My first attempt at DIY CO2...

[schoeplein]

8 cups of water
2 cups of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
1 two liter Coke bottle (reactor)
1 one liter Coke bottle (bubble counter, yeast runoff collector)
1 inline check valve
1 inline shutoff valve
1 glass and ceramic CO2 diffuser
Several feet of silicon tubing
3/16 drill bit
Electric drill

CO2 Reactor
-Drilled one hole in the cap of the larger bottle.
-Cut about 18" of tubing, each end at a sharp angle.
-Fed tubing through lid about an inch.

Bubble counter, yeast runoff collector:
-Drilled two holes in the cap of the smaller bottle. The little Coke bottle symbol on the cap is a good measurement for where each hole should go - one on each side of the symbol.
-Feed other end of hose from CO2 reactor into the smaller bottle, about 3/4 the way in.
-Fill small bottle about 3/4 full of water.
-Feed another 2" piece of tubing into the other hole; an inch into the bottle - cut the side of the tubing going into the bottle at an angle, the other end should be straight.
-Attach check valve to the straight end.
-Connect remaining tubing to the other end of the check valve and run this into the tank, connected to the diffuser.

Mixing directions:
-Mixed the sugar and water in a large bowl.
-Microwave a half cup of the water-sugar for about 10-20 seconds The water should reached 105°F. Add the teaspoon of yeast and stir vigorously.
-Pour the water-sugar-yeast solution into the larger bottle, along with the rest of the sugar-water.

Screw lids on tight and wait for bubbles to start flowing into the bubble counter.

I just finished this and am currently waiting for the bubbles to start flowing. It's supposed to take fifteen minutes up to a couple hours. *crosses fingers*

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[Puckhog429]

Ive been thinking of trying this for a long time. Hope it works for ya.


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[Mattfinn]

Keep us updated on how it goes.
What are your diffusing methods?


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[rhsoto94]

When using a ceramic diffuser your going to want to use something to seal the tubing with the bottles. You're going to need little to no air holes or else not enough pressure will build up to come out the diffuser and trust me it needs a lot of pressure to come out.


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[schoeplein]

Success! I'm getting inconsistent bubbles, but it's averaging about two per second. It's actually diffusing just fine! All the tubes are ridiculously tight. It took an act of Congress and a little elbow grease to get the tube on the diffuser. Very fine microbubbles are coming out and it doesn't appear to be pooling much so far in the diffuser. Let me upload a couple videos to YouTube and I'll post the links.

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[schoeplein]

Bubble counter:

Diffuser. My camera had a hard time focusing on the bubbles, but it is definitely working.

This is the diffuser I'm using:
Professional Aquarium Products in details Mini Ceramic CO2 Diffuser – Cone - ISTA

We'll see where my pH is in several hours. Shame I got everything setup during light out. Hopefully bubble creation ramps up a bit by then.

 

[schoeplein]

Diffuser:

 

[QueenOfHearts11]

Thank you for posting your mixture of ingredients. I followed one on youtube a few weeks ago but the batch didn't really work. Gonna try it again in a few days. I waited over 24hrs for last batch and bubbles were slowly forming in bubble counter but for some reason the co2 never traveled through the airline-tube into my tank....
I have it sealed with a hot glue gun.. but maybe there is a leak somewhere or i just didn't mix the batch right. I don't think i activated the yeast properly. Gonna follow your method.

I had a glass diffuser from ebay but it broke when i dropped it and it wasn't working anyways. Don't really want to wait weeks for another one to ship from china.. So i may try an airstone or a submersible pump as a diffuser somehow. Bookmarking this page and crossing my fingers i can finally get the DIY co2 in tank! I didn't heat the sugar and water 1st, so that could be the problem.. I just mixed the sugar, yeast and water all at once in some warm water..

 

[Brookster123]

Nice setup, consider adding 2 bottles for intermittent refils, you can also adjust yeast for more gas. I doubled the yeast on my last batch and I've been getting close to 3 bps for the last 4 days, i don't think it lasts as long though..I've also found a nifty little product for dispersement if you're interested. .

