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Thread: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

  1. #21
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

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    I did order it 2 hours ago, thought i would try it out too! I do understand chinese but it isn't the best..

    Your explanation helped alot, i thought the same way but just wasn't sure at all on the pressure and siphon portion. Thanks for clearing it up!

  2. #22
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Glad to help. Let us cross our fingers, wait for the item to arrive. Maybe you will be able to receive yours ahead of me. Hope to hear from you, how it works.

  3. #23
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ken90ken View Post
    I did order it 2 hours ago, thought i would try it out too! I do understand chinese but it isn't the best.
    In Ebay search for DIY CO2 system with CO2 pressure guage. With in lowest price the second seller has a video on it.

  4. #24
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Just received my set yesterday!

    Tried to set it up last night. Took ages to get it working.

    On first try it was tough to understand how it worked. It was like a learn from your failure kinda thing to me.

    So here are some pointers i derived from my findings:
    1. Try not to use diffuser when pressure gauge below 1.5 as pressure not strong enough to consistently push CO2 out of the ceramic.
    2. Try to dissolve more of the Sodium Bicarbonate because it settles down to the bottom of the bottle easily and the buried reagents can't react with much of the acid coming from bottle A.
    3. Use a check valve. The liquid constantly tries to flow into the aquarium along with the CO2 gas.

    Stuff to try out:
    1. Substitute Sodium Bicarbonate with coral chips/gravel to increase reaction surface area thereby stabilizing production and prolonging the system as vinegar can now react with most of the base instead of being unable to react with the buried sodium bicarbonate and having to shake the bottle every now and then.

    Material Cost:
    2 litres of white vinegar - $4
    400g of sodium bicarbonate - $1.80

    System Maintainance Cost:
    Each time you change the bottle contents, it will cost you $1.30. Refer to earlier post on how long set up will last you as it depends on your bubbling speed.


    **Note: Information here is purely my finding, any inputs and constructive opinions will be greatly appreciated especially from anyone who has tried and tested this product. Please be nice!

  5. #25
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Good to hear from you again.

    Sad to hear that you had a hard time understanding and setting up the unit.

    Thanks a lot for the pointer. I have a few questions. Can you really dissolve sodium bicarbonate with water? If the sodium bicarbonate settles down to the bottom, would it be advisable to lessen the water or let go of water entirely so that the vinegar can react more with it. Do you have a better understanding now why you should dissolve the the sodium bicarbonate with water, I really don't know why? About the coral chips, interesting but I really do not have any idea about it. If you could try one, maybe you could make this system into a better DIY-CO2 system. Would rate this system better than yeast DIY-CO2?

  6. #26
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    Good to hear from you again.

    Sad to hear that you had a hard time understanding and setting up the unit.

    Thanks a lot for the pointer. I have a few questions. Can you really dissolve sodium bicarbonate with water? If the sodium bicarbonate settles down to the bottom, would it be advisable to lessen the water or let go of water entirely so that the vinegar can react more with it. Do you have a better understanding now why you should dissolve the the sodium bicarbonate with water, I really don't know why? About the coral chips, interesting but I really do not have any idea about it. If you could try one, maybe you could make this system into a better DIY-CO2 system. Would rate this system better than yeast DIY-CO2?
    Sodium Bicarbonate is able to dissolve in water but definitely not 200g in 200ml of water. At most about 200g in 90 d celsius water.

    The reason i say to dissolve more of it is because sodium bicarbonate dissociates into Na+ and HCO3- ions in the water. H+ ions from the acid will react with HCO3- to form water and carbon dioxide. If you don't dissolve it in water, it can still react with the citric acid, but because most of your base reagent (sodium carbonate) sinks to the bottom, it is unavailable for reaction unless you shake/stir it up.

    If you were to do this experiment in a pail, pouring vinegar into baking powder, you would notice the reaction would stop after a short time. Now, if you were to poke a hole into the center of the clump of baking powder that settled, the vinegar can now react with a little bit of the baking powder that's buried inside.

    So in conclusion, the reason i would like to test out coral chips is because there is more surface area for a reaction to occur hence stabilizing reaction speed over time.

    (I also don't think you should lessen the water as you want the reaction bi-product (sodium citrate) to dissolve in the water as well, so more of the baking powder can be accessed for reaction)

    --Overall, I would rate this system better than yeast DIY CO2, as production is more stable, you can use a solenoid with this system (tested).

    It is however more dangerous as there is a chance of the bottles exploding, so i wouldn't recommend reusing the bottles more than a few times.

