DIY co2 scum question

[evil Nick]

Hey all, Ive noticed while cleaning my filter (whisper filter) that where I have the co2 line going into the intake there is quite a bit of tannish scum building up in the tube and impeller at times.

As stated ever since using diy co2 my tank appears cloudier than it used to.

I dont beleive anything is making its way into the tank as I have a bubble counter/trap bottle in between the co2 bottle and tank.

Anyone know what is causing this scummy growth? I will do a water change friday and the water is crystal clear but then like 2 days later the water gets a bit cloudy again. Its like a tan cloudy like new driftwood was put in. Thats the best way I can describe it honestly.
THanks

 

[Fresh2o]

I had the same thing when I ran DIY CO2. Pretty sure it is yeast. Even using a bubble counter / yeast trap, IMO some yeast gets past it and becomes established in the tubing eventually making its way to the filter/tank.
I tried to counter this by adding a ton of table salt to the yeast trap in an effort to kill any escaping yeast. This would only work with fresh or sterilized tubing between the yeast trap and the tank. Was the salt successful? Sort of. There was a reduction of build up where the tubing met the filter but it was not 100% gone.


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[evil Nick]

so technically it could be yeast actually getting into the water clouding it. My levels are always good but maybe its just time to drop this experiment for safety sake.

 

[Mebbid]

How is your diy co2 set up? I have a hard time believing that significant amounts of yeast is getting into your tank. Especially not enough to cause cloudiness. Yeast is also constantly raining down into your tanks from everywhere. Its harmless.

If the tank is cloudy and youve ruled out bacterial bloom then its likely algae.

 

[evil Nick]

How is your diy co2 set up? I have a hard time believing that significant amounts of yeast is getting into your tank. Especially not enough to cause cloudiness. Yeast is also constantly raining down into your tanks from everywhere. Its harmless.

If the tank is cloudy and youve ruled out bacterial bloom then its likely algae.

Its 3 1 liter bottles.
2 hold the mixture and the 3rd is the catch and bubble counter. Check vavles on everything. I never see ANYTHING in the bubble water and change and rise them all on every recharge. I noticed my filter material becoming more and more covered in this brownish scum as well. Friday the material was covered in it and it was a brand new piece from the week prior.

brownish algea? I cant see it being in a state of constant bac bloom unless its from the CO2. This tank has been up and running a while.

My light is now only kept on for lik 4.5 hours a day.

I am having a bit of (what looks like) BB algea on some plants but nothing explosive.

I have this in my amazon cart

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TJCPSY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A34950EJPC3UHN

Im just trying to get past my cheapness and hit buy

 

[Mebbid]

Its 3 1 liter bottles.
2 hold the mixture and the 3rd is the catch and bubble counter. Check vavles on everything. I never see ANYTHING in the bubble water and change and rise them all on every recharge. I noticed my filter material becoming more and more covered in this brownish scum as well. Friday the material was covered in it and it was a brand new piece from the week prior.

brownish algea? I cant see it being in a state of constant bac bloom unless its from the CO2. This tank has been up and running a while.

My light is now only kept on for lik 4.5 hours a day.

I am having a bit of (what looks like) BB algea on some plants but nothing explosive.

I have this in my amazon cart

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TJCPSY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A34950EJPC3UHN

Im just trying to get past my cheapness and hit buy

Like I mentioned before, I highly doubt it's from the yeast and is more likely an algae bloom. This is a pic of my salt water tank when it had an algae bloom. It went from there and progressed to a sickeningly bright green color.

 

[evil Nick]

Like I mentioned before, I highly doubt it's from the yeast and is more likely an algae bloom. This is a pic of my salt water tank when it had an algae bloom. It went from there and progressed to a sickeningly bright green color.

mine isnt like that at all. Its just this tan murkyness. Most everyone else dont even notice but when I do my water change me and the GF can see how clear it is then 2 days later BAM, its back to being a LITTLE BIT cloudy where as pre co2 it used to be crystal clear.

I mean I guess it could be a minor algea bloom but Im still leaning more to the co2. A google search brings up quite a few other people who seem to have had similar issues with it. I eventually wanted to upgrade to pressurized anyway so maybe this is the push I need.

