DIY CO2 reactor

[speakerpedal]

My friend made this DIY CO2 reactor for me cause I had trouble making one so I figure I could share this with all of you who are curious about it. Plus I didn't notice any on these boards, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6yKhq6McBM


My one point is that the sealant is pretty essential. you can find them at most petstores as silicon sealant. rockout guys! :apu:


Best,
Matt

[Wild Turkey]

If you cut the airline to a point and make the hole kinda small, using pliers to pull it through creates an airtight seal with using silicone.

This article has a picture of what I mean http://www.gpodio.com/diy_co2.asp

[speakerpedal]

If you cut the airline to a point and make the hole kinda small, using pliers to pull it through creates an airtight seal with using silicone.

This article has a picture of what I mean http://www.gpodio.com/diy_co2.asp



hey! this is cool too! I guess that'll work as well!thumbs2:

[wlepse]

I was thinking of doing this myself...but I may use a larger container. I have a 37g tank and figure a single 2l bottle may not get me enough CO2, so I may try to double the volume. Anyone have any thoughts on this? You think one bottle is enough? Tank is not currently planted that heavily but I am hoping things will really fill out with addition of CO2.

[Lady Hobbs]

Gez, he sure likes to do it the hard way. I use 2 c. of sugar.

[wlepse]

Lady Hobbs...how big is the tank you are running this on? From what I have read it seems these work great on 29g but once you get larger they start to lose their effectivity. Since I have a 37g I was thinking a little larger volume would create a bit more CO2 and possibly make up for this.

[speakerpedal]

Lady Hobbs...how big is the tank you are running this on? From what I have read it seems these work great on 29g but once you get larger they start to lose their effectivity. Since I have a 37g I was thinking a little larger volume would create a bit more CO2 and possibly make up for this.


you could consider getting a tube splitter and just running multiple bottle setups through it.

[Wild Turkey]

you could consider getting a tube splitter and just running multiple bottle setups through it.

This is what I do, it works for me

[wlepse]

Yeah starting thinking about that last night. While having 2g or so to produce CO2 would provide a bit more I think I may fluctuate my pH too much. So I am thinking I may be better off going with two 2l bottles but stagger them a week or two apart (depending on how long they last) so that as one starts to provide less CO2 the other is picking up.

[hagfish]

I'm gonna try making one of these tomorrow. I read a different DIY article where the guy had an interesting (and appparently effective) idea of using the end of a chopstick crammed into the end of the tubing as a diffuser (the tiny co2 bubbles make it through the wood eventually). My questions focus around placement- I've read a lot of differing opinions. Some say to put it by or in the aquarium side outtake, so that the bubbles go through the filter and come back in eventually more broken down. Others say put in the aquarium side intake to that it "whooshes" out into the tank.

Just curious if any of you have any thoughts / suggestions on this. I'm leaning towards trying it on the intake side first, but wondering how I'm going to be able to get it to stay in there as water is constantly flowing into the aquarium at a pretty fast and powerful rate on this tube...

[wlepse]

I ended up getting a hagen elite power filter from Petco and run the CO2 line to it. This was if the bubles damage the impeller I am not compromising my tanks filtering but get to take advantage of the bubles being broken up quite a bit.

[hagfish]

Interesting... I still have my old hanging filter that I threw in a closet when I upgraded to the eheim 2215.. Maybe I can try that.. So- did you leave off plastic strainer on the end and put your tube directly up there? Or did you just position it by the strainer? I guess you could even cut a hole in the strainer for the tube..

[rich311k]

A small hole in the strainer would work. If you go this route keep the water levels high so that you do not gas off the CO2 by the splashing of the return.

I pipe mine right into my cannisters. I have never had an airlock or a disintergrating impellor or any other such thing.

[hagfish]

One more thing.. What's the safety level of this project? Haven't really messed with anything like this before so just wanna make sure there aren't any "gotchas".. Last thing I want is a 2 liter bottle exploding in front of me or any hazardous stuff in the air if my seal isn't perfect for some reason (although I don't think that would be much of an issue as co2 is already all around me)..

[wlepse]

So- did you leave off plastic strainer on the end and put your tube directly up there? Or did you just position it by the strainer? I guess you could even cut a hole in the strainer for the tube..

I ended up leaving the inlet foam filter in place, pushed the airline through the plastic cap and put a small 1" airstone right under the impeller inlet.


I have never had an airlock or a disintergrating impellor or any other such thing.

