DIY CO2 for 1 ft planted tank?

[eidos]

Hi to all,

I'm thinking of adding DIY CO2 to my 1 ft tank in my office. The tank has been around for more than 6 mths now. I had some java ferns all along and recently added abit of glosso and riccia. Tank condition is good as fishes are healthy and java fern is growing. As for fishes, there's about 20 cardinals, 1 cherry barb, 2 rummy nose and 3 shrimps.

i;m thinking of DIY my own CO2, so that maybe the glosso and riccia will start bubbling and pearling.

My qns is: how to DIY co2 for 1 ft tank and can i use wooden airstone to diffuse DIY CO2?? and is it advisable to leave the DIY CO2 in the water overnight w/o lightings.

Thanks!

[tawauboy]

giving a tank co2 does not guarantee bubbling or pearling.
what is the amount of light you have for your tank?
sufficient nutrients, lights and co2 are neccessary.
diy co2 for 1' tank and using wooden airstone to diffuse co2 is possible. co2 diffusion may not be great as the co2 bubbles cannot stay in water for long.
diy co2 is usually injected 24/7 into tanks and you can control the bubbling rate by the amount of yeast you use.

[victri]

Maybe you can try and figure out a way to inject the CO2 into the input of the filter. I'm no expert, but I had a 15" tank with some simple plants and have tried atomizers though they weren't very effective. Due to the small size of the tank, I used less yeast for slower bubbling. This weaker mixture didn't have enough pressure to push through a wooden atomizer. Experimented with an inverted bell and tried to make a tiny reactor to fit into the tank, but those didn't go well either. In my case, results were best when I DIY'ed the CO2 tube direct into the filter. Still had a lot of CO2 loss but the current of the flowing water seems to better dissolve the gas. Of cuz it'll depend on what filter you're using. Time to get creative! Get that air tubing and start poking around. You'll be amazed at how many places you can squeeze that air tubing into.

And when you hit the desired amount of dissolved CO2 in the water, don't forget to adjust your ferts and lighting for total balance. If you're worried about leaving the CO2 thru the night, simply splash/agitate the water when you turn the lights out. This would result in some CO2 loss and aerate the water a little. Doesn't hurt to be a little kiasu.[]

[eidos]

Thanks, tawauboy and victri.

The lighting i hve right now is a 11W philips light on a table lamp that shines directly on top of the tank. i turn on the lights for abt 9hrs everyday except weekends.
My filter is a small internal filter, so i dont think i can get the CO2 directed into the filter. I might try with the wooden airstone first.

But any advice on the amt of sugar and yeast and size of bottle needed for this 1 ft setup? Possible to use a smaller bottle other then the 1.5litre bottle that i've read were used?
Need to conserve space as the tank is sitting on my office desk. [:]

[eidos]

Hi to all,

I've started experimenting on the DIY CO2 using a 0.5litre bottle for my 1 ft tank. i used abt 1/3 cup of sugar with abt 1/2 teaspoon of yeast. A tube then connects the bottle on one end and the other end is left in the water.
I saw that there were bubbles rising in the solution after sometime which i hope is CO2. But the pressure does not seem to be enough to push the CO2 thru the tubing into the tank.
Anyone knows what went wrong??

Regards.

[tawauboy]

if you can see bubbles rising in the solution, you are getting co2 production.

for a start check if there is a leak somewhere in your diy co2 setup. you can do this by dunking the whole setup in water. you'll need to crimp the outlet tubing (going into the tank) and let the pressure build up before dunking into water. you can also introduce soapy water to all the joints in your setup and see if bubbles form from the joints. if there is a leak, most likely the leak will be at one of the joints.

[eidos]

Thanks for the advice, but what do u mean by crimping the outlet tube? how to do it??
For your DIY, what did u use to seal any leakage between the tube and the bottle cap?

Cheers!

[ckll]

Advisable to use check-valve with DIY CO2. Else, when the pressure in bottle decreases, water from tank may get sucked into the yeast mixture and finally everything gets dumped into tank (read casualties).

Else, build a simple bubble counter. That will help too. And that helps to give visual cue on bubble rate

[tawauboy]

crimping output tube means bend the tube back on itself and clamp it with a clothes peg.
this will stop any co2 produced from escaping.

the best solution i have tried so far is to use hot melt aka hot glue to seal the joint. and i don't glue silicone pipe to the bottle cap directly. i glue a straight pipe connector to the bottle cap.

[tawauboy]

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Else, when the pressure in bottle decreases, water from tank may get sucked into the yeast mixture and finally everything gets dumped into tank (read casualties).
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even if co2 is produced at a reduced rate towards the end, i doubt water will be sucked into the yeast mixture. co2 is still trying to get out of the co2 bottle.

adding a check valve will take care of such cases if it ever happens. however, a check valve will also impede co2 flow somewhat so the co2 reactor bottle pressure will build up.

[cks]

maybe you can read more on diy co2 at this site :
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#2

[Betta Almighty]

Hmm... im confused, how many bottles do u actually need? 2 or 3. Is 1 possible?

[tawauboy]

you can always begin with 1 bottle. if your tank requires more co2, add more bottles until you get the co2 concentration that you want. however, you cannot stop the co2 from going into your tank by using a valve.

[Betta Almighty]

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On 10/28/2003 8:08:37 AM

you can always begin with 1 bottle. if your tank requires more co2, add more bottles until you get the co2 concentration that you want. however, you cannot stop the co2 from going into your tank by using a valve.
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ok, what do u mean by i cannot stop the CO2 from going into my tank by using a valve?

[tawauboy]

if you use a valve to stop co2 from going into your tank, the room where you keep your tank may turn into a brewery. pressure build up from the co2 generated may burst to co2 generator bottle.