Co2 for a newbie

Okay so Like I stated above. I've tried the yeast co2 DIY three times already. In between those I would redo my silicon glueing and would alter the recipe.

The third time I was getting bubbles as soon as I put the yeast in my 2- liter. Now I tested it in a separate tank with water and after an hour it just stopped. -_-

Anyone have any idea what's going on or have like detailed instructions because I'm obviously not getting it and it's frustrating haha

 

Good morning,

Here is some information on DIY CO2. See if they help while you wait for more responses:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...tions-for-setting-up-a-diy-co2-system.104443/

In the link below, see post #19:


Good luck!

Ken

 

I have done the DIY co2 before and to be honest I find it a royal pain. Each time you mix a new batch the ingredients are slightly off (no body's perfect ), which means the life of your mixture and the strength are different. Plus the mixture is only good for 1-2 weeks then you're into mixing it again

I've now gone to the Fluval co2 injection kit



To be honest I find this the easiest way of injecting c02 into the tank, and the canisters usually last me about a month (will vary depending on how much you need) and they're not that expensive either

Good luck!!!

 

what size would I need for my 10 gallon?

 

Souzaaaaa, describe how you are making your brew include the temp of the water, when you add the yeast, when you shake the bottle, how full you fill it, everything you can tell us may help us tell you what is going wrong with it.

Also, are you using a line connector in the lid, or just feeding tubing through the hole and siliconing it? What type of airline tubing are you using, silicone, vinyl, etc. Do you have a check valve installed?

DIY really work well once it is set up properly, the only time I had problems with mine is when winter temperatures here would drop to minus 20C or colder, then my mixture wouldn't last quite as long as otherwise. Don't think you'll have many problems with that though.

 

My set-up consist of a 2-liter, 20z bottle with half water, and a test bowl with water.

Well I don't know the exact heating but I just let my sink water warm up and once it's filled the water is kind of cloudy and really warm. I add 2 scoops of sugar and let the water sit for about 2min, 5min, and the 15min (order or trials)

Next I would add a mixture of 1/4 tsp of yeast with 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Shake it a bit and close it up.

I would then let it sit for about 10+ hours checking it every now and then. All three times I would redo my tubing and re-glue everything with silicon.

Just gets frustrating when you try it 3+times and it never seems to work you know haha. The last two times I tried it a bubble would come out my 20z every 30 min but as it got cooler it would slow down all the way to 0 bubbles.

 

When water is too warm, it will kill the yeast. Try this.

Add the sugar to the pop bottle.
Next add only about 1/4 tsp of baking soda.
Adjust the tap water so that it is about the temp you would warm up a baby bottle. In other words, if it feels warm on your wrist it's fine, but not hot.
Fill the bottle up to about 1/2 to 2/3rds with water and put on a regular pop bottle lid. (one without a hole or tubing) and shake the bottle really well to disolve all of the sugar. If sugar isn't completely disolved it can also kill the yeast.
Fill the bottle up to the bottom of shoulder of the bottle with more "just" warm water, recap and shake again.
Add 1/4 tsp of yeast straight into the bottle. (you don't have to prep it in a bowl)
Fasten the lid with the tubing attached to the bottle and give the bottle a bit of a swish so the yeast isn't laying on top of the water.

You can connect this bottle to a bubble counter bottle if you have one set up, and I would highly recommend you setting one up if you don't. It will help prevent any yeast making it's way up the tubing and into the aquarium water, and yes that can happen. If you need more help with this part let me know.

If this brew fails you, then I would suspect a leak. There are ways to test for leaks, so again, if you need the info, let me know.

I often clamp off the tubing when I make a fresh brew with a plastic clip. I fold the tubing over 6" or so away from the bottle, and place the clip on the bend to seal the tubing. I let the yeast brew for about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour, or until the bottle is starting to feel slightly firm from the pressure of the CO2 building in it. Don't leave it and forget it, or your bottle may explode and you'll have yeast all over, including in your tank, so if you do this monitor the bottle closely. Once the bottle is starting to feel firm, undo the clip and let the CO2 pump into your tank.

