Hi , its easy to make Co2 ,have you ever made home made beer or wine because the gas that bubbles out of the top is Co2 .What i am going to do is get a 2 litre plastic bottle ,drill a small hole in the lid ,get a Peace of thin tube and seal it in the hole so none of the Co2 can escape ,get some beer or wine yeast add some sugar and warm water but leave about a 3" gap at the top and wait, it should start bubbling after about 1 day. It will be trial and error to start with to work out how much yeast and sugar but should not take long to work it out .When the bubbles slow down just put some more sugar in the bottle and shake this will feed the yeast for a little longer but the yeast will die so you will have to start again ,good luck boff.
What I did was make a small hole in the lid of a 2litre pop bottle. It's small enough so when you shove the piece of air-line tubing through it creates a seal. Then add 2 cups sugar, half package of baking yeast(1teaspoon), I use red star, then add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Then add warm not hot water and fill the bottle up to below where it starts curving. Then put the lid back on and connect a check valve to the airline and you can diffuse it with a diffuse online or put it in the intake of your filter and it will be chopped up with the impeller. Should last about 2-4weeks. Can buy a kh and GHtest kit to know the PPM and water hardness. Monitor your pH and make sure it doesn't go out of wack witht the co2. Change the mixture every 2-4weeks or whenever the bubbles slow down and keep an eye on your bottle, will have to replace tubing and other parts over time.
That's basically a common recipe all over the internet and forums so I did not come up with it.
This sounds like it would work. Just a note, you may not have to do a complete restart if you treat the CO2 farm the same way you treat an aquarium. A half water change when the bubbles start slowing will get rid of the waste products that would kill off the yeast, and you might be able to keep it going indefinitely.
Note: I don't know for sure. I'm basing this on the way that producers of various products that use fermentation, such as miso and sourdough, do their business. Every time a new batch of sourdough is made at the bakery, they set aside a small amount of the dough from the day and leave it in a warm place. The next day, when they make the dough, they introduce this "seed" dough into it. The process is repeated every day. There are San Francisco bakeries that have been using the same sourdough for decades, possibly even a century. I don't see why you couldn't do the same with this.
"Then put the lid back on and connect a check valve to the airline and you can diffuse it with a diffuse online or put it in the intake of your filter and it will be chopped up with the impeller. "
how did you get the intake into the filter? did you just take a drill to it?
I just pinched the tube and put it into the intake part of the filter. Let me get a pic of how I did it. That's the best I have, it basically just went into a slot that's part of the intake tube, you can also drill your tube also. Best is to buy a diffuser online, can provide some links if you want.
head over to plantgeek if you are seriously interested in doing more than dIY co2 because I don't have too much expierence in that and people there could help you out more
that 20gal hagen kit looks really good... do you think if i picked up two it would be enough for my 47 gal tank, or will it be sparsely planted enough that the one should be good?
What I did was make a small hole in the lid of a 2litre pop bottle.* It's small enough so when you shove the piece of air-line tubing through it creates a seal.* Then add 2 cups sugar, half package of baking yeast(1teaspoon), I use red star, then add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.* Then add warm not hot water and fill the bottle up to below where it starts curving.* Then put the lid back on and connect a check valve to the airline and you can diffuse it with a diffuse online or put it in the intake of your filter and it* will be chopped up with the impeller.* Should last about 2-4weeks.* Can buy a kh and gh test kit to know the ppm* and water hardness.* Monitor your pH and make sure it doesn't go out of wack witht the co2.* Change the mixture every 2-4weeks or whenever the bubbles slow down and keep an eye on your bottle, will have to replace tubing and other parts over time.
That's basically a common recipe all over the internet and forums so I did not come up with it.
How big is your tank? I have a 55 gallon and am trying to figure out how many to make, one or two.
