How much CO2 is too much ?

[candymancan]

Question... I just made my first CO2 reactor based co2 system.. So I don't have to spend money on the liquid co2 anymore.. I used a 1.5 liter plastic bottle, and put 2 cups of brown sugar in it, and I mixed 1 tablespoon of yeast in a cup with water and mixed them all together shaking it like crazy... Basically what everyone here pretty much has..

I am using a second bottle I guess so you can see how many bubbles per second its putting into the air I dunno lol.. It pushes out 1 bubble every second, and I used a Airstone on the other end and I I see a ton of little bubbles coming out of the stone in my tank and to make sure the yeast mixture doesn't get in the tank..... but I hear a airstone makes the bubbles too small.. So I placed my powerhead over the bubbles and the powerhead is one of those that go over a undergravel filter... That thing makes the co2 bubbles super super tiny and sprays them all around the tank, literally I see thousands of tiny bubbles in my tank doing it like that... But I don't want to kill my fish lol... Is that too much co2 ? Is that what I want to get smaller bubbles all around the tank to get more co2 in the water or do I just want a little amount of bubbles to float to the top ?

Mine looks like this one

Here is pic of the tiny bubbles... the entire tank is coverd in those bubbles... is that too much co2 distribution ?

 

[Jak]

Dude. That is so cool. I want to make one now haha.

How frequently do you have to change out the sugar water yeast mixture?

 

[candymancan]

I have no idea I just set this up... I heard 2-3 weeks

 

[Fresh2o]

Ideally you want the bubbles to have as much contact time with the water as possible. The CO2 distribution setup you have is fine. To measure CO2 you will want to get a drop checker. The drop checker contains a color changing solution that lets you know if you have too little, too much, or just enough CO2.
The plants should respond to the CO2 with better health, increased growth and increased pearling.
I setup DYI CO2 a few months ago with good results. I added a second generator. So the system won't depressurize when it's time to change a bottle, I added a few check valves and a T connector. I usually make up a new batch every 2 weeks. When making a new batch up, I leave most of the gunk on the bottom of the generator. Here's a pic of my setup. I let the bubbles go into the intake of a second HOB. The impeller churns it up and some of the bubbles make it through the media and back to the tank.

 

[Fresh2o]

Also, silicone airline tubing is less prone to hardening and cracking compared to regular plastic airline tubing. PetSmart sells silicone tubing in light blue and black.

 

[candymancan]

well I guess this CO2 is working.. ijust measured my PH and its at 7.0.. It was 7.4-7.6 earlier.. So PH is dropping... Gonna have to keep an eye on it

 

[candymancan]

Ok I found this website below.. It says to get a measurement oh CO2 in the water you can measure the KH and PH and use that chart to get a general idea of the PPM of CO2 in the water... Soo I bought a GH/KH test kit from API at a local fish store.. My KH took 6 drops to turn yellow.. The PH is 6.6 to 6.8. According to that chart my CO2 levels are 48-30 on the chart.. So right in between not enough CO2 and just enough.

How accurate is reading the CO2 like this ?

How to measure co2 in a planted tank | Aquariums Life

 

[aqua_chem]

You should really get a drop checker. I don't trust the pH/CO2/KH method as it's easily swayed.


To answer you question: you can have too much CO2 for fish, but I don't think you can have 'too much' for plants. You can, however, have more than your plants can use and therefore be wasteful.