diy co2

[timwag2001]

wish me happy plants with no explosion.

what are your yeast, sugar, and water recipes and how long does it take to get co2 from mixture?

 

[joy13]

I add 1/2 cup sugar to a cup of water heat it in the microwave, put that in my bottle add some more water to cool it down a little. Put some (1/4 teaspoon maybe) yeast in very warm water let it sit for a few minutes then dump that in. I usually start getting bubbles in about 30 minutes sometimes faster, it depends on the temperature of the water mixture. To hot you kill the yeast to cool and it takes a long time.

I do my fertilizers the same way, if something isn't looking right I will add more of one thing than the other. I have excel I use in some of my tanks if it seems like there is more algae than usual or if the CO2 slowed down because of the temperature of the house.

 

[timwag2001]

i used 2 cups of water (95 degrees), 1/2 of yeast, and 2 cups of sugar. didnt let the yeast sit in warm water first. is that bad?

 

[joy13]

I do that to make sure the yeast is good. If it doesn't start working I know my yeast isn't any good. How big of bottle are you making? I know that to much sugar can make the yeast work to fast and it doesn't last very long.

 

[timwag2001]

its a 2 liter bottle which is about 1/3 full.

 

[joy13]

I don't use that much sugar I know several that do on other forums that do. They don't seem to have any problems so I don't think you will have to worry about blowing it up. I keep my bottles in an empty plastic tub so if one of them gets a little warm and leak it will be easier to clean up.

 

[timwag2001]

ok. its been about 2 hours and i'm barely getting any bubbles. should i wait or recalculate my mixture somehow?

 

[fort384]

I always got the best results by activating the yeast first outside the bottle for 5-10 minutes. You want luke warm water to start (not hot). This will get your mixture rockin quick. I was able to get 1-2 bps within about 15 minutes with about 1/2 tsp yeast, 1/2-1 c sugar, and about 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of sodium bicarb. Filled that up to about 3/4 with more lukewarm water, and BAM CO2.

I used smaller bottles, and more frequent mixture changes, wich worked out very well for my tank.

The larger the bottle, and the more air space inside the bottle, the longer it will take for the co2 to pressurize enough to expel into the tank. But a larger bottle is good because the mix will become acidic enough to kill the yeast much slower than a smaller bottle.

 

[timwag2001]

baking soda? i havent heard about that in any of the recipes that i've seen.

 

[fort384]

It neutralizes some of the acid produced by the yeast, so the mix lasts longer with it.

It works too - I experimented with and without it on several different mixes, and it definitely extended the life of the mix.

 

[Purrbox]

If you already have hard water, then adding baking soda can kill the yeast. For those with softer water, it's an option and will extend the life of the mix as fort mentioned. Of course it also tends to decrease the amount CO2 that is produced at the same time.

Always give a new CO2 mix 24hours to start seeing bubbling. If you aren't seeing bubbles being released by then it's time to start troubleshooting.