Just added CO2

[hulkamaniac]

I finally got my DIY CO2 reactor running on my 75 gallon. I've only had it running for one day. I was told that I need to run 2 2L bottles for a tank that size so I'm trying to get another bottle running. I'm off to buy some brewer's yeast after work (running the first bottle on baker's yeast). This way I can experiment and find out which one is going to work better.

So far, the only affect it's had on my tank is that the PH has gone from 7.8 to 7.0. No pearling plants or anything like that unfortunately. Maybe when I get the new bottle running.

 

[rich311k]

Well if the PH is down you are succcessfully injecting CO2. With a 75 gallon tank I doubt you will get pearling with only DIY CO2. If you keep the levels steady you should see better growth however.

 

[JRagg]

Champagne yeast!

It has already outlasted both of my bakers yeast mixtures.

 

[mr funktastic]

u would need about 6 bottle of mixture to get high results lol but every little bit of co2 u add will do alot. if u stagger the micture by a wwek or so then u will never go without co2. the production will slow downa little when u switch out a bottle but it will keep going. and chapagne yeast is better if u can get it but i only use bakers yeast since it is easily available.

 

[bman]

Where can you get this majical Champagne yeast?

I have not seen it at the grocery store.

 

[JRagg]

You should be able to get it at a store that sells brewing supplies. I just got mine off of eBay. The shipping with this guy gets cheaper the more you buy. He basically puts the packets in a padded envelope and mails them to you.

Here's the link to the stuff I got.

It's $0.75 to ship one packet, and $0.15 for each additional packet.

Each packet has enough for about 8-9 mixtures (2.25 tsp per packet).

 

[hulkamaniac]

I've got a brewing store locally. It was closed yesterday, but I'm off today to buy some.

 

[malkore]

I agree, you're gonna need a LOT of DIY bottles to get a 75gal up to decent CO2 levels, let alone achieve pearling. I say its possible, but not feasible.

 

[hulkamaniac]

I agree, you're gonna need a LOT of DIY bottles to get a 75gal up to decent CO2 levels, let alone achieve pearling. I say its possible, but not feasible.

Hmm. In your expert opinion is it worth it? I've got 3 wpg and the algae was starting to get out of control. I was told I needed to add CO2 to allow the plants to compete properly w/the algae. Would it be worth adding 4-5 more bottles. It wouldn't be terribly hard or expensive to do.

 

[7Enigma]

At that light level you do indeed need CO2. Your at a point where pressurized is definately the way to go, but that is a significant cost to go that route. I think what you are doing is perfect. I would definately get another bottle up and running ASAP, but the fact that your natural pH is so high is a very good thing as you might not need to add any buffers.

What is your KH? That will let us know how much CO2 you have in the tank at that pH level.

 

[hulkamaniac]

At that light level you do indeed need CO2. Your at a point where pressurized is definately the way to go, but that is a significant cost to go that route. I think what you are doing is perfect. I would definately get another bottle up and running ASAP, but the fact that your natural pH is so high is a very good thing as you might not need to add any buffers.

What is your KH? That will let us know how much CO2 you have in the tank at that pH level.

I'll have to go home and check the KH again. I haven't checked it since I added the CO2. I'll add the second bottle, let it run for a while, then check.

 

[Tong]

I believe a PH drop of 0.8 equals about 19 ppm CO2 regardless of what your KH is. I could be wrong...but I looked at this a while back when I was trying to devise an easier way to calculate CO2.

 

[7Enigma]

Tong,

The whole purpose of knowing the KH of the water is that it is responsible for what your pH level is at a specific amount of CO2 (carbonic acid) in the water. 30ppm of CO2 in a hard water tank will barely budge the pH, while in a soft water situation, could easily fluctuate the water dangerously low (for the nitrifying bacteria).

justin

 

[Tong]

I know but look at your CO2 calculator thing more closely. For example:

Starting CO2 is always 3 ppm (ambient).

KH = 10; Starting PH will be 8 --> Drop PH to 7.2; CO2 will be 19 ppm.
KH = 4; Starting PH will be 7.6 --> Drop PH to 6.8; CO2 will be 19 ppm.
KH = 2.5; Starting PH will be 7.4 --> Drop PH to 6.5; CO2 will 19 ppm.
KH = 1; Starting PH will be 7 --> Drop PH to 6.2; CO2 will 19 ppm.

It always seems to work is all.

Think about it this way, you use KH and PH to find what CO2 is. Couldn't you use CO2 and PH to find what KH is? I think so. So with a starting PH of 7.8 and a starting CO2 of 3, I would bet he's got a KH of 6. With a KH of 6 and a PH of 7, he's got a CO2 of 19 ppm...or 18 ppm...somewhere in that range.

 

[hulkamaniac]

My Kh is 8 and my starting Ph is 7.8. Not sure exactly what that tells you.

 

[Purrbox]

It tells us that you've only got 4ppm of CO2 in your tank, which is just barely above ambient levels. You're going to need a LOT of CO2 generation bottles, probably around 4+ 1 Gallon jugs. Make sure to use a more efficient means of diffusing the CO2 as well. A powered reactor will make your life much easier when it comes to diffusing the CO2.

You'll want to aim for a PH of 6.9 with your KH of 8 to achieve 30ppm CO2.

 

[hulkamaniac]

It tells us that you've only got 4ppm of CO2 in your tank, which is just barely above ambient levels. You're going to need a LOT of CO2 generation bottles, probably around 4+ 1 Gallon jugs. Make sure to use a more efficient means of diffusing the CO2 as well. A powered reactor will make your life much easier when it comes to diffusing the CO2.

You'll want to aim for a PH of 6.9 with your KH of 8 to achieve 30ppm CO2.

Ok. It's still a work in progress. I'll toy with it over my weekend and see what kind of more efficient means I can come up with.

 

[Zezmo]

With 4x 2-liter bottles, and the DIY yeast mixture I have shown elsewhere. It got my 55 gallon up over 120ppm of CO2 (yes all shrimp died, and many fish, but the plants sure were pearling). It was this experience (which I posted about a lot last September or so) was what convinced me to go pressurized CO2. Not lack of success with DIY, but that my DIY worked too good. I ended up bleeding off excess CO2 via a pressure valve and other silly things before simply taking that pressurized plunge.
At the time, I was using a DIY reactor of the design proposed by Tom Barr. That may be key, DIY CO2 produces enough gas, if you can be efficient about diffusion.