A check valve will prevent water from the aquarium from being syphoned into your yeast mixture. If this happens, it can kill the yeast and over fill your bottle making it necessary to make a new batch of brew.

This mixture will typically last anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks. Each batch can be slightly different. Water impurities, climate, how fresh the yeast is, as well as slight variations in measurements or minor leaks in the system, can all play a part in how long a brew lasts.

When you use CO2, keep an eye on your pH level. A variance of more than 1 full point needs to be avoided. In otherwords, before you add CO2 test your pH. If it reads 7.6 for example, after you add the CO2, the pH should never be lower than 6.6. If pH drops more than the 1 full point, increase surface movement of the water with an air pump and airstone (use an air valve to make adjustments to the amount of air being used) or by dropping the water level of the tank some and letting an HOB filter splash a little more. At any rate, it's just another thing you should keep an eye on so that you can protect your fish from any ill effects. Measuring the pH will also help to give you an idea of how well the CO2 is being diffused into the water.

 

Wow Thank you so MUCH for that info!!! I've been looking for something this detailed for about a week now. So I woke up this morning and saw that my bubble counter was getting a bubble every 5-10 min which was 5x more than before. Should I just restart a new batch or should I just clamp off the soda tubing for about 15 min and let it pressurize?

If not I will try exact thing you stated up there.

 

It's up to you really, but I have a feeling the 1/4 tsp of yeast probably won't provide you with enough CO2. You could just leave it for a couple more days to see how it makes out though. It's almost heart breaking to have to pour that much sugar down the drain and if it is starting to pick up steam, it might turn out to be not a bad batch. In the end I guess it all boils down to how you feel about waiting.

 

should I go for 1/2 tsp of yeast instead?

 

Oh sorry, I thought I changed the amount of yeast for you in my previous post but I see the only measurement I changed was the baking soda. So Yes, I would increase the yeast to 1/2 tsp, and decrease the baking soda to 1/4 tsp, well no.... unless your tap water is ultra soft, even 1/8 of a tsp of baking soda should be lots. I actually quit using baking soda at all because my tap water is ultra hard with a high buffering capacity, and I didn't find the baking soda helped at all, but softer water with a lower buffering capacity needs it.

 

Well I tried it again according to your instructions and right now it's been about 2-3 hours and I'm seeing bubbles ever 5-10min again but what I found out is that my set up water (taking place of the tank) is also bubbling at a much faster rate so hopefully in a few hours things should start picking up again!

 

What are you using to diffuse the CO2 into the tank? A DIY system requires there to be a little back pressure to work well. Also, I don't understand the concept behind the set up water, so maybe you could explain that part of your system a little better for me.

 

Yea it goes

2 litter (Mixture), 20z (water), bowl of water (in place of aquarium)

I connect the 2 litter to the 20z with the tube going into the water, then a second tube going from that to a valve check going into the bowl of water.

 

am I missing something?

 

When you squeeze the 2l soda bottle do you get bubbles in the 20oz? If not then you have a leak somewhere. Did you try putting the other end in a bottle instead of a bowl? CO2 is a gas and will evaporate fast if exposed to air.

 

You need more airline tubing running from the check valve to a diffuser. The diffuser in your case may be as simple as an airstone. The airstone will create a little back pressure. A chopstick shoved into the end of the tubing and then cut off flush with the tubing can work really well as a diffuser. There are quite a variety of different DIY diffusers that work well but for a small tank even an airstone can diffuse the CO2 well enough.

I just noticed you are cycling a tank at the moment. If the CO2 is intended for this tank, you should wait until after the cycle has completed before you start using it. A cycling tank doesn't have a stable pH so the CO2 will be hard to regulate by testing the pH. Too many other things are going on in the tank right now, so I would just hold off on adding the CO2 to the tank. Using a container of water to practice running the CO2 and playing with different diffusers if you choose, while learning all you can about using CO2 and while the tank cycles, is fine. It can be quite a learning process and you may feel more comfortable with it by the time you start using it in the tank.

