DIY CO2 System - How to do it

[BS87]

Do you plan on running any kind of drop checker or CO2 measuring device in the tank? or is that not of concern with DIY CO2?

[Hoppy]

No, I haven't set up a drop checker. I know from experience that there won't be enough CO2 to harm the fish, and I won't be able to increase the bubble rate, so I have no reason to try to find out how much is in the water. The plants are now doing so well I know there is a significant amount, and thats all I wanted.

[Hoppy]

It has been 20 days since I set this system up. My plants are growing much faster, and look much better now. Traditionally it is said that DIY CO2 is a waste of time on a tank this big, 65 gallons, but I'm absolutely convinced that it is a big benefit. Of course you can't run high light and use DIY CO2, but with low light, it makes a world of difference.

[Hoppy]

About one month ago, when I started the CO2 going:
Today, after a pruning, water change, etc.

You can easily see how the plants improved with just a simple DIY CO2 system, taking me about 15 minutes of extra work a week replacing the solution in one bottle per week.

Notice that the crypts melted from the sudden change. They should recover very well.

[driftwoodhunter]

This is something I may have to try, it would be a perfect "I'm bored, it's winter" project for me! Your clear instructions might just possibly make this a project I can do - lol

[pandamonium]

hey hoppy i was thinking about doing this with my 40 gallon tank. i have low lighting i believe (4 13W CFL bulbs). the before and after pictures look amazing. so if you replace 1 cylinder every week, does the CO2 last for about 2 weeks each?

[Hoppy]

The last time I set up a DIY CO2 bottle, on a different tank, one bottle only, it lasted about 3 weeks before the bubble rated dropped much. I'm changing each bottle after 2 weeks just to be sure. By doing the change at night after the lights go off I am back at full 1 bbs before the lights come back on.

The modified "powerhead", actually an internal filter, is a big part of why this is working so well. I still have two more internal filters of different brands, so I assume everyone has at least one laying around.

[TwoTacoCombo]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

There used to be a very tiny cheap internal filter, the Elite by Hagen, sold only at Petco

Amazon has these for about $8.50. I have one in my beta tank, and they are awesome.

[thinBear]

I tried this mod tonight, and break the paddle


Besides my technique are not as good as you guys (hand shanks a lot after caffeine >_<), i will blame:

• the pair of snips are not sharp enough to do the job or
• the material of the paddle used by odyssea not quite suit this mod

I can almost feel the plastic deforming as I applying force slow and steadly on the snips, and all the sudden it just go all the way through, and part of the paddle break and fly away like clipping fingernail...

Then I try different method: using a cutter like this:


and it is much easier for me to control; but when I try to blend the paddle, it keep bouncing back to the original position. After few attempts, i can notice the part contacting the center turning color... and finally break apart...

I conclude that the paddle must be made of different material. I am not implying Odyssea using cheap stuff, I'm just saying the material it use does not quite adapt this method.

The power head/ in-tank filter I bought is EX100

Anyway thanks for the guide, I track down the thread you mention on Tom Barr and learn a lot more, hopefully melting so plastic and glues will bring back the device; even if not, it is only a very small lost

If I could save it, or do it again for the same equipment, I'd using hot sewing needle to melt, create more surface area, punch holes on the paddle instead.

[thinBear]

So, I broke the paddle:


After reading a bit further on forums, I attempt to fix it:


and the PH makes lots of noise when I ran it dry without putting into water. Then I remove the attachment except the top layer. Noise has gone when I ran it under water, but the PH has lost lot of power.


this is the leftover from the 1st design and the 3rd design


3rd design: still very weak current pumping out. Then I guess I need to trim out the unnecessary part, also maybe I put the magnet cylinder upside down, thus making the it rotate in reversed direction, which is not optimized by the angled paddles? (Very not sure about this, when I try to rotate the 3D object imaginary to figure out, it hurts my brain...)


and works finally!



left is before mod, right is after;
Can't tell the difference to be honest (greatly affect by how much air I feed in) lol

[Hoppy]

When you make a paddle wheel like that you are putting a huge power demand on the powerhead "motor", and that slows it way down. Powerheads work by flinging the water radially, not like a fan, blowing it at right angles to the rotor. They generate very little pressure, so the high flow rate doesn't use much power to drive it - power equals pressure times flow rate.

I did a few powerhead rotors with melted holes in the paddles too, but I didn't think they worked as well as the split rotor. If you read Tom's first posts of that method, which as far as I know he devised, he had better results with it than with the holes too. (He was able to put two cuts per paddle, but I couldn't see any way I could succeed at that.)

[thinBear]

Thanks for the advise. I will just grab a new one with the exact model mentioned in the thread. The broken blades "unbalance" the rotation and occasionally make some noise which irritates me.