Making A DIY C02 Unit and C02 Mixture Article

epond83

Large Fish
Mar 11, 2007
483
0
0
Yes adding CO2 is for plants in aquariums, and yes adding CO2 can help your plants grow. It has to be added properly and in addition to higher levels of lighting.
 

LukeHawk

Medium Fish
Feb 20, 2006
96
0
6
Uhh...I followed the steps but nothings happening. no bubbles are coming out or anything, just a dissolved mixture of sugar and yeast and luke-warm water in a bottle not doing anything :confused: whats going on?
 

epond83

Large Fish
Mar 11, 2007
483
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0
That question is a bit vauge, what do you mean what would you use?

Also 55g is getting a bit big for DIY, although my 40 gal has been working well.

I have two -2litter bottles going they each get changed once a month but are off set so one gets changed every two weeks. I have the line going into a power head which creates a pretty good mist.

I went away for 6 weeks and the person taking care of the tank wasn't up for CO2 stuff so it went without. I noticed some of the higher demand plants slowed down on growth and now that it is up and running again growth has picked up. So it defiantly helpping.
 

Nov 19, 2008
702
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Des Moines, Iowa
That question is a bit vauge, what do you mean what would you use?

Also 55g is getting a bit big for DIY, although my 40 gal has been working well.

I have two -2litter bottles going they each get changed once a month but are off set so one gets changed every two weeks. I have the line going into a power head which creates a pretty good mist.

I went away for 6 weeks and the person taking care of the tank wasn't up for CO2 stuff so it went without. I noticed some of the higher demand plants slowed down on growth and now that it is up and running again growth has picked up. So it defiantly helpping.
ok check my thread in the DIY area if you would please or i guess i can tell you what i have questions about. this is something completely new for me and would like to do so my plants are healthier and grow better. i was thinking it may take 2 2liter bottles, 1 on each side. when you say powerhead what do you mean? like a bubble stone? im confused by the powerhead. sorry call me a little airheaded on that. i want to create the mist effect. i dont currently have any co2 setup and am kind of disappointed at the way my plants grow like a turtle moves. with having a co2 setup does that make your plants grow faster i take it? i also noticed a thread that this can work for larger tanks, which i think it was ORION that created it. it sounded like it would work fine.

i was thinking get 1 2 liter for each side, run the tubing in the bottle, what would you use for a sealer/silicone that would work good to keep the air tight effect? do you just set the tubing in there at the bottom/back of the tank? i also noticed that someone used pvc or acrylic tubing for the bottom part. how does the co2 get into the water thru the tubing? does it just force itself thru the tubing into the water?
 

epond83

Large Fish
Mar 11, 2007
483
0
0
I just recently posted pictuers of my tank http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/fre...on/57537-pictures-my-planted-tank-shrimp.html in the back left you can see a powerhead which is a pump to move water around the tank, i also have a sponge filter on it to help collect junk in the water.

the air hose coming from the co2 bottles is held next to the intake of the powerhead, the sponge does a good job holding it in place.

The yest creat CO2 in the bottles which gets a slight pressure, enough to push past the water pressure and bubble into the powerhead where the impeller chops it up into a fine mist. Also some use there filter in the same way to grind up the co2 bubble to get it to disolve into the water.

Glass diffusers make a finner mist which dissolves better but i'm not sure DIY co2 has enough pseeure with out breaking something to work. Reactors works well at dissolving co2 into the water, better then the filter method but require more work and cost then i think is worht while with a DIY set up.

I would def. use two bottles. You don't want the tube just in the tank, it needs to be misted or something to make it diffuse into the water better. If the tube is jsut sititng in the water the bubble will just float up and not have much surface to vol ratio not giving much change for diffusion. Also for this reason i would have the two bottles hooked up to a tee (which i do) other wise you have two tubes going into the tank and if at either end need two ways to grind up the bubble.

The tube going through the cap into the 2litter bobble needs to be sealed with silicon. The whole system needs to be ai tight or the yest wil not produce CO2 the only place air should get out is the end of the tube going into the tank.

CO2 can help your plants grow faster. If you have increased you lighting they will need CO2 and extra nutrients. I find with 2wpg on my 40gal and DIY CO2 my plants are growing well with out extra nutrients. Also my nitrates are always at zero with a well stocked tank of tetras, so i'm sure they would benifite from extra nutrients too but i'm happy with they way things are now, and like i mentioned with out CO2 for 6 weeks growth def. slowed down.

Well i hope that answered all your questions and also there is a lot of stuff about this online so don't br afraid do to some googling
 

depthC

Superstar Fish
Feb 24, 2003
1,417
0
0
WI
Are the measurements you gave for a 30 gallon tank? A 2L bottle seems a bit big and I was wondering if it would be okay to use a small pop bottle for a 29 gallon.
No a 2L bottle will be fine. Ive used a 2L on 10 gallon tanks so a little 20 oz would not have much affect on a 29g tank. When i did diy c02 on my 45g i used two 2l's.

As for how to diffusing the C02 with a hob filter, i have in the past just ran it into the intake or pickup tube that is in the aquarium. Just jamb the tube into one of the slits and it will essentially suck up the C02 bubble and churn it up in the impeller diffusing it some what. There are other methods, but as always we make do with what we got right.
 

ryanoh

Large Fish
Mar 22, 2010
858
0
0
I did this today with two Jones soda bottle connected with a T valve, and I ran the airhose directly into a hole I drilled in the side of the intake tube for my HOB filter. It's working great. Thanks for the very straightforward tutorial.
 

depthC

Superstar Fish
Feb 24, 2003
1,417
0
0
WI
wow its been a while, remember its only one teaspoon, over did it with yeast recently and my mix was useless two days later, glad this thread is still here, thanks MFT