How To Make A Diy Co2 Kit

[Neo8223]

If I had used the smaller bottles, ie a urine test bottle then the yeast mixture would soon have filled it and got into the tank.

PS - I am not using co2 resistant tubing at present. Not sure how importnat it is in a DIY Low pressure system. I still seem to get plenty of co2 in my ladder. Pressure becomes more of an issue when using a diffusor as they subject the whole system to higher pressures

My urine bottle has been in for about 3 weeks and has filled up 2cm. You are probably overfilling your bottles with water. or shaking the bottles in a vertical motion. The water oelevel should be about 3/4 of the way filled up to the top.

I should imagine that the amont of CO2 that seaps out of the tube is quit a lot as there is a high surface area to volume ratio in the tubes. A way to minimise this is to have the shortest length of tubing possible going into your tank to lower the length of the "gauntlet" that the CO2 needs to travel. There is also the flow rate of CO2 to consider too. The longer it is, the more will "leak" out.

As for sugar, this is probably not the best answer in terms of fallibility, but yet again, you should be able to fill the mix in terms of the volume of the cannister. I normally fill up with sugar about 1/4 of the way, then for a 2l bottle, i would add a very good heaped teaspoon serving of yeast (and a little bit more for luck) and 3/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. You apparently only need sugar and yeast, so i should imagine the bi-carb of soda acts as the catalyst.

I use Allisons yeast, like the previous topic asks. Its cheap, smells bad and does the job perfectly.

 

[aaronc]

I use Allisons to. Works well here, where as I found the fast acting stuff was quick to start working but didn't last long

Aaron

 

[DevUK]

I use Allisons yeast, like the previous topic asks. Its cheap, smells bad and does the job perfectly.

Lol Thanks for the info

 

[SuperColey1]

Well I've been back onto my DIY CO2 now for a week since I am waiting for a new needle valve and can honestly say there is absolutely no solution in my bubble counter and when I used it before it was never a problem either.

My bubble counter is about the size of a 6ml test tube so I can't understand why you guys are having these problems unless you are using too much yeast, sugar, water or a combination of too much.

The bicarb is a stabiliser for high or low KH water (can't remember which so check the recipe pin)

I am back on 30ppm (CO2 checker is green) with about 3 bubbles per second. (My pressurised was only requiring 4 to 5 bubbles per min to send the CO2 checker green.)

I use the hovis (or sainsburys home brand) fast Action Dried Yeast. They come in foil sachets which means the yeast can stay fresh for much longer as for a 125 Ltr you are only going to need 1 sachet every 2 weeks or so and you can leave the rest unopened.

Changed one after 4 days to get into the alternating pattern and the other has been performing nicely for a week now (Will be changing tonight)

Bubble Counter and NRV 'as clear as crystal'

Andy

 

[aaronc]

I only got overflow when using 1tsp of yeast in the nutrafin, I have now split this between 2 systems with 1/2 tsp of yeast in each and I no longer get the overflow issue

Aaron

 

[SuperColey1]

But the pinned article states at the very beginning ½ teaspoon yeast!

If you follow further down the pinned article there are countless problems encountered when people are trying to increase the mixture in the kit

 

[aaronc]

I know, I was adding that amount as I have a larger tank and 1/2 would have not been enough, whilst I sorted my second canister

 

[ziggyboy]

Would a glass bottle be more suitable than a plastic one?

 

[Neo8223]

Would a glass bottle be more suitable than a plastic one?

You might have a point there. But dont glass bottles normally have metal caps. Eg perrier water, orangina etc. These metals have a very low elastic limit (the amount a material can be bent/stretched and still retain its shape when the pressure is gone) and therefore when you push the tubing throuh, i reckon it would do 1 of 2 things.

1) Rip the plastic to shreads.
2) Go past the elastic limit and loose the tight seal.

Therefore, i would experiment with another metal bottlecap first althouh i reckon a hole the same size as the tubing followed by silicone sealent is the way forward. I reckon that glass would be better all round to be honest though. Although plastic bottles are very good at keeping CO2 in them (hense why we buy bottles of coke that arent flat), the properties of glass are much stronger, so 0 CO2 will escape from the bottle. Hope this works and post your findings after

 

[DevUK]

Wow! I put together my firts home brew CO2 this eve. I'd prepared the bottle (similar to instructions, got a drop checker already) and I'd bought the ingrediants at lunch time today. Got home, shoved some sugar into the bottle, about 3/4 inch or so, just over half a tsp of yeast and for good measure 1/4 tsp of baking soda (can probably not bother with that next time). Connected it all up and left it. That was about 40 mins ago. I'd forgotten about it untill now, and checked. Low and behold bubbles!! infact, quite a few I think I'm getting approx 1 bubble every 2 seconds.

I guess now its a waiting game

 

[aaronc]

Haha welcome to the CO2 club, no turning back now lol

 

[Neo8223]

Haha welcome to the CO2 club, no turning back now lol

LOL, i can just imagine this turning into a sport:

"Well my 80 Gallon DIY CO2 kit produces 4000 bubbles per second, can launch a rocket into space and requires 1 tonne of sugar. NOW THATS DIY! "

 

[aaronc]

'Yeah.... well... I have hooked two jet engines up to my CO2 kit that produce 4 tonnes of co2 per second! ROCK ON' lol

 

[nry]

I take it no sad person is siphoning the alcohol off the cannister before changing then?

Could we not develop some kind of home-brew based on aquarium CO2 production

Aquarist's Best or something

 

[DevUK]

Actually, I bet you could just homebrew some beer, and hook the brewing barrel up to a diffuser, that'd produce plenty of CO2. Just make sure theres a non-return valve on the line

Anyhow, back to DIY CO2 I noticed my CO2 bottle went into overdrive last night! It was producing about 2 bubbles a second! I figured as its the first day it'd be fine. This morning it was still going strong, at about 1.5 bubbles per second.

How long till you see any results? (Java fern and a bit of elodea in a 15 US gal tank).