Help! Co2 Gone Wrong!

[KillieLover]

Hello,

I hope I'm posting this in an appropriate place. I really need some answers quickly.

So I have a live planted 30 (or so) gallon aquarium. Yesterday I set up a Co2 bottle for it, this is how I made it:

I took a 2 liter bottle and made a small hole in the lid, (just big enough for airline tubing) then I put airline tubing through the hole, and filled up the bottle 1/2 way with aquarium water, then added 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp. yeast. Next I put one end of the airline into the liquid in the bottle and then in the middle of the tubing (that was outside the bottle) I cut it and connected a check valve (with the arrow pointing to the end in the aquarium). Then I rubber banded a small piece of open cell foam onto the end of the airline and put that end in the tank. It wasn't a very long piece of airline, so I (stupidly now I think) put the check valve down into the water too, giving me more air hose in the tank.

Well today when I got up, I noticed the whole tank is very cloudy and after pulling the airline up a bit I could tell it's siphoning some of the Co2 water into the tank! My question is...what do I do? I have a Betta in there and should I remove her? Do I need to do water changes, or what?

Please let me know!

Thank you.

 

[shelaghfishface]

deffo do a water change, right away x
in future when u set up the co2, have it run into a bucket for a few hrs just to see that it wont overflow , if it does then lesson the amount of yeast and sugar ( using warmer ( not hot ) will get it kick started faster and u wont have to wait arond for hours to see if youve got it right... its happen to me, i guess its happened to most of us, dont panic x

 

[KillieLover]

deffo do a water change, right away x
in future when u set up the co2, have it run into a bucket for a few hrs just to see that it wont overflow x

Thank you for the response. How much water should I change?

 

[shelaghfishface]

i would do a good 25 % then if needs be do another 10% after a couple of hours.. keep it well aireated in the mean time x

try and match the temp of the water going in tempwise to the water coming out x

 

[KillieLover]

i would do a good 25 % then if needs be do another 10% after a couple of hours.. keep it well aireated in the mean time x

try and match the temp of the water going in tempwise to the water coming out x

Okay, thanks for your help! I'll do that. In the meantime, do you think the Betta will be okay in there? Or should I move her into a bowl for a while? (I have a Betta tank setup that I could take some water from to put in a bowl for her).

 

[shelaghfishface]

id be inclined to say move him.. with the min of fuss

 

[DrRob]

If you can seal a second container you can run an overflow trap, much like a scaled up bubble counter, which will take some overflow from a yeast system and stop it from getting into the tank.

 

[KillieLover]

If you can seal a second container you can run an overflow trap, much like a scaled up bubble counter, which will take some overflow from a yeast system and stop it from getting into the tank.

Can you explain how to do that in more detail, I'm not sure what you mean...

 

[DrRob]

I used to set them up with a second bottle in line, tube from the first goes into a layer of water at the bottom of the second bottle, allowing it to act as a sort of bubble counter, the outlet from the top of the bottle was by the lid, giving a whole bottle full of overflow before the tank.

 

[Box]

"Next I put one end of the airline into the liquid in the bottle"
Don't put the line in the liquid that's why it syphoned into the aquarium
You want the gas going up the line not the liquid

 

[KillieLover]

"Next I put one end of the airline into the liquid in the bottle"
Don't put the line in the liquid that's why it syphoned into the aquarium
You want the gas going up the line not the liquid

Oh yikes, are you saying I was supposed to put the airline into the bottle leaving it above the water/yeast/sugar mixture? Not INTO the liquid? That would explain it, I guess I followed instructions that weren't clear enough. It didn't tell me not to put it into the mixture.

Thanks a lot of everyone's answers! I appreciate the help.

 

[Box]

No problem
Good luck and let us know how it goes

Box

 

[KillieLover]

No problem
Good luck and let us know how it goes

Box

I ended up moving the Betta and then doing a 50% water change (because of how cloudy it was, you could barely see into the tank). And then I hooked up an air stone and cleaned the filter I had running on the tank, and now I'm just waiting (oh and I moved the airline out of the liquid in the bottle so it wouldn't siphon anymore, too bad I didn't do that in the first place). It seems to be clearing up a little. I'll post an update later.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[XeroTolerance]

Its good to hear that everything seems to be getting back to normal again.

 

[KillieLover]

Just an update. My plants appear to be doing well, I have the Co2 thing hooked up the right way now and the tank it all clear again. My Betta seems to like it in there. Once the plants grow out and the brown edges go away, I'll post some photos.

Thanks for everyone's help!