinda). You see, I don't use the metric system so the measurements were off by a little bit. and instead of building the bell, I just stuck the tube into the water. and instead of using a silicone sealent, I used rubber cement. at least it's air tight, right?

[Neithan]

I have no clue what rubber cement is, but as long as it's not harmful for fish and it's airtight it should work. You might want to consider putting atleast an airstone at the end of the tube to make the one big bubble into lots of small ones - more CO2 will be absorbed into the water that way.

[MrKickalot]

CO2 is great!!! My Anacharis have grown almost 1-1/2 inches in 4 days!!

As for the mixture I think the more sugar you put in the longer it will last... and the more yeast you put in the more CO2 that will be produced... I fill a 2 liter pop bottle up 1/2 with cold water, add 5 cups of sugar and one package of yeast (I think that's one teaspoon). I get about 2 bubbles a second into my powerhead. I change it every 14 days. It will last longer but the bubbles start to slow down and I want to keep it consistant. Keep 2 bottles... I have one that I mix it in and leave it with a tube in a glass of water until the bubbles start. This allows you to unhook the aquarium bottle for a short amount of time. I like to mix it in a container with a large mouth so I can get the ingredients in easier. Then use a funnel to transfer it to the 2 liter bottle. Piece of cake!! Sounds like a lot of work and it will be the first time but it's really easy after that. Just watch your PH. Mine dropped about .4 when I added it.

Wow I am rambling!!

Hope this helps!

[Incredulous_Ed]

OK, I got the thing bubb;ing with an airstone on the end of the tube. I have a hang on back power filter. Is it better to place the end of the tube near the filter intake, or where all the water flows out?

[jeffs99dime]

the outlet side.( the thing where all the water flows out)

[Incredulous_Ed]

Oh okay. thanks

[willisrad]

I know that this is a bit of an old thread, but I have some general C02 questions......

Is the setup sold on bigals (or whatever the link was) too big for a 20 gallon long aquarium? I am lightly planted, but plan on going moderately planted pretty soon.

Also, I read that it's good to have an airpump running at night only when you have plants so that you still have plent of O2 in the tank for the fishies. Is adding a C02 system going to dramatically reduce the amount of O2 in my tank at night? Should I look into a larger air pump for night time use?

THANKS!

[Chrona]

I know that this is a bit of an old thread, but I have some general C02 questions......

Is the setup sold on bigals (or whatever the link was) too big for a 20 gallon long aquarium? I am lightly planted, but plan on going moderately planted pretty soon.

Also, I read that it's good to have an airpump running at night only when you have plants so that you still have plent of O2 in the tank for the fishies. Is adding a C02 system going to dramatically reduce the amount of O2 in my tank at night? Should I look into a larger air pump for night time use?

THANKS!

You are better off making your own out of a soda bottle or a gallon juice jug. The nutrafin system.....is a bit of a ripoff imo. Plus, a 7 dollar glass diffuser will do a much better job than that bubble ladder, and won't be as much of an eyesore.

If you have healthy, growing plants, the water will be saturated with oxygen, and that amount will hold both the plants and the fish over until the light is back on again. You can run an air pump, but you need to put it on a timer to shut off and let the CO2 build up an hour before the lights go on. It's next to impossible to asphyxiate your fish with CO2 via a DIY yeast solution, so you don't need to worry about that. Just try it out. If you see fish gasping for air at night, then turn the air pump on

[willisrad]

Ok.
Gonna go ahead and give this thing a shot!

How large of a bottle should I use?

I have seen a lot of different numbers. It's going to be for a 20 Gallon tank.

Also, is an airstone going to be suffiecient, or do I really need a glass diffuser?

[Chrona]

Ok.
Gonna go ahead and give this thing a shot!

How large of a bottle should I use?

I have seen a lot of different numbers. It's going to be for a 20 Gallon tank.

Also, is an airstone going to be suffiecient, or do I really need a glass diffuser?

A large juice jug will work great.

Glass diffusers not only work much much better, they look better too for a few bucks more. The bubbles are a tiny fraction of the size of normal airstone bubbles. You can use an airstone, but you need an additional way of chopping the bubbles up even more, like a powerhead or filter impeller. That means you have to position the airstone well, and because most airstones can blow bubbles from all sides, that gets to be hard to do as the stream of bubbles will change from time to time. I had my diffuser set up so the mini bubbles all went straight up into the intake of the HOB filter. Because I have a Aquaclear, the bubbles that don't dissolve right away get sucked and pushed upward through the sponge and filter floss, which guarantees pretty much 100% dissolve rate.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nano-Co2-diffuser-Small-aquarium-with-live-plants_W0QQitemZ250111373558QQihZ015QQcategoryZ667 94QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or you can probably get one by posting from: (this is where I got mine from, 7 bucks shipped)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/
(you need to register first)