What's your DIY Carbon Dioxide recipe?

[Colin_BC]

I've been reading and reading about different people's home-made carbon dioxide (CO2) systems for their planted tanks. I've seen lots of posts on the diffuser's, but couldn't find any for the yeast recipe's being used in these DIY systems, so I am starting one for anyone else who is interested in this like me...

I currently use a Nutrafin Natural CO2 System in my 29G planted tank. I have been buying the refill kits since I purchased my CO2 kit. I've since seen many beautiful planted tanks that use homemade recipe's for CO2. Here's your chance... Convert me...

What's your recipe for making your own carbon dioxide for your planted tank? Please specify whether you use regular baking yeast, brewer's yeast, champagne yeast, etc...., as well as the size of a tank you are using it for and your lighting wattage if possible. Do you inject straight to your filter or do you have a diffsuer of some variety in the tank?

I look forward to the replies. I've got about a week before I have to replace my prepacked Nutrafin CO2 mix...

Colin

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i just regular yeast, the ones used for baking. with 2 cups of sugar in a coke bottle

 

[mrV]

1) Large plastic bottle
2) hole through the cork (for airhose with safety valve)
3) 2/3 water and sugar (about 2dl)
4) enough gelatine to make sugar-jelly stuff
5) let it be in cool place (fridge) to form that jelly stuff
6) let the flask be in room temperature so that jelly isn't cold
7) put some yeast water into the flask
8 ) connect airhoses
9) let it produce CO2

 

[Lateral Line]

You will get better results using a good quality wine yeast. It tolerates the waste alchohol much better so works longer, and can take a higher starting gravity. A small ammount of DiAmmonium Phosphate will make yeast work better, the regular sugar/water mixture lacks essential nutrients for the yeast cells.

[Off topic]Nice to see you back MrV[/Off topic].

 

[smithrc]

We also have one of the nutrafin kits, Once our schaets ran out, we bought some packets of dried bakers yeast from sainsburys.

we now fill to the first mark with sugar and a level teaspoon of the yeast. then fill to the top mark with warm water.

If i remember - its 90g of sugar and about 500ml of water.

 

[mrV]

It tolerates the waste alchohol

Yep! I didn't remember that wine yeast at all because of I do drink alcohol so little - meaning... almost never

OT:
[Off topic=LateralLine]Nice to see you back MrV[/Off topic].

Thanks! Autumn was quite busy time in laboratory. I didn't have much time to do anything else than school stuff. But hey! I went to the english test too and passed it
(also swedish test - Im so happy.)

/OT

 

[Colin_BC]

Nice start! Please keep them coming!

You will get better results using a good quality wine yeast. It tolerates the waste alchohol much better so works longer, and can take a higher starting gravity. A small ammount of DiAmmonium Phosphate will make yeast work better, the regular sugar/water mixture lacks essential nutrients for the yeast cells.

What is DiAmmonium Phosphate commonly known as (if anything)? Would this be one of the ingredients included in the stabalizer packet for the nutrafin system? When I run out of my refill packs, I'm planning on trying a homemade recipe utilizing some form of brewer's/vintner's yeast.

mrV, could you please elaborate more on your system? I've never heard of a gelatine type mix, and I would like to know more about it if possible...

smithrc, have you noticed any/much difference between the Nutrafin refill packs and your home-made mix in terms of CO2 production and how long one batch will last?

Colin

 

[English Lion]

I use jelly rather than gelatine. I don't know which is best/cheapest, but basic strawberry jelly comes extremely cheap @ tesco.

The jelly is used as a form of sugar that's more controlled release than plain sugar.

 

[Stryker]

Yeast (no 67 I think)
sugar
luke warm water

Have used 2L pop bottles to date, however am thinking of using a 2 gallon demijon (spelling?) in future.

I usually use 2 2L bottles with one way air valves gointo to a "T" peice leading to the air stone in the tank. The one way air valves mean I can change one without afecting the other. Exposing your brew to oxygen arrests the brewing process while all the oxygen is used up.

 

[mrV]

could you please elaborate more on your system? I've never heard of a gelatine type mix, and I would like to know more about it if possible...

Gelatin is used to get that sugar-water mixture to become as jelly. It slower down fermentation(?) and you can control/watch how much time you have left before you need to change the bottle. Yeast "eats" that jelly stuff and barrier layer lowers all the time. When it reach the bottom of the bottle, you change that old bottle to new one.

You use gelatine same way as making cakes... to get jelly

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> What is DiAmmonium Phosphate commonly known as (if anything)?

I have mine as a laboratory reagent, so it is called DiAmmonium Phoshate. Reading around, it would seem to be called DAP by a lot of manufacturers of fertilizers. I would not be at all suprised to find it as an ingredient in additional chemicals supplied by Hagen. It is cheap and effective.

You need to consider, yeast is a live product. It's cells grow and divide. To do so they need sources of material from which to build proteins and lipids. The biggest demand is for Nitrogen and Phosphorous, this is absent from a sucrose/water mixture, although small amounts will always be present. Indeed, you could use tank water to improve the availability of Nitrogen. Indeed, a reactor made with tank water with a drop of pH adjusting chemicals in it, (which almost always are based on phosphates), would probably work.

Wine yeast is more tolerant of alchohol then brewers/bakers yeast so the reactor will work for longer, and can start with a stronger sugar solution.

*** EDIT ***

At winemaking shops, you can buy jars of "Yeast nutrient", this is probably equivalent to the Hagen chemicals.

 

[mrV]

I think that (NH[sub]4[/sub])[sub]2[/sub]HPO[sub]4[/sub] would be better because tank water contain bacteria too. It will probably start to grow lots of stuff in the flask, if you take tank water.

At winemaking shops, you can buy jars of "Yeast nutrient",

Good to know that.

Edit,

(NH[sub]4[/sub])[sub]2[/sub]HPO[sub]4[/sub] should be (NH4)2HPO4

 

[smithrc]

smithrc, have you noticed any/much difference between the Nutrafin refill packs and your home-made mix in terms of CO2 production and how long one batch will last?

The batch lasts about 3 weeks (the same as the nutrafin shachets).

we use the same ratio mix in a 2l coke bottle and it lasts about 5 weeks with more Co2 beign given off...

I do find that the co2 come out in bursts some times though??
no bubbles for ay 10 secs - then loads at teh same time

I guess that is what the stabiliser shachet does.

 

[Lateral Line]

because tank water contain bacteria too.

True, but you could boil it. There would be a freely obtainable organically available source of Nitrogen there.

 

[George Farmer]

I use the Nutrafin units. 1/2 teaspoon of "Harvest Gold" bread making yeast, 1 teaspoon bicarb, 500 ml water, 100g sugar. Gives me one bubble every 4 seconds for 10 days average.