It isn't an airlock but the air bubbles causing cavitation of the pump. If cavitation is severe enough it can destroy metal parts let alone plastic. I haven't seen a failure but I had read threads where people claimed a filter failed after having an airstone too close and having the bubbles get sucked into the intake.


One more thing.. What's the safety level of this project? Haven't really messed with anything like this before so just wanna make sure there aren't any "gotchas".. Last thing I want is a 2 liter bottle exploding in front of me or any hazardous stuff in the air if my seal isn't perfect for some reason (although I don't think that would be much of an issue as co2 is already all around me)..

Not likely you'll ever be able to generate enough pressure to blow the bottle apart. More likely to have the tube blow out, might make a small mess but not too bad so long as you don't have the liquid level to the top. Also don't install a valve on the outlet.

[hagfish]

Ok- so I just got done settin this thing up.. Only been about 10 mins in the tank so no bubbles yet- but one thing strikes me right away -- There appears to be about 4 inches of water in the bottom of the tube by the diffuser (bamboo skewer).. Is this is a concern? Or will it get pushed out as the co2 starts flowin?

[Wild Turkey]

Ok- so I just got done settin this thing up.. Only been about 10 mins in the tank so no bubbles yet- but one thing strikes me right away -- There appears to be about 4 inches of water in the bottom of the tube by the diffuser (bamboo skewer).. Is this is a concern? Or will it get pushed out as the co2 starts flowin?

Water?, fine its just flowing up the tube because theres no air pressure yet.

or Mix?, you want to get that out of there and cut it short so its a few inches from the liquid mix in the bottle, you might want to invest 1.00 in a check valve.

The co2 will take a little while to start pumping

[hagfish]

Appears to be just tank water- I cut the tube inside the coke bottle very short, like right under the cap (about an inch and a half), so it isn't anywhere near the solution..

[Wild Turkey]

Appears to be just tank water- I cut the tube inside the coke bottle very short, like right under the cap (about an inch and a half), so it isn't anywhere near the solution..

Yea ur fine thumbs2: just watch for back siphoning or get that check valve

[hagfish]

Wow- its working great!! After about an hour and a half, I started getting steady bursts of bubbles out of the end of the bamboo.. I have it positioned pretty close to the outtake by the strainer, so it appears about half or more of the bubbles are getting sucked in there, and the others are scattering around a little bit before eventually going to the top.. Will I eventually see any of the bubbles come out on the other end back into the tank when they make it through canister filter? Or are they so chopped up by then there's nothing left to see? What an easy, cool project- thx for all the suggestions.

[hagfish]

Well... an update... The fish are really hovering around the top and trying to get air.. Seems like I had read that its really hard to overdose co2 with a diy setup espec with a 55 gal tank (and only one bottle of solution). One thing I notice is people talking about "bubble counts", all I know is mine is constantly going out of the bamboo skewer.. It basically never stops... I'm about to do measure ph, etc and see whats up.. Is it possible the solution I made is too effective?

[wlepse]

I would be really surprised if you were overdosing on a 55g, I have no control on my 37g and don't have those issues. I found this (http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm) calculator helpful (halfway down the page). All you need is your pH and KH to find your CO2 levels. A little further down there is a chart if your pH and KH match and it gives you a safe range. Do you have any aeration in the tank?

[hagfish]

You mean like an airstone or something? No, I don't - seems like I had read somewhere that it wasn't advisable in a planted tank.. My test strips (if I'm not colorblind and seeing the colors correctly) show 7.2 and 180 so ~ 19 ppm co2.. The nitrites did seem high though- maybe time for a water change.. Would high nitrites cause the fish to be going up top also?

[rich311k]

Nitrites or nitrates? Nitrites will cause gill burns and send the fish to the top. Do water change ASAP, a big one.

The CO2 is not the cause of this.

[hagfish]

Just did almost 50 % water change... Will hope for the best and do another test tomorrow.. Really strange- I tested two days ago and the nitrates were acceptable. I did just put in a ton of new plants and a couple otos yesterday though, maybe that did it (although I thought nitrates were all about waste/food, etc)

[hagfish]

Just did almost 50 % water change... Will hope for the best and do another test tomorrow.. Really strange- I tested two days ago and the nitrates were acceptable. I did just put in a ton of new plants and a couple otos yesterday though, maybe that did it (although I thought nitrates were all about waste/food, etc)

Whoops meant nitrites for all of the above..