Anytime you want to try a different diffuser, pinch off the airline long enough to swap out the diffuser so that you don't allow too much air into the bottles all at once, or you will have to wait for the pressure to rebuild in the bottle and for the CO2 to start bubbling out again.

 

Learned something new. Didn't realize the setup needs back pressure. Interesting.

 

Well psalm, I was attempting to keep things short and simple, but I see I've given the wrong impression, so I'll clarify. If you feed the CO2 tubing into a filtration unit where the bubbles can be chopped up by the impeller, you don't require back pressure, but CO2 won't help an aquarium if the bubbles are being released straight from the airline tubing, or in the OP's case, from the check valve. In order for the CO2 to be able to diffuse well in an aquarium, something other than the check valve needs to be used so that the CO2 is split up into very fine bubbles by using something with fine pores such as an airstone, a chopstick, or even Catsma's makeup sponge. This is where the back pressure comes into play. Without back pressure, not enough pressure is allowed to build up inside the CO2 generating bottle to force CO2 out of these fine pores (each of these diffusers creates it's own back pressure). If you allow air into the bottle by lifting the tubing out of the water without clamping it off first, the CO2 will escape and air will re-enter the bottle (diluting the CO2) making it necessary for the yeast to generate enough CO2 to rebuild the pressure to a point of being able to force it out the diffuser again.

Because I'm in the process of rambling, I have another thought to share with you, being as you are both experimenting with DIY CO2, and I haven't thought of a good way to do this myself yet, but......... yeast makes CO2 by consuming oxygen as well as sugar. Initially there is lots of dissolved oxygen in the water for the yeast to consume as well as sugar, (and it's the dissolved oxygen in the water that really counts) but in a short period of time, the yeast uses up the available oxygen and has to just rely on sugar for energy. At this point is when the yeast starts to produce alcohol as a by-product, and the alcohol concentration is what typically kills the yeast before it runs out of sugar. So, if a person was able to continuously dissolve more oxygen into the water (without diluting the CO2) the yeast should be able to live until the sugar is used up, without getting killed off by the alcohol it produces it the second stage of it's life. (The first stage is respiration - yeast uses oxygen and sugar. The second stage is fermentation - yeast depends totally on sugar for energy and is not as efficient and produces alcohol as a by-product. The final stage is flocculation - yeast settles to the bottom of the bottle (baking yeast) and stops producing CO2 )

I've thought of a few things to try because I like playing with that sort of thing but so far all I've managed to do is dilute the CO2. (not sure dilute is a good word, drive out might be better)

 

Yes, I have read that too. I have the end of the tubing going directly into the powerhead intake, no cotton or airstone.

 

Ok, so the powerhead is chopping up the CO2 and diffusing it for you. It works. Are you happy with the outcome? The info might be relavent to the OP if they decide to opt for that route. I'm always playing with diffusing systems to see what the differences are. So far, the one I like best is kinda big and clunky and a pain to clean, but I only have to have between a 1.5 and 2 bubbles per second to acheive 30ppm of CO2 in my 85 gallon tank, so it works pretty good, but I still like to play.

 

Okay after checking everything twice I'm now getting a bubble every 5 seconds?

 

hmmmm, after this long, it certainly should have increased more than that.

Tell you what... tomorrow I'll mix up a bottle and just run it through the bubble counter, tubing, and check valve like you are, and see what mine produces. I've never run it like that so lets see what happens with mine. Maybe I'll get the same results.

If you squeeze your bottle gently, what does it feel like? Is it firm? or do more bubbles get easily squeezed out?

Then, if you clamp off the tubing for a second, and remove the check valve, then hold the tubing in the water so that it doesn't float and then unclamp the tubing, do the amount of bubbles increase?

Just trying to rule a couple more things out.

 

Could the yeast be old and inactive?

 

So.... Saturday afternoon I set up a bottle of DIY CO2, the same way yours is done. The good news is, it looks to me like your bottle isn't doing too badly at all. Mine is doing 1 bubble every 3 seconds both yesterday and today. Not a big difference from yours really, so I put on a ceramic airstone and it produces a nice steady stream of fine bubbles.