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[Thumper828]

Nice setup, consider adding 2 bottles for intermittent refils, you can also adjust yeast for more gas. I doubled the yeast on my last batch and I've been getting close to 3 bps for the last 4 days, i don't think it lasts as long though..I've also found a nifty little product for dispersement if you're interested. .

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2 bottles is definitely the way to go!!

 

[schoeplein]

Another bottle isn't a bad idea. That way I can reload and wash the other one out without interruption.

Apparently not enough co2 was getting released into my tank to affect the pH at all, so I had to make an adjustment.

I removed the ceramic ring from the diffuser. It wasn't releasing very much and I didn't feel like busting out the hot glue gun today. Maybe next weekend. I ended up filling the diffuser tightly with mesh media, removed an extension on my canister intake, and put the diffuser directly below the intake. About 75% of the bubbles get sucked in. That should give some solid time for it to dissolve.

Bubble counter is still showing 2-3 bps.

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[schoeplein]

Oh, I also added a check valve between the two bottles. I was getting a drop or two of siphon back into the reactor.

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[schoeplein]

Posting this as a reference. The plant on the left is a bright, bright pink when I have my BML at 100%, but algae gets a little out of control with that much light.

The AR and AR mini behind it have been a constant deep red, in spite of being swallowed by green and black beard.

The Amazon sword grows like a beast, so algae can't really grow on it. The echinodorus altlansberg is a much slower grower, but has thinner, dense leaf growth; thus it has some BBA on it.

When I had my crypts in direct light they were consumed by algae. In the shade of the sword they have propagated amazingly. You can't really tell from the picture, but there are two to three different crypts filling in the space under and around the swords.

The fern on my driftwood has finally started to propagate, though it's still encompassed by BBA.

Ludwigia repens is a freaking weed. I thought my tiger lily grew fast...

I removed all of my staurogyne repens, and my crinum calamistratum. Both were covered in BBA, though they were both still growing out pretty well. I'm appreciating the bit of open space, and so are the fish.

I'm giving my cardinalis a bit before I start pruning and replanting. Silly corys keep pulling them up a bit, but then they just grow longer roots...

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[Brookster123]

tank looks great! I've found that slower growers like anubias and java fern get tortured by algae almost indefinitely in higher light settings..

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[schoeplein]

pH was 7.6-7.8 last night, and a solid 7.0 this morning. We're looking good, folks! Now to wait for the lights to come back on.

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[Brookster123]

Did you get a co2 indicator?

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[delfisherman]

If you want a mixture that last longer i use a jello mixture. I use two 6onces packets of normal jello walmart brand works fine 2 cups of brown sugar and 2 cups of hot water to mix it all up. Then as the jello is almost set throw a little rice in the mix. It gives the yeast something else to digest and last longer. I let it set up after that then i use juice bottleswith a widemouth to stuff it in. For yeast i found champagne yeast works best. It deals with the higher alcohol levels and creates more bubbles. I get red star its from a brewing supply store.

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[mattcham]

In your photo, what substrate is that in the left side foreground. Looks like mulch (impossible because mulch floats).

Also is that a surface skimmer in the left side rear corner? Doesn't that deplete your tank of CO2?

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[schoeplein]

It is mulch from the soil that's under the sand. I didn't remove the mulch bits before laying it, and a giant oxygen bubble formed under my soil that exploded. Hence it's all laying there now. It's a ton better than it was. Mulch is wood, and once it's saturated with water it does sink.

Yes and yes on the skimmer, but since it's diy co2 that I can't turn off at night, it helps to keep the co2 from building up too much. My co2 has reduced my pH and is holding steady where I want it to be.

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[mattcham]

Interesting bits of info. I was also wondering if I should use a skimmer at night, since the constant lack of surface agitation can cause oily films to eventually accumulate. Some planted tank users avoid this by using a glass lily in their filter output, but those things are so sensitive to changes in water levels (they stop working if water level is a couple millimeters too high or too low).

Is your skimmer activated the entire day or only at night? If only at night, wouldn't the biofilter beneficial bacteria die while the filter is turned off during 16 hours of daytime? Or does your skimmer have a switch to activate/deactivate without having to turn off the filter?

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