Diffusing methods for diy co2

[Mattfinn]

So I have my co2 system running successfully for about two months now and I've just had my co2 line running into a small internal filter and letting the impeller chop and disperse that way. But I'm starting to notice that it's not as frequent even after a new batch is made and I i give the bottle a shake up it'll suddenly be co2 bubbles galore. So I think it's not quite getting enough suction from the small filter and is just pooling in the intake area.

So my question is what are some other ways were the pressure will be enough for me to diffuse co2 into my tank system?

 

[wildroseofky]

How deep is your tank? I found that anything over a 10 gallon it is hard to get enough pressure to overcome the water resistance. For shallower tanks I have had luck feeding the CO2 into the intake pipe. You can drill a hole just smaller than the tubing along the intake pipe and push the tubing into that. For deeper tanks I like a power head. I had an old one that I drilled a hole in the bottom of and put the line into that. The force of the impeller draws the CO2 down into the power head and it gets broken up. More gets into the tank that way. I put the power head on a timer with the lights so that when the lights were on the CO2 was chopped up and dispersed. When the lights go off the CO2 just gathers in the power head and is released in one big bubble and doesn't get mixed into the water. That way the PH doesn't bottom out.

I just bought a small power head from Dr. Fosters and Smith and I am going to try that. The old one is huge and takes up too much room. Hopefully the small one will have enough pull to drawl the CO2 into my deeper tank.

 

[Mattfinn]

It's 50cm or 20" deep they maybe part of I have the line running into the intake chamber but it's underneath the sponge so maybe that could pull it through abit more if I put the line on top of the sponge.

 

[AdamsAquarium]

I have my hose hooked up to just an airstone, but I placed it just below the intake, so that it has to travel through the hose, into my canister filter, sponge and everything back out into the tank. The key is to get the co2 bubbles as small as possible, balancing an act of keeping them in the water as long as possible.

In my other tank, I have a HOB refugium, and that is open air on top. But what I did was put the hose below the intake with an airstone, so it has to travel through the hose to the refugium, and back under the media balls, eventually finding it's way through the media balls to get to the top. Only gives me about a total time of 3-4 seconds in the tank but it has had drastic effects on my plants in a very rapid rate. I chose that method as opposed to hooking it up to my pump, which has an a hose connection, because that only pushes the bubbles out and they go right up. At least this method gets them to spend a couple extra seconds in the watwr

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[PerfectDepth]

Just posted this in another thread. This is a simple way to make sure co2 is dissolving. The only drawback is it takes up space in the tank. I'm sure it could be modified to be more compact.

http://youtu.be/2CKC6J2SzaA


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[PerfectDepth]

How deep is your tank? I found that anything over a 10 gallon it is hard to get enough pressure to overcome the water resistance.

You had a leak somewhere. If it's all airtight you can place the end of the tubing as deep as you want.


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[Thumper828]

You had a leak somewhere. If it's all airtight you can place the end of the tubing as deep as you want.


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^^This^^ + 1

 

[wildroseofky]

I have experimented with different mixes and adding more bottles and still could not get the CO2 to overcome the water pressure to get to the bottom of my 29 gallon tank. I put a sponge on the outtake of the power head and got very fine bubbles. The link you posted is a good idea. I saw another one using one of those balls that knee highs come in, an air pump, and a bio ball. Would take up less room than a bottle. I am going to try it in my nano tank. I will see if I can find the post and add a link.

 

[Fishfur]

Someone posted, I forget where, that you can use a cigarette filter, stuck in the end of the air hose, as a diffuser. You can buy them, anywhere they sell the makings for hand rolled ciggies. I saw an interesting one on Youtube. a guy cut some dry Broom, a plant, not the cleaning implement, on a long diagonal and pushed the round end into a hose end. The plant tissue is full of tiny holes and it was making very fine bubbles indeed.
Broom is native to India, other parts of Asia and a fair bit of North America too. I wonder if cutting a piece of round quarter inch balsa on a long diagonal would also work ? Might last longer, I'd guess the Broom would rot after some period of time.

 

[PA Pat]

if your using the two bottle diy why not add an air supply to the primary bottle and an air stone in the tank. Then you would have both 02 & c02.

 

[fish wrangler]

I have experimented with different mixes and adding more bottles and still could not get the CO2 to overcome the water pressure to get to the bottom of my 29 gallon tank. I put a sponge on the outtake of the power head and got very fine bubbles. The link you posted is a good idea. I saw another one using one of those balls that knee highs come in, an air pump, and a bio ball. Would take up less room than a bottle. I am going to try it in my nano tank. I will see if I can find the post and add a link.

Running two 2L bottles, a smaller bubble counter bottle, and a blue airstone I can get bubbles halfway down in my 29 gallon. No help from any pumps either.

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[Mattfinn]

It seems to be drawing up the co2 better now. I changed my recipe abit this time I'm still trying to find my consistent supply. What does everyone else use as there recipe at the moment I'm doing 1.5 cups of white sugar with half a teaspoon Of yeast in a 2L bottle that's three quarters full.

Tomorrows my day off I may add a second bottle since I have a spare check valve.

 

[fish wrangler]

2 cups sugar, half teaspoon yeast, and 2L bottle filled up to 3 inches below lid.

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[Fishfur]

What would be the point of adding 02 to a CO2 setup ? The water naturally acquires oxygen from both the plants and from the gas exchange that takes place at the surface constantly.

The main thing is to keep as much CO2 in the tank for as long as possible to allow maximum dissolution of the CO2 into water before it hits the surface and is released into the air. It's carbon that's lacking in tanks for plant growth, not oxygen.

 

[Mattfinn]

Ok so I changed my batch over yesterday increasing my recipe to two and a half cups of brown sugar with .5 a teaspoon of yeast....woke up this morning and could hear co2 chugging away thinkin "yes!" But then lights came on an hour later and there was a white film on everything. Almost like a slime coat that had spread over everything.
It's the milky white film you can kinda see floating around.


I also changed the filter outlet as you can see in the second photo to split and disperse co2 better.

 

[Fishfur]

Do you have a smaller bottle between the yeast bottle and the tank ? It seems to help prevent the problem you describe, and also prevents anything else from a yeast bottle getting into the tank too. If you don't have a second bottle, setting one up may be worth trying.

 

[Fresh2o]

Do you have a smaller bottle between the yeast bottle and the tank ? It seems to help prevent the problem you describe, and also prevents anything else from a yeast bottle getting into the tank too. If you don't have a second bottle, setting one up may be worth trying.

Serves as a bubble counter, too. But the primary function should be a yeast trap as mentioned above.
I used the in-between bottle and occasionally would see the slime build up on the tubing leading into the tank.


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[Mattfinn]

I shall then. Thanks guys.

 

[AdamsAquarium]

You know, over time with diy co2, a bubble counter helps alot. But as I have researched, that problem will happen in a couple months down the road even with a bubble counter.

I researched remedies for that, and one of them is replacing the bubble counter regularly, with clean water about every 6 weeks or so. The other is adding activated carbon into the bubble counters water and the carbon will present the yeast and everything making it into the tank for a significantly prolonged period of time

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[Fresh2o]

I once tried a very strong salt solution in the bubble counter. The idea was that it would kill off any yeast before it got to the tank. I cannot safe if it was 100% effective because I did not change out all of the tubing after the bubble counter so there may have been some residual yeast present.


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