Homemade co2

[Fishguy17]

Can I make the co2 with vinegar and baking soda that will be safe for the fish but still help the plants.

 

[Zimmanski]

Can I make the co2 with vinegar and baking soda that will be safe for the fish but still help the plants.

I doubt that baking soda and vinegar would be a sustainable co2 source, I'm thinking of middle school volcano projects now haha. Did you mean the yeast and sugar DIY co2 method? There are countless threads on the forum and a quick google search for "DIY co2" will turn up more recipes and directions than you can imagine. DIY co2 is generally used for tanks 20 gallons or less but you can make larger and more reactors to maybe get by on a 40g or less but at that point cost and effort may weight out to be more than a pressurized system. To make sure any co2 method is safe for fish you should get a drop checker

 

[Fishguy17]

I'm not to sure on the method I'm jut trying to find an inexpensive way to make my co2. And my tank is 25 gallons do you have any suggestions.

 

[Zimmanski]

I'm not to sure on the method I'm jut trying to find an inexpensive way to make my co2. And my tank is 25 gallons do you have any suggestions.

Just google it, a simple DIY co2 system can be cheap but it really adds up in the long run, but I did it for a while. Here's my suggestion:
Supplies:
2 one liter bottles
1 small water bottle or purchased bubble counter
Several packets of bakers yeast
A big bag of sugar
A box of baking soda

Poke a hole in the cap of the first 1 liter bottle, shove an airline hose in it and use some kind of safe glue to secure it. Then poke two holes in the cap of the second 1 liter bottle shove the airline from the first bottle into one of the holes of the second and glue, shove another airline into the second hole and glue. Take the cap of the small bottle and poke two holes in it, put the airline from the second bottle into one of the holes and glue, insert airline into second hole and glue( leave a long length to the last airline as this goes to your tank). The larger bottles are where your sugar and yeast mixture goes into, the small bottle is your bubble counter and fill it with water.

Search google for "DIY co2 recipe" and you seem many to choose from

 

[baobeiiiiiiii]

I've been using baking soda, vinegar diy, pressure gauge still shows 20psi after 3 weeks use (began at 30psi), i reckon it'll last 5 or 6 weeks (its off at night thought). If the pressure drops I can open the valve fully and the two liquids will mix again, creating more pressure in seconds so who knows how long it might last, perhaps longer. I have no idea of the physics behind it, but opening the valve fully makes the liquid from bottle A suddenly spurt into bottle B, drastically increasing pressure. Using two 2 liter pepsi bottles.

My setup: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f19/diy-co2-setup-258555.html

It's in chinese, but this video shows how it works better, including the 'dance' you have to do in the beginning to get the pressure up (maybe you know chinese, it's the worlds most spoken language ha):

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDgzNDY4MDg0.html

 

[Zimmanski]

Since I hadn't heard of the baking soda/vinegar reactors I searched it. I guess you can do it as baobe says, but most people use yeast/sugar I think. It's your choice. I did read on the planted tank forum that some were concerned about cost of vinegar/baking soda, pressure buildup in the bottles, and vapors from the reaction entering the tank so I think researching into that a little more would help you out

 

[Fishguy17]

Ok thanks.

 

[baobeiiiiiiii]

Since I hadn't heard of the baking soda/vinegar reactors I searched it. I guess you can do it as baobe says, but most people use yeast/sugar I think. It's your choice. I did read on the planted tank forum that some were concerned about cost of vinegar/baking soda, pressure buildup in the bottles, and vapors from the reaction entering the tank so I think researching into that a little more would help you out

Bag of citric acid powder plus a bag of backing soda is less than 1 dollar combined (0.82 dollars), pressure can build up but that's why the system i showed has a safety release valve. On it's own pressure won't build up after the initial 'dance', unless you fully open the valve. A 2 liter pepsi bottle can take up to 8kg/cm2 of pressure before it explodes, impossible to reach imo with 200g of baking soda and 200g citric acid powder. 1 dollar a month is my running cost. Just putting all the info out there. But there's a recession I guess.

Curious, what vapor other than c02 would enter the tank? I'm not a chemist. I'm not anti-yeast, i've brewed my own beer before using yeast.

 

[aqua_chem]

I think what they're using in asia right now is citric acid, not vinegar. Vinegar might be a bit volatile for our purposes.


These setups are novel, but I don't think they really have a niche. Yeast DIY CO2 is pretty cheap as a rule, and the setups required for this will usually run around $45 or so, which starts to get into paintball CO2 territory, which would probably be a better option for most purposes.

 

[Zimmanski]

Bag of citric acid powder plus a bag of backing soda is less than 1 dollar combined (0.82 dollars), pressure can build up but that's why the system i showed has a safety release valve. On it's own pressure won't build up after the initial 'dance', unless you fully open the valve. A 2 liter pepsi bottle can take up to 8kg/cm2 of pressure before it explodes, impossible to reach imo with 200g of baking soda and 200g citric acid powder. 1 dollar a month is my running cost. Just putting all the info out there. But there's a recession I guess.

Curious, what vapor other than c02 would enter the tank? I'm not a chemist. I'm not anti-yeast, i've brewed my own beer before using yeast.

I wasn't trying to argue with you, I was just saying what I had found from a different forum and my opinion. And you did previously say vinegar, not citric acid powder. Also, I made my DIY co2 system for $15, which in our recession, is easier on the wallet than buying the blue bar and all that.