Homemade CO2

[lcoates]

I have built a homemade CO2 system, but I'm not sure it's working.
I used a pop bottle, put 2 cups sugar and 1/2 tlbs of yeast, then put a clear tube through the top of the pop bottle sealed it with tape, and placed the tube in the  filter intake. I shake the bottle a couple of times a day.
The first problem is my aquarium glass has a film on the glass, I am persuming it's the yeast. Nothing is really going through the tube unless I shake the bottle.
Am I gettting the CO2 into the aquarium water? How do I know I am ?
I really appreciate any help you can give me, I have bought some really nice plants, and don't want to loose them. Thank you

[Ron]

Hi Lynn,

Did you leave some space in the top of the pop bottle, and make sure the tubing you inserted is just through the cap, and well clear of the mixture in the bottle? I'm assuming you used one of the two litre pop bottles - when I used these I would only put about a litre and a half of water in it. You shouldn't have to shake the bottle to make it work. Make sure that you aren't using yeast past its prime, and be aware that raising the temperature speeds up the fermentation, and consequently the production of CO2.

If the seal around your air hose isn't extremely tight, you are probably loosing CO2 before it get to your tank. Pour some soapy water over the top of the reactor where the hose penetrates the cap. If it blows bubbles, you've got a leak.

I've always used well water, but if you are on city water supply, you might be safer to use tank water for your yeast brew; I'm not sure what effect chloramine might have on the potency of the yeast. Perhaps another city "brewer" could comment?

Hopefully you'll find the solution to your problem somewhere here.

Ron

[luvfishies]

Have a gander at this thread. This is my Gelatin DIY CO2 generator, and it's working really really well.

GELATIN CO2   <---Click

I don't dechlor the water before making the generator, and it's a nice steady flow.

[aSmallFish]

It would take a while to react enough CO2 to have some bubbles in the water.

Mine take about 12-16 hours. Maybe you can check it tomorrow, and it works great .

[dpatte]

When i produce mine, i get bubbles within a few minutes.

some tricks I've learned are:

- make sure the yeast you use is fresh.
- use room temprature water for the mix. if its colder it will be hard to disolve th sugar, and to start it working. if its warmer, it may contract and pull the aquarium water back into the mixer instead
- the tube must terminate within the air pocket area above the mixture but within the bottle.
- Too large an air pocket will take a long time to get enough pressure up to feed bubbles.

Good luck. CO2 works great for planted tanks.

[lcoates]

Thanks ..I really appreciate it all the suggestions are extremely helpful. The tank looks great the morning the water is crystal clear, and the plants are starting to grow, I love it, I think I'm really hooked, I already want to get a bigger tank!

[lcoates]

I just want to confirm one thing....do you put the tube right into the filter intake or just into the aqaurium water?

[dpatte]

one end of the tube is inserted into the filter intake so that the CO2 gets stirred into the circulating water

the other end of the tube is in the CO2 bottle, in the airpocket  above the solution

[manytanks]

The mixture we've been using successfully for our 60-gallon tank is:

- 2 litre pop bottle (filled to the start of the upper curve with lukewarm water
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (to minimize possible foaming)
- 2 cups of sugar

This mixture should generate bubbles within 15 minutes and go for about three weeks. It's a good idea to stagger the recharging of the bottles to ensure there's always something going on. We use two bottles for this size of tank.

The end of the tubing gets inserted halfway up the power filter intake tube through a hole the diameter of your CO2 tubing that's easily made by heating a medium nail on the stove burner until it's quite hot (use pliers to handle it!) then melting the appropriate-sized hole in the side of the tube using the heated point of the nail.

This allows the CO2 bubbles to enter the intake directly and be well-mixed by the power filter's impeller. Try not to melt a larger hole than needed, though.

[BigDaddy]

My receipe is 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp yeast, 1 tsp baking soda.  (PS, the baking soda is there to curb alcohol levels from what I remember).

If you want to make sure nothing gets in the tank, make a gas seperator.  That's a smaller second bottle that simply has some water in the bottom that the gas gets introduced in.  The bacterial byproduct of the yeast mix will end up in the seperator, not your tank.  The byproduct is harmless in the tank, but it does look crudy.

[lcoates]

I actually got fed up and bought one at Big Al's, the instructions stated it took 2 to 4 hours for it to start, not quite !!! More like 24 to 48hrs, but I have noticed I have a film in my tank that I am cleaning almost everyday, it's a little bit of a pain. I think this is from my original try at a CO2 that failed , how long will it take for it to go away, I clean it and it comes right back.
The other thing is I am getting bubbles on my rocks, I am wondering if it is the Plakets breeding? Does anyone have any info? Thanks

[lcoates]

The other thing I wanted to mention was I bought a red plant and someone said to me...those are really hard to grow, well with the fertilizers I bought from Guest123 it's doing great, it added great color to the tank.

[BigDaddy]

Red plants aren't hard to grow per say... they just like a lot of light which most people think they have but dont