diy co2 question

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Well my bubble counter is filled with water.. It separates any potential yeast seepage from getting into the aquarium. The bubbles are gas co2 is it not? I did my research prior to building my DIY setup and numerous sources say to use a check valve. When there's no more forward pressure to displace water, then it will start to head the other way into your diy system.
 
I was having this exact problem las week with the new glass diffuser that has a ceramic disk. It wasn't building enough pressure. So what I did was, I went to bed bath and beyond and bought a "sodastream" bottle. I drilled a hole on the cap, siliconed the tubing and ishhhh. Now it's working flawlessly, I have an indicator and I usually have a little more Co2 than I need and I have a 1L sodastream bottle on a 29g planted so it means that all of it Is diffusing. If you don't find what your problem is try this cause sodastream bottles are hard plastic and meant to sustain pressure the regular bottles expand when pressure is added. Or if you can find a 2L hard plastic one try that. :) hope this helps. Good luck with that!
 
Yeah I'm using a 1L Smartwater bottle. It's on a nano tank, so I didn't need 2L's. Anyway, the plastic has some quality and is pretty thick on it as well.
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
Well my bubble counter is filled with water.. It separates any potential yeast seepage from getting into the aquarium. The bubbles are gas co2 is it not? I did my research prior to building my DIY setup and numerous sources say to use a check valve. When there's no more forward pressure to displace water, then it will start to head the other way into your diy system.
Click to expand...

From what I understand its not the amount water in the separator than prevents the potential seepage but the empty space is what is needed. The less empty space the quicker it fills and up to the tank. I agree that there's potential for back flow into the DIY system when there's no forward pressure but in my case I'm not concerned. I've got two bottles going at alternating intervals so there always forward pressure. Should the recipe fail and there back-flow then its into a system that would need to restarted anyway. I guess that where its user preferance
 
I used a regular water bottle a glass jar..every kinda bottle as my separator for like the last hour nothing is working, im having the same problem. The length from the separator to the diffuser is about 2-3ft.
 
I tried with and without check valve also..still no go. The only bottle I haven't tried is a lifewater bottle
 
Try running bottle with mixture>check valve> diffuser, take the bubble counter off until you see some bubbles and then give it a try the next time you make a mixture with the bubble counter. You might need to get some pressure through the ceramic disk in order to get it "broken out" so then the pressure needed will be less.
 
Irish.OG87 said:
.every kinda bottle as my separator for like the last hour nothing is working....
Click to expand...

This statement sounds a little problematic for me. In a DIY CO2 system, it takes time for gas to build and for it to fill up one chamber (yeast/sugar bottle), then move its way through the airline, to another chamber (bubble counter / gas seperator), and then through another line and then finally in to the aquarium. Every time you're changing out these bottles and breaking seals, you're letting all that built up pressure to escape. Therefore, you'll be like starting back from zero again in which you have to wait many hours (up to 24 hours in my system) for it to get going through the diffuser. I'm confused now :confused:
 
Brian_Nano12g said:
This statement sounds a little problematic for me. In a DIY CO2 system, it takes time for gas to build and for it to fill up one chamber (yeast/sugar bottle), then move its way through the airline, to another chamber (bubble counter / gas seperator), and then through another line and then finally in to the aquarium. Every time you're changing out these bottles and breaking seals, you're letting all that built up pressure to escape. Therefore, you'll be like starting back from zero again in which you have to wait many hours (up to 24 hours in my system) for it to get going through the diffuser. I'm confused now :confused:
Click to expand...

I agree. The same happened with mine and I threw up my hands in despair and went to bed. Woke up in the morning to find CO2 pumping into my diffuser. Now my diffuser is DIY as well which doesn't create any back pressure. It's an upside down container attached to a pump. The CO2 is injected in there and it's diffused by the swirling motion created by the water. (Note that the pump is attached through the side creating a cyclone. 100% CO2 dissolved
 
It takes a minute or two to see bubbles entering the seperayor why so long from separator to tank..im currently using the glass jar...as small as the jar is..why is it taking forever..is the distance from separator to tank not an issue considering its about 2-3 for co2 to pass through
 
Karay said:
I agree. The same happened with mine and I threw up my hands in despair and went to bed. Woke up in the morning to find CO2 pumping into my diffuser. Now my diffuser is DIY as well which doesn't create any back pressure. It's an upside down container attached to a pump. The CO2 is injected in there and it's diffused by the swirling motion created by the water. (Note that the pump is attached through the side creating a cyclone. 100% CO2 dissolved
Click to expand...

Would you happen to have a video of yours in action
 
Irish.OG87 said:
It takes a minute or two to see bubbles entering the seperayor why so long from separator to tank..im currently using the glass jar...as small as the jar is..why is it taking forever..is the distance from separator to tank not an issue considering its about 2-3 for co2 to pass through
Click to expand...

Lol. It's like watching paint dry!
 
It might be the connection of the hoses between the reactors. Do you have a Cross Valve in place? If not you should, would cut down on possible leaks and would feed all 3 bottles to gas chamber/bubble counter.
 
I use a cross valve...its pretty much at this point, me needing patience for the pressure to build, I guess if co2 isn't entering my tank in 24hrs start investigating again I guess..thanks for all the help everyone, yeah guys make this site worth coming to everyday.
 
Last looked 3hours ago..and still no luck..im getting about a bubble/sec in my separator.
I'm using a small glass jar, making space not an issue since I was using a bigger bottle before.
 
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