DIY co2 fertilizer

eruheru

Hey all, I'm thinking of setting up some co2 fertilization for my planted tank. However, I really dont want to spend a lot on a fancy system. Is there a DIY solution?
Thanks

dlee9707

There is a DIY alternative, but isnt nearly as good as bottled c02+regulator.

Basicly you take a jar, put a hose in the cap, put yeast, water, sugar in it and put the cap on. Seal it real good and put other end of hose in your tank. Monitor output, when it gets slow you should prolly change the liquid.

I've never done but there are tons of guides on them, google yeast c02 generator or something.

eruheru

thanks for the help!

BJP

There are also liquid carbon suppliments on the market which may not be as good as actual CO2 but have other advantages like not gassing out of your water and no stinky CO2 bottles to refill every week.

Seachems Excell is the brand I've used most often and they have a great line of other plant suppliments.

For DIY CO2 I used empty 2 liter soda bottles. Drill a hole in the cap just a smidge smaller than the outside diameter of airline tubing. Insert the tubing in about 1/8" and seal around the hole to make it airtight. Make sure your yeast is fresh. On the other end of the airline use a thin airstone like the white ones and a weight to hold it down which I found a brass nut sized appropriately worked great for me.

Jay

eruheru,

If you are planning on supplementing CO2 in your 65 gallon tank you are going to be hard pressed to get a DIY system to provide enough gas.

I agree with BJP stay low tech, light at 2 wpg, and supliment with Seachem's excel. Besides you haven't lived until you clean up a burst plastic fermentation bottle

Regards,
Jay

eruheru

thanks for all the help. Ill plan a shopping trip to a bunch of different stores to see what I can find.

ekun_87

I'm a beginer in planted aquarium..And just like most beginer i made my DIY CO2 generator n reactor.. the reactor work just well..i put a bubble stone just below my power head pump...unfortunately the generator doesn't work as its supposed to...i use the normal yeast n sugar fermantation method..the 1st and 2nd day it work just well but not till the 3rd or 4th day...the whole system just die off..really give me a fuss...

BJP

It's hard to get consistent results DIY. There's a lot of factors to juggle around. More sugar, less sugar, checking the yeast to make sure it's alive and fresh, maybe a little baking soda, what's the room temperature this week, where can I sit it get a better result, is on the light strip a good place this week but too warm next, why's that fuzzy white stuff surrounding the airstone, PH all over the place from varying production levels and not to mention the joy of emptying the old stuff.

ekun_87

few days ago i've found some kind of tablets which they claimed can produce CO2 just by using 1 tablet per 100 liters water...

i started using it for 2 days already...

Jay

I'm hard pressed to believe that a tablet will give you the 35 -40 ppm of CO2, that is needed in your 65 gallon tank, consistently for the 7-8 hour photo period every day.


Regards,
Jay