DIY CO2

[SnowJob]

Question........I'm tired of buying the kit to make CO2 in my 10G tank....In understand I basically need yeast and sugar.......what proportions ?

Thanks for the help in advance !

 

[Discomafia]

Welcome to TTF!

Which part of Ottawa you from? Are you a member of OVAS? (Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society)

This site was my guide, just type in DIY CO2 in google, and you'll find all the info you need in a few seconds. Also, there's a LOT of info about DIY CO2 in the Plants forum, just do a forum search or browse around until you see what you're looking for.

Making a diffusor unit is easy, get a plastic beverage bottle, cut it 5 or 6 " above the bottom, and drill a hole at the top. Put your airline tubing in the hole, and use silicone to patch the hole up. We don't want ANY CO2 escaping... Get some suction cups and make 2 holes in the bottle at a 90 degree angle to attach them. 90 degrees because you'll want to attach the diffusor to a corner of your tank. Wait at least a day for the silicone to dry, althought 2 is always best.

And you're all set. If any of this sounds Greek to you, as it did to me when I first got into all this, don't hesitate to PM me or post a reply.

HTH...

 

[SnowJob]

Thanks for the help !

I'm in the Glebe. I usually go to either PetSmart or Big Al's Fish store on Innis (or at least that's what I think its called) Not a member of OVAS but I surf their site for info from time to time.

I actually bought the Nutrafin CO2 System but to refill it can cost a few bucks so I'll try the info I found on the web and see how it goes.

I'll reply later and let everyone know if it worked or not.

Cheers, MYL

 

[SnowJob]

Oh boy ! Did I ever fail miserably !!!

Simply put some yeast with sugar and warm water in my system and though it was going to work......needless to say I got home to a real disaster !!!

Long story short, the mixture came up the tub and into the tank........don't need to describe the result, I'm sure you can all imagine !!!

Loss two fish.....my betta, pleco and 2 cherry barbs made it though.......came home in time to transfer them into other tank !

The good news is I cleaned up the affected tank and fixed it up. Took the opportunity to add new plants and wood...

Morale of the story........do good research and stay home for the first little while, observing if what you tried is working or not..........

Hope everyone else has better luck !

 

[OohFeeshy]

How good are airstones? The website says they're not to good, but I thought I'd ask. Well, I will make one if my plants die, although I might make one just for the fun of it. Could I use one to speed up plant growth before I put any fish in? I can take it out when the fish go in if need be.

 

[sammydee]

I sympathise with your loss dude.

Same thing happened to me...

 

[Terrorbyte]

I sympathise with your loss dude.

Same thing happened to me...

How did you manage to do that? Should be impossible for the mixture to come up the tube if you leave a 3" gap between the water level and the top of the 2L soda bottle (the tube should not stick out below the cap) and you use a good quality check valve. Remember, the point of the tube is to allow the CO2 gas to escape into your fish tank. The DIY instructions linked within this topic specifically state that the air tube should only go 2-3cm below the cap, meaning that the tube does NOT dip into the actual liquid mixture. You also need to use a check valve to prevent water from entering the soda bottle from your fish tank. It takes a few hours for the mixture to begin to produce CO2, so some water may slowly enter the tube until CO2 gas begins to fill the 3" gap between the liquid and the top of the bottle. In the case where a check valve is NOT used (especially if your silicone seal wasn't adequate), fish tank water could fill the bottle and eventually you'd wind up getting some siphon action from the bottle to the fish tank (especially if you placed the tube in the intake area of your power filter). Due to the impeller action in a power filter, the filter could begin to draw the CO2 mixture into the tank, leaving a large mess and fish casualties.

One suggestion -- you can use hot glue to seal the air tube to the bottle cap; it works especially well for those of us who are rather impatient as hot glue is good to go once it cools (usually takes about a minute). However, be careful, because I touched the tube with the hot glue gun and melted the tube to a degree where it was "pinched" off and I didn't spot it out until the bottle became extremely pressurized, causing an explosion. Not realizing that my CO2 unit was a bomb, I accidentally knocked the bottle over while feeding my fish and BOOM, bottle shrapnel everywhere. It was a huge disaster. At least I know that the hot glue seal worked really d@mn good though.

 

[sammydee]

How did you manage to do that? Should be impossible for the mixture to come up the tube

It fell over...

 

[Terrorbyte]

How did you manage to do that? Should be impossible for the mixture to come up the tube

It fell over...

Ah, well that certainly makes sense. I sure overlooked the obvious...