Zezmo
Aquarium Advice Addict
Even though I have kept fish in some form since I was a child. It has only been about a year that I have been interested in having plants in my aquarium. At first I was trying plants to aid my efforts to breed Dwarf Gouramis. Now it has only been about 6 months that I have been playing with DIY CO2 (high light etc). So I was pretty happy that with a little research I was able to put together a very good long lasting yeast formula. (see bottom for my recipe).
At first I was using 4x 2-liter bottles. At first I had a simple diffusion bell, and a simple ladder type diffusor. With this I was getting between 20-30ppm.
Then I went to a DIY Gravel Vac type reactor. I have this connected to the outflow of one of my Fluval 303's. The outflow of the second second one flows accross the bottom of the reactor. For a month I was getting about 35-45ppm of CO2. This seemed high, but everyone in the tank seemed ok. Then I had a few mysterious deaths. I was convinced these were caused by some unknown "toxin". I pretty much was sure it was copper. From what I have learned in the last few weeks, though I am more convinced my PH was crashing overnight due to excess CO2.
Anyways, this conviction that there was some toxin in my tap water led me to switch over to RO/DI water. I now add all my minerals back in. I mix my water in 5 gallon jugs. Each jug gets 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 2tsp of Seachem Equilibrium (GH buffer). This results in 9deg KH, and 8deg GH. PH is around 7.6.
Well at the beginning of September I got some Champaign yeast. I began using this with my normal "formula". Well all was good for a few days. But after a couple weeks my fish started acting toxified again..in fact I lost a few tetras, and all of my Gourami fry :? Well testing my water I got a KH of 7deg, and a PH of 6.2... 134ppm CO2!!!! 8O
Well I disconnected two of the bottles. And added an air pump, my powerhead has one of those venturi hookups. The Air pump is on my "night" timer. I also did my weekly PWC. The next day the water tested at KH 7deg, and PH 6.4...still 84ppm of CO2. At least the fish did not seem overly distressed...er well most of them. Well I figured I just needed to make my reactor less efficient. So I removed the airstone, just a straight airline. And I drilled a hole in the top to let out excess CO2. Well apparently this is the secret to make the reactor work even better. because the next morning all my fish were nose first against the surface and looked like they were about to die. I hate fish disasters while I'm getting ready for work. Well I disconnected all CO2 and cranked my air pump to the max. When I got home from work everyone seemed healthy..in fact, they looked better than they had in a while. With no CO2 and an air pump on for 10 hours..my water measured KH-8.5 and PH-7.4, 10.2ppm of Co2... whew.
I left it like this for a day, and then reconnected 2 bottles. I also added a "bleeder valve" to vent excess CO2. I have it set to the lowest possible setting I could, and still get bubbles all the way to the tank. This is a bubble count of 1 bub every 3-5 seconds. My water measures KH-8, and PH-7.0, CO2-24pp. Nice
Ultimately, what I have decided is that I need a PH controller, and a canister of CO2. I learned some hard lessons this last month or two. Not so much the dollar value of the fish and inverts I lost. But more their over all value to my tank. R.I.P. Big Red.... Mr Limpet... and Frankenshrimp <<salute>>
Here's the formula I use:
In each 2-liter bottle; 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1tbsp Molasses, 1/4 cup protein drink mix(whey protein powder), 1.5 liters water, 1/4 tsp Yeast. I rehydrate the yeast in a separate cup with 1 tsp sugar for an hour before adding it to the main mix. Use tepid water (not warm or cold). Add the yeast and let the mix sit open over night before use. Mix at every opportunity.
At first I was using 4x 2-liter bottles. At first I had a simple diffusion bell, and a simple ladder type diffusor. With this I was getting between 20-30ppm.
Then I went to a DIY Gravel Vac type reactor. I have this connected to the outflow of one of my Fluval 303's. The outflow of the second second one flows accross the bottom of the reactor. For a month I was getting about 35-45ppm of CO2. This seemed high, but everyone in the tank seemed ok. Then I had a few mysterious deaths. I was convinced these were caused by some unknown "toxin". I pretty much was sure it was copper. From what I have learned in the last few weeks, though I am more convinced my PH was crashing overnight due to excess CO2.
Anyways, this conviction that there was some toxin in my tap water led me to switch over to RO/DI water. I now add all my minerals back in. I mix my water in 5 gallon jugs. Each jug gets 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 2tsp of Seachem Equilibrium (GH buffer). This results in 9deg KH, and 8deg GH. PH is around 7.6.
Well at the beginning of September I got some Champaign yeast. I began using this with my normal "formula". Well all was good for a few days. But after a couple weeks my fish started acting toxified again..in fact I lost a few tetras, and all of my Gourami fry :? Well testing my water I got a KH of 7deg, and a PH of 6.2... 134ppm CO2!!!! 8O
Well I disconnected two of the bottles. And added an air pump, my powerhead has one of those venturi hookups. The Air pump is on my "night" timer. I also did my weekly PWC. The next day the water tested at KH 7deg, and PH 6.4...still 84ppm of CO2. At least the fish did not seem overly distressed...er well most of them. Well I figured I just needed to make my reactor less efficient. So I removed the airstone, just a straight airline. And I drilled a hole in the top to let out excess CO2. Well apparently this is the secret to make the reactor work even better. because the next morning all my fish were nose first against the surface and looked like they were about to die. I hate fish disasters while I'm getting ready for work. Well I disconnected all CO2 and cranked my air pump to the max. When I got home from work everyone seemed healthy..in fact, they looked better than they had in a while. With no CO2 and an air pump on for 10 hours..my water measured KH-8.5 and PH-7.4, 10.2ppm of Co2... whew.
I left it like this for a day, and then reconnected 2 bottles. I also added a "bleeder valve" to vent excess CO2. I have it set to the lowest possible setting I could, and still get bubbles all the way to the tank. This is a bubble count of 1 bub every 3-5 seconds. My water measures KH-8, and PH-7.0, CO2-24pp. Nice
Ultimately, what I have decided is that I need a PH controller, and a canister of CO2. I learned some hard lessons this last month or two. Not so much the dollar value of the fish and inverts I lost. But more their over all value to my tank. R.I.P. Big Red.... Mr Limpet... and Frankenshrimp <<salute>>
Here's the formula I use:
In each 2-liter bottle; 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1tbsp Molasses, 1/4 cup protein drink mix(whey protein powder), 1.5 liters water, 1/4 tsp Yeast. I rehydrate the yeast in a separate cup with 1 tsp sugar for an hour before adding it to the main mix. Use tepid water (not warm or cold). Add the yeast and let the mix sit open over night before use. Mix at every opportunity.