diy co2 system...what do you think?

[ordi260]

Hello everyone!

I would like to empower my plants growth!  I have just made this from plans i have found around and i adapted it a little...what do you think?

1:Is it safe? 
2: Do you think it will deliver enough co2 for my 33 gallon set-up. 

I also would like to know if i could upgrade my light system (i have a 2 X 20 watts canopy right now) again its a 33 gallon and i have 1 plant gro tube and 1 daylight tube.  If its worth upgrading, what would you recommend?

Here is some pics




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[ordi260]

I know the handwritting is pretty ugly but anyway...

[Soeman]

the mousewriting is fine

The basic setup seems about right. I've got pretty much the same setup, except I'm using 2 yeast reactors. I would drop the flow valve however, unless you design some type of pressure release. If you limit the flow and pressure builds up too much, you risk a yeasty mess. With diy co2, you basically have no control over how much co2 is introduced to the tank. On the flip side, it is difficult (though not impossible) to overdose co2 with diy - I ran into trouble with overdosing, but only when I was diffusing at night.

In setting up my system, I found the greatest challenge was the diffuser. At some point I'll change my camera's batteries and post pics of what it looks like, but basically I've got a powerhead that pushes water down a bottle with the bottom cut off, into which I inject the CO2. The CO2 has difficulty passing the sponge I used to block the bottom of the bottle, so almost all CO2 is dissolved. An advantage with this system is that at night I can turn off the powerhead (it's on the same timer as my lights) so as no CO2 is dissolved at night.

[ordi260]

Any ideas on how to make a pressure release valve???

Pictures of your reactor would be appreciated, your setup looks like pretty neat!

[ordi260]

I've got a powerhead that pushes water down a bottle with the bottom cut off, into which I inject the CO2.
The CO2 has difficulty passing the sponge
I used to block the bottom of the bottle, so almost all CO2 is dissolved. An advantage with this system is that at night

And do you put the powerhead / bottle with sponge on bottom in a corner of your tank?
Do you have a picture to show me how its done?  Im the visual type of guy

[magnosis]

I use pretty much the same setup, minus a different reactor / diffuser.

Also I use 2 yeast bottles (3L each). One feeds into the other, the other outputs through a winemaker airlock (bubble-counter), then a two-way valve plastic, then to the reactor.

The cheapo plastic valve works ok for me; I close it fully, then slowly open up until I get desired bubble-count.  So far it does an okay job at regulating CO₂ flow (without the valve my reactor -- a Taam Rio RVT with venturi -- pulls hard enough to create negative pressure in the yeast bottles).

I'm happy with the bottles: they are 3L water jugs I bought at Metro for 1.37$ each, they have big caps which makes it easy to drill 2-4 holes through.  Depending on the yeast mixture they will last about 2-3 weeks.  I recharge one of them in every weekend when I do my WC, sometime I skip a recharge and just give both bottles a good shake.

My current mixture:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp soda
- 1 tsp ammonia
- 2 tsp unflavored soy protein mix
- 1 sm packet of champagne yeast for start, then 1/3 - 1/2 every recharge

When I recharge, I empty 90% of the old mix and keep the yeast/protein gunk that sits at the bottom.
Then add 1.5L warm water (40-50c), mix-in sugar + soda + ammonia + protein mix, shake like madness.
Then add 0.5L cold water (bring down the solution to 25-30c), then add new yeast.

Any ideas on how to make a pressure release valve???

What I'm going to try this week:
- get a third 3L jug
- drill small hole at the bottom of the jug
- drill 2 holes in cap; one is input from the 2 yeast bottles, one is output through my bubble-counter -> reactor
- put an empty party balloon on the nozzle, screw cap on top.

What I hope will happen is that, when I close the output valve at night, the CO₂ will slowly fill in the balloon, which will expand into the empty jug (need a hole in the jug to expel air and let the balloon expand).  Then in the morning, I re-open the valve just a little, and the balloon will empty out from CO2 buildup during the night.

The downside is that I need to close / open the valve every night and morning. No biggie.  Until I get bored