DIY CO2 system questions

I have a 5 day weekend starting tomorrow (yay!) and I want to help out my plants and make a co2 diffuser, or whatever you call them. I have a 40 gallon with lost of plants, and sadly the crypts have crypt melt and there are lots of diatoms, so I thought I'd give my plants a hand.

I read Catsma's DIY co2 page, and I have a few questions. What type of check valve I should pick up (hopefully not really expensive!). I also have a question about the cap I have to drill 2 holes in... where do I do the holes? Will regular air tubing work fine? Dies the silicone make much of a difference? Lastly, does the bubble counter have to be 20oz, or can it be bigger/ smaller?

Thanks,
Nippybetta

 

Check valve is a basic airline valve used to protect an air pump. So cost is minimal.

Yes tou can use airline tubing.

Bubble counter can be of any size. Its purpose is to create a barrier to keep the yeast out of your tank in addition to having a place to count the gas bubbles.

Yes it will make a difference. In very low light tanks the difference is not easily seen, but in moderately lit tanks your plants will appreciate it.

Take pictures to track plant growth. It can take a month or two for plants to begin to grow quickly. But they will with the proper lighting and fertilization.

Good luck.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

Can u leave the co2 running 24/7 or do u have to remove the airline tube at night when the plants don't use co2 from what I read on the net plants use co2 during the day or when your lights are on and not at night or when the lights are off is this true. Also will the mixture in the co2 container poisen my fish? I have more than one bubble per second is this bad ?? Ty for any reply

 

Thanks, Catsma. I'm also looking into getting a pack of root tabs to give my crypts a little kick, hopefully they'll recover. Looks like I'll just pick up some root tabs, air tubing, and a check valve at Petsmart on Saturday. I was looking into a CO2 diffuser with moderation, but we watched a movie in science yesterday with basically a yeast, sugar and water mixture, and I saw how much CO2 it produced in a few hours. Also, my room is always about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Will this affect my mixtures?

 

The best diffuser I've found for DIY is to shove a piece of cotton into the end of the tubing that is dropped into the tank.

As for the temperature in your room you'll just have to monitor. If it is too cold for gas production, you may need to find a way to keep the generator bottle a bit warmer. Sumps are great for this!

 

Well, in winter I naturally have to keep it around 70 because the 40g's heater stinks. In summer, sometimes it gets even hotter, but the tanks have never gotten above 80. Cotton sounds pretty simple... can I just stuff a cotton ball in it, or something?

 

Yep. I have used cotton balls and have used a cotton makeup pad. The tighter you pack the cotton the finer the bubbles; however, you don't want it packed into the tubing so tightly that the gas cannot escape (I accidentally did that once).

I'd imagine that 70 would work. My house cools off to around 65F. While the yeast stops producing at this low of a temp, as soon as the bottles warm up it gets going again.

 

Wow, that must have been pretty tight. So just to make sure- no silicone. I'll probably start setting it up tomorrow. We have lots of 2 liter tonic water bottles- should I set up 2 for the tank? Will rinsing then really thoroughly work? Our water is chlorinated right now so will I have to wait until the water completely evaporates in them before hooking them up?

 

Great advice as always from Dena. Just a couple of suggestions though, (1) Go with a plastic check valve, co2 will eventually corrode most metals. (2) I use silicone air tubing for my diy co2, it's more flexible and seems to seal itself pretty well as long as the holes aren't too big.

 

I'll look for a plastic check valve. Thanks.

One last question... does it smell really bad? My tanks are in my room, and when I got a dead snail from the store it stunk for at least a week after I had disposed of it.

Edit: And another- can I use an 80z bottle for the bubble counter?

Thanks.

Bottle caps






Catsma, if you want to post them on your DIY co2 page, feel free. I hope I did them right. I was thrilled that I didn't split the cap that has 2 holes.

 

One last question... does it smell really bad? My tanks are in my room, and when I got a dead snail from the store it stunk for at least a week after I had disposed of it.

Edit: And another- can I use an 80z bottle for the bubble counter?

Thanks.

It is an enclosed system. You only smell it when changing the mix in the generator bottle.

Yes, you can use a larger bottle as a bubble counter.

Bottle caps
View attachment 65839

View attachment 65840

Catsma, if you want to post them on your DIY co2 page, feel free. I hope I did them right. I was thrilled that I didn't split the cap that has 2 holes.

Great job!

Thanks for offering your pictures. I will add them this weekend.

 

Cool. I got the system set up. Actually, the 80oz bottle was a typo, it's only 8oz. I have the first bottle running and am going to start the second one next weekend. I used your option 5, the one with fish food. I also took pics, so I can compare before and after.

I'm not getting any bubbles... if the yeast has 'expired' will it still work? Because if it will, my system is really messed up.

 

It can take a day or two to start producing.

