DIY CO2. Can you use a valve to control amount?

[essabee]

I believe we can do more with DIY CO2. We can control input, timer and flow. This was what I was trying when I wrote http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/di...reservoir.html

[TheAquaNoob]

For those still interested in entertaining this idea, has anyone thought of using baloons for storage instead of bottles??

[Rion]

Instead of controlling the amount of CO2 physically why not control it chemically? lessen your yeast in the mixture and you will produce CO2 at a lower rate and your mixture will be extended in it's life. The only problem is as with all DIY CO2 there is no precision in it at all just a limitation in the amount of CO2 created at one time. The exact amounts to use I have no idea because there are too many factors to take into account so there will have to be some experimentation with different amount of yeast. But the nice thing about controlling it chemically it won't cost you anything since you already have it all, in fact you'd be cutting costs in your demand for yeast.

[vidiots]

Originally Posted by Rion

Instead of controlling the amount of CO2 physically why not control it chemically? lessen your yeast in the mixture and you will produce CO2 at a lower rate and your mixture will be extended in it's life. The only problem is as with all DIY CO2 there is no precision in it at all just a limitation in the amount of CO2 created at one time. The exact amounts to use I have no idea because there are too many factors to take into account so there will have to be some experimentation with different amount of yeast. But the nice thing about controlling it chemically it won't cost you anything since you already have it all, in fact you'd be cutting costs in your demand for yeast.

That is exactly why I recommended using multiple smaller bottles who's starting times were staggered to produce a more constant average total CO2 output.

[epicfish]

I think the staggered bottle is a great idea for constant CO2 production. Another thing could be to keep the bottles in a tub of water heated by a regular aquarium heater. The heater could be put on a timer to shut off at night and then turn back on during the day. This would keep the temperature somewhat constant throughout the day, even in the early morning and later at night when the ambient temperature drops.

[fish_lover0591]

Lol Epicfish thats what i said earlier.

Originally Posted by fish_lover0591

Wait how about putting the 2 liter bottle in a bucket with an aquarium heater and adjusting the temps to get the bubble rate you want ? higher temps = more co2
lower temps = less co2 But you need to find out what temps yeast will die at and be fine at. ex: lowest temps, highest temps they will survive at .

[epicfish]

Er, oops. Didn't read the whole thread. =)

[fish_lover0591]

Its fine

[SecretSquirrel]

Hmmm. This may sound strange and dumb, but with some ingenuity I bet the right person (probably not me) could make this work. I haven't read every page of this thread, but I doubt anyone has suggested a balloon bladder. My brother is a pro balloon twister and I have seen some incredibly strong and voluminous balloons. Instead of trying to store your surplus CO2 in a rigid container, secure a balloon (not quite sure of the best way, but I bet dental floss wrapped tightly would suffice).

You would probably be in uncharted waters here, but you might come up with a very practical solution you could share with the rest of us. I'm thinking a large enough capacity balloon should be able to handle the excess CO2 during the high output period and could then be used later. The advantage would be your fear of an explosion (at least a dangerous one) would be relieved if it fails--although your cat may never forgive you. The hard and theoretical part would be preventing the CO2 in the balloon from immediate delivery to the aquarium. A check valve would halfway accomplish this, but not allow return when you wanted it to later. I suppose that takes us back to square one now that I think about it. I'm sure there's an inexpensive solution to your problem. Now you've got me interested and I'm going to research this some more. Get back to you if I come up with anything useful.

[nissky]

Doesnt seem practical at all, as has been mentioned.
If you want to store co2 it will need to be in a pressurised container.
This is DIY CO2, so much easier to just control the generation of co2 in the first place. That is, by adjusting the mixture...

[Wasserpest]

I think the main problem with balloons is that you can blow them up with the pressure that DIY CO2 provides, but once they are full, then what? If you inject CO2 using anything that needs pressure (like a checkvalve, needle valve, airstone, external inline reactor, etc) it would be hard to get the balloon emptied.

Essabee has figured out a pretty interesting DIY CO2 storage solution. It's great if you have plenty space, time, even temperatures, sugar and yeast, and no means of acquiring a pressurized setup.

To go back to the OT though, it is pretty simple to turn off CO2 at night by turning off the powerhead that diffuses CO2, or adding a valve on a T that opens during night hours. Most folks using DIY CO2 run it 24 hours.

[TAF CAF]

Also a great way to reduce the CO2 at night is to add a timed bubbler that will come on at night. It 'out-gasses' the CO2, and has the added benifit of agitation that will bring in more oxygen for the fish.

This would probably be my best suggestion when it comes to high output DIY setups. However, I don't particularly like walking the line of dangerous, so I just get my DIY producing moderatly and run a powerhead that slightly moves the surface. This seems to keep everything in check and is plenty for my medium light setup.

However, if you really wanted to get technical, you could probably set up a control with a preasure release valve. That way if the pressure got too much during the storage period, it would automatically release. The question would be... what PSI would the release have to happen at?