we have Co2! now my fish is angry...

[salvini55]

I got my DIY co2 up and running! Decided to use the interior method with an MJ 600 and gravel tube, used Red Sea check valves as per doctor Dan's orders . I made my mix around midnight last night and hooked it up today. getting about 2 boubles a sec. (only running one bottle, second with plain water) ill probably mix another bottle tomorow or the next day to get it pumpin good. When i woke up today my bolivian cichlisoma tore everything eccept my dwarf vallisneria and onion plant out of the ground!!!!!! little bugger!

I think im looking for a few boubles a second right?

[fischkopp]

Since you are running 2 bottles its a good idea to have each mixture running for two weeks and start/replace the second bottle every other week. This way you will get a little more consistency in the amount of CO2 that will be generated.

You should watch your fish in the first days (when the CO2 output is max) for any signs of CO2 overdosing: very calm fish, swimming on the surface. Just as a precaution. You are probably alright as your fish seems hyperactive

[salvini55]

THat was the plan.. (to set up the bottle next week) but my previous post was wrong. not 2 bubbles a sec.  one bubble every 2 sec. Is it alright to start out with a lower co2 output? there is no worries, i added a half a teaspoon of baking soda to buffer my KH. The fish is not showing any signs of oxygen depletion. I re-planted everything and hes uprooted my green cabomba 4 times today! he really hates it. He is 6 in. full grown beast. Not the best choice for a planted put i purchased him as a juvie befor i got into plants. For the most part, he seems happy in there wich makes me happy.

ph - 7.8
kh - 4 dKH


I think this puts me around 1 to 3 ppm of co2. a far cry from 20-30ppm...
any thoughts would be great to help me get a handle on this.

cheers

[dan2x38]

How much sugar and yeast in your mixture? Wait a week like FischKopp suggests before mixing the 2nd bottle up. I think you need more yeast in your mixture. I used 2 cups of sugar and 1 tsp of yeast. If the yeast is old it might not be as active. If the bottles are dirty the yeast bacteria can die. If the water is untreated it can kill the yeast bacteria too. Clean as possible when mixing up the batches.

[fischkopp]

Is it alright to start out with a lower co2 output?

You can up the CO2 right away. Important is that you keep the CO2 level somewhat consistent high. Consistency is a little hard to achieve with DIY CO2 generation due to the nature of the slowing down fermentation process. So you should just focus on keeping the CO2 level high (and I mean higher than 30ppm) - since you are changing your mixture every other week it should be doable.

You want to increase the bubble rate. There are a lot of recipes out there, this worked well for me: 2 liters water (in a 1 gal juice bottle), 200gr sugar, 1/4 tsp yeast and 1/8 tsp baking soda - yeast and baking soda were more approx measurements because I didn't have the correct measurement spoons at that time. It did output a couple of bubbles per sec initially. I placed it directly behind the tank, so that the tank would keep the mix warm. 

I used those nutrafin CO2 latters and found that they worked just fine for DIY CO2. You can use the powerhead-graveltube combination if you want to go fancy.

there is no worries, i added a half a teaspoon of baking soda to buffer my KH.

I wouldn't worry about a pH crash, but a bit extra calcium doesn't hurt most plants (my crypts don't like it though).

ph - 7.8
kh - 4 dKH
I think this puts me around 1 to 3 ppm of co2. a far cry from 20-30ppm...

With out going to deep: the pH-KH relationship is a bit inaccurate. In my experience you should aim for a pH <6 if you want the CO2 to be around 30ppm with your tap water conditions (which seem to be the same as mine )

[salvini55]

How much sugar and yeast in your mixture? Wait a week like FischKopp suggests before mixing the 2nd bottle up. I think you need more yeast in your mixture. I used 2 cups of sugar and 1 tsp of yeast. If the yeast is old it might not be as active. If the bottles are dirty the yeast bacteria can die. If the water is untreated it can kill the yeast bacteria too. Clean as possible when mixing up the batches.

HaHa Dan you made me realise my mistake. I boiled some water to sterilize the bottles, dumped it and used reg tap water to dilute the sugar and yeast... I diluted 2 cups of sugar in hot water ( 100*F ), let it cool. Then mixed approx 3/4 tsp. yeast in 90*F water straight out the tap! so in total maybe 6 cups water. silly me, must have gotten too excited lol.

So i assume you guys treat the water with prime? before you make your mixture.

You can up the CO2 right away. Important is that you keep the CO2 level somewhat consistent high.

Im going to wait a week to add the second bottle. ill mix up maybe 1/4 tsp. of yeast in treated water and add it to the mix... maybe that will boost the output for now. also i took your advice and shoved the bottles behind the tank... it was a squeze but the just fit.

I used those nutrafin CO2 latters and found that they worked just fine for DIY CO2. You can use the powerhead-graveltube combination if you want to go fancy.

With out going to deep: the pH-KH relationship is a bit inaccurate. In my experience you should aim for a pH <6 if you want the CO2 to be around 30ppm with your tap water conditions (which seem to be the same as mine )

I went fancy ;Dlol. Thats good to know about the ph-kh, is there another easy way for testing. Im aiming for a ph in that neigbourhood but it comes out the tap in the mid 7s. so i may be looking into diffrent ways at lowering it.

[fischkopp]

ill mix up maybe 1/4 tsp. of yeast in treated water and add it to the mix...

Not sure what you mean with treated. Anyway, I tried complicated things like diluting sugar in jelly and so on - while it helped to increase the time the DIY mix works, it requires a lot of time. Eventually I just rinsed the bottles well with hot water, added (in this order) sugar, yeast, baking soda and warm water straight out of the tap, closed, hooked-up, done. No worries & quick. Took me less than 10min for 5 bottles

[salvini55]

im getting about three bubles a sec today. I added about half a tsp of yeast mixed in half a cup of warm water treated with a couple drops of prime. I wasnt sure if the prime would kill the mix but i tried it anyways and it seems to work fine.

[dan2x38]

You can calculate your CO2 by taking a sample of your water just before lights out keep it in an open cup. Test the pH. This is when you have the highest dissolution of CO2. Then 24 hrs. later test the water again. If say the first reading was 6.0 then 24 hrs later it is 7.0 the CO2 level is 30ppm. You can calculate by multiplying each 0.1 by 3. First reading is 6.6 the reading 24 hrs later it is 7.0 the difference is 0.4. So the CO2 level would only be 0.4 x 3 = 12ppm.