Did you proof the yeast? That is the only way to know it is still good. Store it in the freezer and it will last months after expiration.

Take some soapy water and spray on the connection points...lids, check valve. If there is a leak you should see bubbles.

If everything checks out, try setting the generator on a heating pad. It may simply need more heat.

 

How do I proof the yeast? It's about 2 years after the expiration date. Will the soapy water hurt the fish?

 

You spray the soapy water on the connections in the yeast system. So the lid of each bottle where the tubing is drilled through. And both ends of the check valve. It doesn't go anywhere near the aquarium. But to answer your question, yes, soap will affect fish.

My that is old! To proof yeast, in a small bowl/container dissolve 1/2 tsp sugar in 80F water. Then add 1/2 tsp yeast. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Set aside for 30 minutes. You should begin to see a foam developing on the surface. This is the "proof" that the yeast is alive and consuming the sugar.

If there is no proof after an hour, the yeast has expired and should be replaced.

 

Thanks, I'll try that. I got Seachem Flourish liquid stuff at Petsmart because it had such good reviews... should last almost a year for this tank.

 

I got this all set up and everything but it isn't putting out any co2... I guess I did something wrong but I can't figure out what...

 

I don't do CO2, Sorry. Just bumping it up.

 

Thanks.

Hallelujah!! Got it going! Didn't realize there are two valves to turn on the thing!!

 

Now after I shut it off at night, I won't start again..... *facepalm

 

Hmm... Try re-priming it. I have the same setup that hasn't given me any problems

 

Do you know which way opens and closes it??

 

Also, add more pressure to the citric ( it is citric acid, yes?) side until the needle is in the green

 

It's the standard right tightens (thus closing) the valve, and left loosens (opens) the valve

 

Yea citric acid. That's what I thought too... lefty loosely...

 

You know how to prime, I assume?

 

Squeeze and shake??

 

Shake the baking soda to get it agitated in the water, then squeeze the citric into it. Repeat until you hit about the middle of the green area on the gage

 

Got it. I'll try doing it again tonight when I get gone

 

Make sure you close the valve tight to allow the pressure to build. It will get pretty hard to squeeze the citric acid, but that's expected considering it's holding almost thirty psi

 

Now I know the knob on the end turns to open and close it but does that other nut like thing on the needle valve do anything?

 

It's a sort of lock. Nothing to really worry yourself over

 

So I bought this diy Co2 kit off of ebay and I guess I'm doing everything wrong because I just spent my entire day, wasting 500g of citric acid and 200 gallon of baking soda, with no succsess whatsoever.


Everytime I managed to build pressure into the bottles, the citric acid would lessen and lessen until the bottle was empty and the needle was no where near the green area.


I seriously don't know, I followed the instructionw to a point and I even had to search around youtube. Please help!! I'm already sick of this

 

Try and see if this video helps....

 

That's one of the exact videos I watched, it was the only one with proper instructions actually but I still couldn't get it to work ugh

 

That's one of the exact videos I watched, it was the only one with proper instructions actually but I still couldn't get it to work ugh

Sorry I wish I could help you more.
Try and take it step by step again, you are probably missing something so small that you aren't noticing it and that's why your co2 isn't working.
Try an watch other videos and see if you can see anything different

Good Luck!

 

Ditch the baking soda and citric acid, go with yeast and sugar. It will give you a steadier, more long lasting supply.

Google DIY co2 jello method, I'm using jello and the exact same kit as you have. The jello and yeast go into the bottle with the pressure gauge, with nothing in the second bottle. The only thing I did to modify the kit was cut off the tube and ball thing that hangs into bottle A until about an inch under the cap, you don't want that in your yeast solution. All this I set up yesterday, and it's been giving me a very steady supply of co2, no stopping whatsoever. It took a few hours for the co2 to build up, but it actually started working with under 1 kg/cm pressure below the green zone, and with a ceramic diffuser no less.

 

I have this exact same kit, and it works great for me. Make sure that you have both lids on tight, and the needle valve is completely closed (spin the nut to the left until it's touching the knob, then turn the knob all the way to the right). Stir up the baking soda in the water by giving it a good shake. Then, squeeze your citric acid bottle until bubbles start in the baking soda and force themselves into the citric bottle. This will raise the pressure, indicated by the gage. Repeat until the needle is in the green. Once it's in the green, slowly open the needle valve by turning it to the left. Do this in small increments, waiting about fifteen seconds to see the speed of the bubbles entering the tank.

 

I am glad that you guys can help the OP out! I use pressurized CO2 and would probably mess up the DIY CO2 myself.

Good Luck OP!

 

I am glad that you guys can help the OP out! I use pressurized CO2 and would probably mess up the DIY CO2 myself.

Good Luck OP!

I'm the exact opposite haha, I looked into pressurized but my brain couldn't handle it. Maybe in the future!