 

[PerfectDepth]

What's your recipe per 1 liter bottle? How much yeast are you adding? Are you changing out the water in the bubble counter? Is there any foam in your generator bottles, and how full are they? I like to leave an inch and a half of empty space at the top to make sure the yeast mixture isn't going up the tube.

 

[evil Nick]

What's your recipe per 1 liter bottle? How much yeast are you adding? Are you changing out the water in the bubble counter? Is there any foam in your generator bottles, and how full are they? I like to leave an inch and a half of empty space at the top to make sure the yeast mixture isn't going up the tube.

1 cup sugar in each 1 liter with a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. I used to add the baking soda but just stopped cause it seems to work better without.
Its been no different in water clarity either way. I use clear tubing and can say I see no signs of it getting in the tubing at all.

I change the water in the counter bottle as well and leave it about 1.5" from top. The intake goes halfway down the water and the intake is right at the cap.
The water in the counter never really gets nasty either.

Could this brown scum be a form of algea being sucked into the intake and feeding off the co2 then dying in the filter due to no light?

 

[PerfectDepth]

Hmm.. no idea. I'm with Mebbid, I would really doubt that any significant amount of yeast is making its way into the tank, although the buildup being tan-colored does make it seem like it could be yeast. Does it smell like yeast?

The water cloudiness could be unrelated to the tan gunk in the filter, though. Have you ruled out micro-bubbles as the cause of cloudy water? I've heard that micro-bubbles can be an issue when running CO2 into a HOB intake.

For what it's worth, I run DIY CO2, but my water is so sparkling clear it's practically invisible. One thing I've noticed with DIY CO2 is that sometimes it causes extra surface scum at first, but it has always eventually cleared up on its own in my experience.

 

[evil Nick]

Hmm.. no idea. I'm with Mebbid, I would really doubt that any significant amount of yeast is making its way into the tank, although the buildup being tan-colored does make it seem like it could be yeast. Does it smell like yeast?

The water cloudiness could be unrelated to the tan gunk in the filter, though. Have you ruled out micro-bubbles as the cause of cloudy water? I've heard that micro-bubbles can be an issue when running CO2 into a HOB intake.

For what it's worth, I run DIY CO2, but my water is so sparkling clear it's practically invisible. One thing I've noticed with DIY CO2 is that sometimes it causes extra surface scum at first, but it has always eventually cleared up on its own in my experience.

I have not ruled out micro bubbles but it was a thought. I was actually going to plug the intake hole and run my co2 line through the chop stick trick again for a while and see if it helps keep it cleaner.

I am still thinking of getting that reg though, its a good price and my buddy has spare paintball cans.

I will need it when I upgrade to a 55 which now may seem like a pipedream because I dont think our ikea stand will hold the 440lbs of weight and I KNOW we are not going to invest in a new stand as well.

 

[Fresh2o]

I used to get this mucous like "blob" form at the end of the CO2 generator tubing and this was in the path of the current in the HOB filter intake. If I had a microscope I could have identified it.
What is this blob?
It never caused cloudiness in the water or appeared in the filter media.


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[evil Nick]

I used to get this mucous like "blob" form at the end of the CO2 generator tubing and this was in the path of the current in the HOB filter intake. If I had a microscope I could have identified it.
What is this blob?
It never caused cloudiness in the water or appeared in the filter media.


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I put the chop stick back in the tubing and plugged the intake hole with a small rubber stopper I found.
Oddly this batch of CO2 is making the foam at the top of the bottle but Im barely getting bubles and not much out of the tubing yet.
Im thinking of finally bititng the bullet and getting that pressurized system going.

 

[evil Nick]

To all the nay Sayers it was the diy in the filter intake making my water cloudy. Took it out and went back to the chop stick and in two days my water is crystal clear. The Mrs was right, she is the new fish whisperer.
So to all this is a thing.
Also bought my 55 and some amazing stuff off Craigslist that I'll put up in another post.
Happy Easter

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[mikem691]

That's strange. I have my DIY going through a micro air stone below 1 of the filter intakes. It gets sucked up through the filter and I have had no cloudiness from this so far. Notice I said so far...LOL