Diy CO2 setup

[Trout11B]

I'm currently trying to run two of the large jugs of Gatorade as co2 dispensers in my planted tank. I've hooked them up to a bubble counter (made out of An empty bottle) I was wondering if these two bottles would actually dispense CO2 into the tank and equal rate or if one would overpower the other forcing gas in the other bottle wasting it.

 

[aqua_chem]

Gases don't work like that. All of the gas you generate will go into your tank.

 

[misterpenguin4]

I have two 2 litera for my DIY Co2 and i just have one of the 2 liters tube feed into the other 2 liter and that goes into a small water bottle to and then the tube from that goes into the HOB filter head. Sorry if that sounds confusing. Ill post a pic later.

 

[Trout11B]

Gases don't work like that. All of the gas you generate will go into your tank.

I didn't think they work like that either, but I'm not getting what I feel like greater pressure when I'm using both. I didn't know if they would end up equalizing their pressure or something.

 

[aqua_chem]

That just means you have a leak in one of your reactors.

 

[Trout11B]

It's probably the splitter their attached too. My other concern is when I shake both to see where the gas pressures are going it seems to push moisture into the other bottle instead of down the checker and into the tank. I think I'm going to do like penguin and link the bottles in series instead of a junction.

 

[misterpenguin4]

This is a pic of how myn is setup. It works pretty well.

 

[Trout11B]

I'll probably switch mine to a series like yours. I shook one bottle today and it seemed to push liquid into the other bottle. I'm not really sure why, but a little silicone and a new bottle might help.

 

[aqua_chem]

If you put check valves between both reactors and the T, then only one reactor can fail per leak.

 

[Trout11B]

So aqua, you're saying it should go. Bottle-check valve-splitter-bubble counter-output line into bubble counter, for each bottle? Just making sure if that's what it is.

 

[aqua_chem]

Should you only have one drop counter?

But yea, I think you've got the idea. This basically makes it so that one leaky reactor wont ruin the output from your other. It also provides a good fail point that will go if you jam up somewhere and start building pressure.

 

[Trout11B]

My bad on that last post. That second bubble counter should pretty much just be into a check valve and into the tank. Poor quality control on my post there.

I found one major flaw in my setup while I was messing with it the other day, not one that would really solve why I'm not seeing the pressure build up, but why I was seeing such a drop in performance. A small gash had appeared in the last section of tubing going into the tank, so a lot of my CO2 was leaking there. I replaced the line and my system is functional again.

I replaced my filter with an ac20 that I don't really want to cut into right now, so I jimmy rigged a new kind of diffuser for myself. Section of capped plastic tube with floss stuffed inside and the output tube placed through the center. The co2 travels through the tube, releases into the tank and gets trapped in the floss for a longer amount of time then if it was just being put in the tank. Well see how it works.