I guess it's been a long time since I ran only 1 bottle of DIY CO2, with 1/2 tsp of yeast, so I just didn't remember the bubble count being that low, but it is all you should need for a 10 gallon tank as long as you use a good diffuser, and don't have wild surface movement driving it off right away. How are your bubbles doing now?

You really should wait until after your cycle is finished in the tank before you use it. The CO2 will lower your pH and the beneficial bacteria won't establish as it would otherwise. The pH often fluctuates a lot during a cycle, so adding anything that could drop it further really isn't a good idea at the present time, as well as the fluctuating pH will make it hard for you to monitor how much CO2 you actually have diffused in your tank.

 

Great idea to run a set up that matches the OP's Toosie!!

One you've ruled out a leak in the system and verified that the yeast is good, and not using too hot of water, things should function as expected.

I agree that you should wait for the tank to cycle before adding CO2. Otherwise it will be more difficult to determine the saturation rate.

Best of luck with your new tank!

 

Is 1 bubble per 5sec+ mean I need more yeast? Sugar?

 

Is 1 bubble per 5sec+ mean I need more yeast? Sugar?

How long has the mix been running? What mix did you use?

For a 10G tank I'd imagine you'd want to run 1 bubble every second, maybe slightly less.

 

Well this is my second batch and it's been about 10 hours .. My first batch that worked I hit about a bubble every 5 sec. Trying to aI'm for about a bubble every 2-3 seconds any ideas?

 

What are you mixing together? How much yeast, sugar, water? Anything else you may be adding to the yeast mix?

On a new batch, it can take up to 24 hours to reach full production.

 

Very interesting stuff here.

 

Yea I know I have to wait 24 hours it's just that I've done this about 6x and once it actually gave me bubbles but really slow! Haha

But anyways I'm using about 3/4 of a pepsI bottle with warm water, add 2 cups of sugar and let it settle and cool down for 10 min. Then I add about 1/2 tsp of yeast and baking soda and mix/shake it a bit and that's about it.

 

I think you should first add the sugar, then the warm water. Cap it and shake hard to dissolve the sugar in the water. Then add yeast, cap, shake again to mix in the yeast. Then attach to your bubble counter bottle. This method works very well for me. If the sugar is in a big lump at the bottom the yeast can't work on it very efficiently. Keep trying, you'll get it.

 

Have you tried proofing the yeast? It could be old. Place 1 tsp yeast into a cup of warm water with 1-2 tbls sugar. In half an hour you should be seeing a foam starting and can use this in your mix. If not, purchase new yeast.

Make sure water isn't too hot. That can kill yeast too.

Once yeast checks out, then check for leaks using soapy water.

If no leaks, then is generator too cold? Some have needed to place generator into heated environments to produce gas.

Hope you figure it out soon.


Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

Yea thanks guys for all the help I really appreciate it. I re-did every and right now I got a bubble every 5 seconds and it hasnt been 24 hours yet so hopefully it picks up.

I have a question are my bubbles supposed to reach teh top and float off? are they supposed to pop before the top?

 

While some bubbles will pop at the surface, most should be absorbed before reaching the top of your tank. If you are getting large bubbles at the surface in your tank, you may need to change your diffuser.

 

Well idk what big is nor small but I'm using a ceramic diffuser and my bubbles don't look as fine as the ones you see with the glass diffusers

 

Try stuffing the end of the tubing with cotton. That is the best diffuser I've found for DIY. Most manufactured diffusers do not function properly under the lower pressures of a DIY system.

Might be worth a try to see if you get better absorption in your tank.

 

+ 1 to that!!! Works great for me. More than half the tiny bubbles I get from the cotton diffuser get caught in the current from the sponge filter and drift around IN the water! They're so small that they're almost neutrally buoyant. Hat's off to Catsma!

 

Like stuffing the end with cotton the. Straight to water or do that then attach an airstone?

Also anyone explain how to place the airstone in the power head?