  7. #27
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Sorry just noticed my mistake, 200g in 1L of 90 degree celsius water.. in the first line

  8. #28
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Thanks for clarifying everything.

    So, if I use 1 litter of water instead of 200 ml. the sodium bicarbonate would dissolve completely in water. Do I need shake the solution vigorously to dissolve the sodium bicarbonate? Where you able to try this your self? After some time does the sodium bicarbonate solution still needs stirring if I use 1L. of water? What is the volume of the vinegar?

    I really like hear about the coral chips in the future.

    Very happy to hear that is system is better than the yeast DIY-CO2 system. If you can use solenoid with this system, does it mean you could completely close the valve, let say at night when lights are close, in a way extending the life of the solutions?

  9. #29
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    Thanks for clarifying everything.

    So, if I use 1 litter of water instead of 200 ml. the sodium bicarbonate would dissolve completely in water. Do I need shake the solution vigorously to dissolve the sodium bicarbonate? Where you able to try this your self? After some time does the sodium bicarbonate solution still needs stirring if I use 1L. of water? What is the volume of the vinegar?

    I really like hear about the coral chips in the future.

    Very happy to hear that is system is better than the yeast DIY-CO2 system. If you can use solenoid with this system, does it mean you could completely close the valve, let say at night when lights are close, in a way extending the life of the solutions?
    Yes, i did close the valve for 10 hours (overnight) to try. Pressure remained constant as explained by you in the previous page. This system is pressure driven. If the CO2 cannot escape, there is no decrease in pressure to drive the acid to enter the other bottle.

    I realised something else now, as distilled white vinegar is only 5% acetic acid it is suggested to either use more of it or switch to citric acid.
    Not only is the concentration a whole lot lesser, in a balanced chemical equation, more acetic acid is required to produce an equal amount of CO2 as compared to citric acid.
    If you do use vinegar, you can actually decrease the amount of baking powder you use, thereby being more cost effective.

    I would propose that if you were to try citric acid, you can try modifying the formula such as:
    150g citric acid in 800ml of water, and 200g baking powder in 400ml water.

    Do note that you do not need all of the baking powder to dissolve, you just want to lower the depth of the sediments.

    Important Note: I do not recommend that you use such a high amount of liquid as everything from bottle A will flow into bottle B. If the height of liquid in bottle B is too high, you might get yourself an unstable system.

    **If you somehow manage to dissolve the sodium bicarbonate, which is highly unlikely as you would require constant heat and many hours of stirring. (Unless of course you have the equipment) It would be more potent, but still the best option is to find a way to continuously stir the contents inside bottle B.

    Edit: I might get some coral chips to try tomorrow. I'm going to try using citric acid (aq) and coral chips with about 100ml of water. (No idea how much would water help because calcium citrate is practically insoluble.)
    Last edited by ken90ken; 8th Mar 2013 at 20:05. Reason: add-on

  10. #30
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    This system is really getting a lot interesting than expected, specially with you around.

    Really appreciate the info again.

    If I can get citric acid here locally in our city, I will also try it. But for now, when my unit arrive, the easiest is vinegar for me, it is a different kind of vinegar than the one you used. I could lessen the amount of sodium bicarbonate as you have suggested. I will adjust concentrations as I go along to find the best ratio for me.

    Exited to hear, what happen with the coral chips, I hope there will be significant improvement over the sodium bicarbonate.

    Thanks for sharing your trial results, though I hope there is a way for this system to maintain the 2 kg/cubic cm. pressure without shaking the sodium bicarbonate bottle, enough to drive diffuser.

  11. #31
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    This system is really getting a lot interesting than expected, specially with you around.

    Really appreciate the info again.

    If I can get citric acid here locally in our city, I will also try it. But for now, when my unit arrive, the easiest is vinegar for me, it is a different kind of vinegar than the one you used. I could lessen the amount of sodium bicarbonate as you have suggested. I will adjust concentrations as I go along to find the best ratio for me.

    Exited to hear, what happen with the coral chips, I hope there will be significant improvement over the sodium bicarbonate.

    Thanks for sharing your trial results, though I hope there is a way for this system to maintain the 2 kg/cubic cm. pressure without shaking the sodium bicarbonate bottle, enough to drive diffuser.
    If possible, and for safety and efficiency reasons, i would advise strongly against using a diffuser.

