3 L DIY CO2 help

[kagentx]

i'm planning to make a 3 liter soda bottle [acronym:8014a1c80c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8014a1c80c] to enchance the [acronym:8014a1c80c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8014a1c80c] in my aquarium. My recipe doesn't seem to work. i put 3 cups of sugar, 1 tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of baking soda and filled the water below 2.5 inch of the cap. The sugar and yeast seems to stay on the bottom not dissolved. The bubbles doesn't come out. please help

[medge00]

did you seal around where the tube comes out of the bottle with aquarium sealer? usually no bubbbles indicates a leak

[madasafish]

Bubbles often take a day or so to start. How long have you waited?

I find that the baking soda is unnecessary. I've used yeast, water and sugar with wonderful effects. [acronym:b9c1e95410="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:b9c1e95410], smell the mix after you've used it for a few weeks (I'm not just being weird!). It smells fantastic--just like a sugary beer; it has, after all fermented! Yeast is pretty amazing stuff!!

Yes, is the tubing sealed tightly?

Did you use hot or cold water? I put the sugar in, then put maybe 2-3 cups hot water, shake it up to dissolve the sugar. then fill up to your fill line with cold water, resulting in luke-warm water. Then add the yeast. Hot water will kill the yeast, cold water and it could take a couple days for the yeast to start growing and producing co2. [acronym:94811b88d4="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:94811b88d4].

[madasafish]

SIMULPOST!!!! Beat ya, Raven.

Yeah, definitely shake the mixture to make sure that the sugar really dissolves into the water.

[Mr Burns]

i just made a new batch today. i took two cups of sugar and about four cups of really HOT water. after it's mixed up and the sugar is competely dissolved, i stuck a thermometer in the solution until the temp dropped to 100*, then added 1/2tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of baking soda. that was around 2 this afternoon...the new batch is already hooked up to the tank and i'm getting a bubble every 15 seconds. when i look into the bottle, i see hundreds of little bubbles rising to the surface, where there is a nice layer of foam and bubbles.

my first batch used two cups of sugar, 1tsp of baking soda, and 1tsp of yeast. it's still hooked up to a diffusion bell and has been cranking out a large bubble every 6 seconds.

[TygGer]

Like everyone else said, use warm water to dissolve the sugar... shake it up a bit, then add the yeast. If that doesn't result in bubbles, then you have a leak some where.



Anyone know why I am getting about 10 bubbles all at once, every 30 seconds?

Previosly, I was using a 6ft tube and got over 15 bubbles every 30secs. After cutting about 2ft off, it reduced to about 10.

Could it possibly be the air check valve?

[Raimeiken]

what's the baking soda for? i don't put that stuff in my solution. Plus the solution only fills half of the bottle, i don't fill it with water up to almost the top.

[madasafish]

Are you diffusing it with an air stone? If so, the air pressure within the stone builds up as the [acronym:613fb8b84c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:613fb8b84c] is produced in the container, and when the pressure is great enough, the air seal (meniscus, I suppose) is broken and a large number of small bubbles suddenly shoots out of the stone. Nothing wrong with this.

If you're using just a tube to bring the [acronym:613fb8b84c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:613fb8b84c] to the tank, is it pointed fully downwards? The same principle might apply--the pressure builds, and when the [acronym:613fb8b84c="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:613fb8b84c] finally escapes the tube, it releases in a large number of bubbles.

[shawmutt]

The baking soda is to keep the mixture from becoming too acidic. It's supposed to make the yeast live longer, but since I was switching two liter bottles out every week, I never found out if it was true. Like everyone else said, it just sounds like the first time you used the mixture you just didn't shake it enough.

Try using 2 two-liter bottles instead of 1 three-liter bottle. This will keep the [acronym:65cb303273="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:65cb303273] at a constant level and prevent pH swings.

Also, instead of waiting for the water to cool, add a bit of cool water. I used 2 cups of hot water (tap hot) shook with 2 cups sugar until dissolved, added two cups cold water (again, tap cold) and 2 tsp. baking soda and 2 tsp. yeast, and then added a final 2 cups of cold water, shook, and then plugged it into the system. I used all twos becuase it's easier to remember, you can use what works best for you.