Why Isn't My Diy C02 Working?

So I followed King of Diy's video on how to make DIY C02, and it wasn't working properly. The C02 guage went up barely, but not much. I wasn't able to find a big bag of citric acid so I had to do half of a dose. Could that be why? It was making bubbles in the bubble counter, but they seemed to be stuck in the tubing. It was C02 grade tubing I believe, it came with the DIY kit. I have a fluval diffuser, and fluval bubble counter, with the diy C02 kit.

 

Hello!

How big of a bottle are you using? If you are still using the Liter size at half the dose; it may be why you can't create enough gas/pressure. Try using smaller bottles (like standard water bottles) or order citric acid online (it's a lot cheaper and you can get bigger sizes)

Also double check your hosing to see if it's clean!

 

Yeah I know I need to order it online! Just got too impatient and bought a small pouch at Walmart. I just bought it so I believe it’s all clean. I’ll double check all hosing and order some more acid today.

 

Ah okay; definitely try a full dose to test everything out lol. And check back to report how it went!

 

Will do! I figured that was why, but wanted to see if anyone has done a smaller dose and had success.

 

Will do! I figured that was why, but wanted to see if anyone has done a smaller dose and had success.

I used to do smaller doses as well and ran into a similar problem; I ended up using smaller bottle to compensate (at one point, just for fun, I did a quarter dose in those smaller kid water bottles with left over acid for my nano tank and it worked fine).

Oh, and make sure you've got a good seal between where the bottle meets the adapter...you'll be surprised how gas can easily find gaos to escape from

 

Sounds good! When I get home I may try finishing off the last bit of acid I have in a small bottle, then I’ll double check for any small cases of leaks. I’ve heard that if the diffuser is too low in the tank it’ll cause problems, is that true?