DIY CO2 tank

[johnnytanki]

Hi,
I am a newbie in planted tank. May i know whether it is efficient to have a DIY CO2 tank for my 4 ft planted tank? In the sense will i need to top up it frequently and will it supply sufficient CO2 for my tank? Or should i go with those CO2 cylinder which i just need to top up 3-4 months once? Hope to hear some feedback from those who had used DIY CO@ tank before. Thanks

[moss_fanatic]

Hm...
DIY co2 for 4ft ah? It would be insufficient if u are having lots of plants. i recommend u go for cylinder as it would be more better for ur plants as u can control the number of bubbles per second.... as for DIY co2 u cannot do so...

[geoffrey]

I suggest you use the pressurised cylinder way. It's more convenient.

[johnnytanki]

hi all, thanks for all the comment.....really appreciate....in fact i was thinking of using the conventional co2 cylinder.....but as i saw alot of posting on diy co2 tank...hence was thinking of setting up that since its so easy....

[dts_spawn]

I think it is more for smaller tank. For a 4ft tank, i think, it does not provide enough CO2 for your plants.

[johnnytanki]

okie.thanks alot

[Anubias]

I run a 180 gallon tank using 1, 2 or 3 linked DIY CO2 generators. Three bottles in line work best, changing one bottle per week. However, you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble setting up a cylinder system.

Regards,

[Blue Whale]

Generally my 3 ft uses both Cylinder and DIY reactor or manual CO2.

2L CO2 Cylinder lasted me abt 9 mths before I top up. Ya, call me stingy but the DIY reactor (big size) supplies 3 to 4 weeks so I no need to pump so much into the Tank.

General guideline for DIY reactor is have 1 tube with no cuts. If u have a bubble counter with 2 tubes, thats okay too. More than that will reduce the effeciency of the reactor to sent CO2 to the tank. Dun use Plastic pipes, not enough power to drive. Dun use Plastic pipes for Cylinder too, it will burst. Dun even think of linking both together, its an art which I have not master yet.

The receipe is Sugar Solution with Yeast. Tap water + sugar until saturation, fill up to 90% of the reactor. (No temperature adjustment required), pour some yeast powder and supply should start flowing in 1 to 2 hrs time.

My Cylinder to CO2 diffusser whilst reactor just connects to a air stone dissolver positioned near the water skimmer. Excessive CO2 is suck back into the Eheim and pump back to the tank. Some escape to air too.

[johnnytanki]

btw...what u mean by dun use plastic pipe for co2 tank? Kindly explained?
also what is tube with no cut?

[Blue Whale]

Plastic pipes are those that looks like PVC with L joins and T joins or stoppers. Basically they are thin abt 1-2mm in thickness and comes in 2 sizes, diameter abt 2cm and 1.5cm respectively. Not all LFS sells it.

Plastic tubes are flexible plastic tubes. LFS usually stocks them in see-through transparent or blue transluscent. very cheap too.

[ahwei]

i am using 4 1.5L bottle of diy co2 generator to run my 4ft tank. seems ok. plants are growing fine and whenever i just chnage the solution mix more co2 produce and the plants will bubble like cazy. this will last for 2-3weeks, after that there is still constant co2 produce. plants stop bubbling but still grows, i nornally change the solution mixes when i c no more bubbles coming out from my bubble counter. which is abt 2mths.

i varies the amt of yeast in each bottles. so the bottle with more yeast will give a boost in the co2 production and the bottle with least yeast helps to maintain a longer production of co2.

the connection i simply connect 4 regular air tubing from the 4 bottles into 1 tubing and thru a bubble counter then thru a check valve then into a co2 reactor.

less then $1 of ingredient last for 2mths.

but i recommend u pressurised systems as it is more pro and less maintains. i also 1 2 change to pressurised systems but not worth to change as the diy is doing fine for mi...