After hearing someone mention that they use fish tank water I tried it and find it works very well. Who knew yeast would like nitrate? Not me, until I read up on it. I only use 12 oz of water for my setup with baking soda, sugar and a small amount of spirulina. I can average a bubble every 2 to 4 seconds for about a week this way. When the bubble count starts to slow down after a week I some times feed the yeast a little sugar and spirulina slurry and get another couple of days out of the stuff. I also unhook the yeast bottle from the tubing at night to let the yeast breath. It can't hurt. How much yeast to use is also important. Too much and I get a fast/high bubble count that burns out quickly. My only concern about switching to Champaign yeast is it's availability locally is limited. Still it might be worth the postage. Using the fish tank water (adjust the pH with backing soda) certainly was.
As for adding any CO2 (especially DIY) it's the diffusion method for dispersing CO2 that's important. Mixing a bottle of water with yeast takes about five minutes. Keeping the fish from gasping for air with an efficient dispersion method is what takes up the most time and thought.
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Originally Posted by tanh3
CO2 shot some of yeast mixture into the tank.
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Probably not a problem for the fish, but you might want to make sure that the air line from the DIY isn't running directly to the tank. An air space like an empty bubble counter works well for this. It stops the yeast from traveling up the line and into the diffuser. Once that stuff gets in the tubing it's hard to get it out and you might need to replace the line.