DIY CO2 - Page 2

atmmachine816 · June 14th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by chatony

i had the worst disaster ever! The first day i put my co2 into the water, i left it in for too long! About 4 hours later, my 8 cardinals were floating in the water nearly dead! They were hitting the sides of the tank because of the water flow from my filter! I took out the CO2 and put in a air pump. Luckly all bar one survived! Im too scared to put the co2 in again now...

You might have have put too much sugar or yeast in. What was your mixture, in how big of bottle, in how big of tank?

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkwolf29a

Sounds like your Bubbles per minute was too high. If you release too much into there at one time, you will kill fish.

I bought three shutoff valves yesterday, two to slow down the release of gas from the 2 liter bottles, and 1 to slow the overall release into the aquarium.

I am still debating over how to diffuse it. I have one more 18in air stone/bubble wall, and I did buy a package of 1 in stone as well. Or...I can buy a diffussor. I might also play with hooking it up to the Jungle thing I bought....too many choices. LOL

Put airline tubing into filter intake, cheap and fairly efficient diffusion by the impeller.

Gargoyle · June 14th, 2007

You'd better be VERY careful restricting the flow from the C02 bottles if your using plastic containers... They WILL BLOW!!!

I think before anyone does DIY C02 they should do ALL the research which sounds to me is not getting done. Here are some good resources to read before doing DIY C02

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

griffin · June 14th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamstermann

I tried an airstone. It didn't work. Go for a powerhead.

Did you attach anything to force the CO2 into the airstone? I've got an air pump's output going into my CO2 bottle, and then the output from the CO2 bottle going into a bubble wall. It seems to be working really well.

does this really work (have you tested it?) i would think that the surface agitation from an air pump would tend to offgas the co2? i'd be interested to know if that's the case here or not.

atmmachine816 · June 14th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamstermann

I tried an airstone. It didn't work. Go for a powerhead.

Did you attach anything to force the CO2 into the airstone? I've got an air pump's output going into my CO2 bottle, and then the output from the CO2 bottle going into a bubble wall. It seems to be working really well.

does this really work (have you tested it?) i would think that the surface agitation from an air pump would tend to offgas the co2? i'd be interested to know if that's the case here or not.

I would be interested too. It sounds basically like diffusing it through an airstone which does not give good results. The best way to see is to measure your PPM.

mYa · June 15th, 2007

hi
i have tried making 1 - but using 1.5L bottle. I filled the bottle until it is almost full.
I did it last night, this morning I found small bubbles on top of the water but after sometimes it disappear.
So I added another 1/2 cup of sugar and shake it well. Then I left for office.

Now I am a bit worried that the content might pop out because instead of 3/4 full, i filled until almost full.

Any impact?

atmmachine816 · June 15th, 2007

If you have an opening it should be ok, though the mixture may end up going into the tank or you may increase the co2 level in your tank and decrease the oxygen to the point when the fish are gasping for air. If there's white stuff in the tank when you get home gravel vac it out and do 50% water change, if fish are gasping for air at the top put in an airstone, if you have a mess all over your walls clean it up, if nothings wrong good for you, you may have figured it out

darkwolf29a · June 15th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gargoyle

You'd better be VERY careful restricting the flow from the C02 bottles if your using plastic containers... They WILL BLOW!!!

I think before anyone does DIY C02 they should do ALL the research which sounds to me is not getting done. Here are some good resources to read before doing DIY C02

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

Thanks for the info Gargoyle.

I'll be using most of this, that's for sure.

I like the diffusor/reactor. That's what I was really looking for.

Gargoyle · June 15th, 2007

No problem darkwolf29a it is the same diffuser and reactor set up I use and it is very efficient.

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