stupid co2 or stupid me. lol

[patria]

hi everyone, i bought a co2 kit at sp and i followed the instructions, and it doesn't want to work. can anyone help me to make it work.

Tks Dave

[missmandy]

well how long have you had it set up for? mine take atleast three to four days to start forming bubbles the instructions are messed up and it always helps to give the caister a little shake.

[jetstream]

Is you tank in the basement or... If the room temperature is on the low side, it'lll takes longer. And also the chlorine in the water might kill the yeast. Theoretically, the chemical reaction starts almost instantly and you should be able to see CO2 coming out in around an hour unless you are using the ceramic disc (Atomizer) then it'll take longer for the pressure to built up.  Hope above help!

[KLKelly]

I bought the hagen kit last year and it didn't work either - turns out the packs it came with were expired.

I made up a diy mixture and it worked.

Karrie

[patria]

hi Karrie

just wondering what did you use and how much of it?


Dave

[sas]

What make of CO2 system did you get? I use the Red Sea Turbo CO2. It came with one refill can which has a small plastic tube that holds the yeast, and when I needed to refill I just used the empty can, filled it to the line inside(works out to be a cup of sugar, half a teaspoon of yeast to a litre of warm water) with very fine sugar(usually the sugar you would use on fruit) can get it at most grocery stores and filled the little tube with "Fleischmann's" bread machine yeast? I'm sure you could use any of the yeasts but thats the kind I had in the fridge. Seems to work for me, at least I haven't blown it all over the room HTH

[KLKelly]

I can't find the recipe for the life of me.

I know it had traditional yeast, sugar and plain clear jello to help the solution last longer.

I've looked through my favourites but can't find the link.

Maybe someone here has the recipe?  I know I measured how much the hagen canister would hold and cut the ratio down from a 2Litre recipe.

Good luck!

Karrie

[BigDaddy]

2 cups sugar.. anywhere from a 1/4 tsp to a tsp of yeast depending on tank size, lighting, kH etc....

[nicoblue]

I have never heard of using gelatin, or jello before.
Anyone know anything about it?

[KLKelly]

I lost all of my old "favourites" when my computer crashed last year.  I did a lot of research too.

Here is one of the newer links I had:  http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200102/msg00379.html

States:

I have come across a couple of sources who improve on the standard
water-sugar-yeast  mixture for DIY-CO2  by using Jello as a moderating
agent. (Thanks Monika and John)
In fact, both Dennerle and JBL sell a modified DIY-CO2 system in which they
claim a more uniform CO2 production over the standard mixture. Dennerle
actually shows a graph on their containers which, if you believe it, shows a
much lower peak CO2 production and a longer evenly sustained bubble rate.

The DIY-Jello (or gelatine) recipe is something like this:
Add 2 packs of regular jello, not the light stuff, to an empty and clean 2l
pop bottle. Add boiling water to dissolve the jello, add your 1-2 cups of
sugar, and add enough water to fill the bottle to about 1.5l. Store in the
fridge overnight to let the jello set. On the following day, add 1 cup of
water and the yeast (1/8 teaspoon) on top of the jello. Attach your bottle
as normal.

The jello will do two things: 1. it will prevent the yeast from having
access to all the sugar at once , and therefore prevent the exponential
growth stage, thereby cutting the peak bubble rate.
2. As the yeast consumes the sugar, it will use the gelatine (protein) as a
source of nutrients, and slowly eat away at it from the top. The number of
active yeast organisms will be held in a near steady state, allowing for a
longer, more even CO2 production.

The jello is sort of a regulator - the more you use, the less sugar will be
available at a time, and the CO2 production would be slower but longer. So
you could adjust the recipe to fit your needs.

I gave up on CO2 because my KH and PH kept dropping and I couldn't keep CO2 consistent.  Made me too nervous to add any fish so I pulled it off.

[patria]

tks.
I tried the suger and yeast in a big bottle and in a few hours it was working fine. how much will my ph drop by using it and how long will it take to start dropping.

Dave