    I only used a diffuser initially to test if this system was pressurized enough to drive it. My apologies if this might've led anyone to think this system is compatible with a diffuser. The amount of pressure required is too dangerous for a plastic bottle to hold! (If you can find a stronger bottle that can handle greater pressure, this might be possible though.)

    A diffuser isn't a very good way to diffuse CO2 in your tank compared to other methods. I am currently bubbling my CO2 straight from the outlet tube into the inlet of my canister filter.
    Other methods you can opt for when using DIY CO2 could be a bubble ladder, feeding into inlet of canister, feeding into outlet of canister by means of a CO2 reactor (can be bought from shop).
    Last edited by ken90ken; 8th Mar 2013 at 21:37.

  12. #32
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    If I can get citric acid here locally in our city, I will also try it. But for now, when my unit arrive, the easiest is vinegar for me, it is a different kind of vinegar than the one you used. I could lessen the amount of sodium bicarbonate as you have suggested. I will adjust concentrations as I go along to find the best ratio for me.
    You can try sourcing for citric acid in your local supermarket. It has many food uses, ranging from baking, beverages, jams. There are other uses for it besides for consumption but i won't go into that.

    If you're looking at the foods section, you can keep an eye out for sour salt. This is the common name for citric acid.

  13. #33
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ken90ken View Post
    If you're looking at the foods section, you can keep an eye out for sour salt. This is the common name for citric acid.

    Googling citric acid I found it is sold at Ace Hardware as Mrs. WagesŪ 5oz Citric Acid

  14. #34
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by Hilde View Post

    Googling citric acid I found it is sold at Ace Hardware as Mrs. WagesŪ 5oz Citric Acid
    That's nice! Too bad we don't have Ace Hardware at singapore and philippines. If you're going to try it that's great though!

  15. #35
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Actually we have Ace Hardware in the Philippines, particularly in our city. We'll see if they have one our branch.

  16. #36
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    ken90ken,

    Any news on the coral chips trial?

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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    ken90ken,

    Any news on the coral chips trial?
    Nice that your have Ace Hardware at your location! I was too busy to get some coral chips to try it out. However, i'm reconsidering the idea as Calcium Carbonate may not be a good substitute chemically as it would produce less CO2 for the same amount of acid/vinegar used.

    Have you received your set by the way?

  18. #38
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Okay. Still waiting for my unit to arrive, so I would not be able to contribute any info. Although my tank is doing fine with the yeast DIY-CO2 for now, it has been running for 8 days now.

    So, how is it doing so far with the sodium bicarbonate base system? Is it consistent up now? More or less, what is the average pressure that you get?

  19. #39
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Quote Originally Posted by ATM2013 View Post
    Okay. Still waiting for my unit to arrive, so I would not be able to contribute any info. Although my tank is doing fine with the yeast DIY-CO2 for now, it has been running for 8 days now.

    So, how is it doing so far with the sodium bicarbonate base system? Is it consistent up now? More or less, what is the average pressure that you get?
    Yes it is still consistent but requires me to shake the bottle a few times a day. The pressure is for you to choose when you set up the system.

    > pressure = more dangerous, more stable system.
    < pressure = safer, less stable system.

    I notice that pressure does fluctuate when i close the outlet valve on this system overnight. It will either suffer a +/- 0.05 kg/cm3. (Not much effect on bps at the moment but might affect overtime.)

    Before closing the valve, i suggest that you shake it up to prevent latent reaction in bottle B to prevent buildup of pressure when valve is closed.
    This shaking before closing of the valve would also help dissolve some contents in bottle B to prevent drop of pressure when valve is closed.

    I suggest you buy a cheap air valve to open/close the valve manually at night if you want to. Tweaking the valve provided by the package is not recommended as the valve is not very sensitive and it took me 20 minutes in order to get my 1bps.

  20. #40
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    Re: DIY CO2 System Aquarium Plant Kit CO2 Diffuser Generator

    Very good info once again. I won't over do the pressure specially at night, I really do not want to have accidents. Maybe I could it at 1.5 Kg./cu. cm. Good to hear that it is stable.

    I thought so, too. I don't mind shaking the bottle a few minutes before shutting the the valve at night. Very good suggestion on the additional valve for shutting it down. If it took you 20 mins. to tweak it at 1 bubble per second. It might even take longer for me to do that. I might as well prepare and buy the valve tomorrow.

    Do you think, that closing the unit at night will make unit eventually unuseable?

    Anyway, I have learned a lot already even before the unit arrive. So, thanks for all the suggestions.

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