The Planted Tank Forum banner

DIY CO2 w/BROWN Sugar. Oiy! :)

23K views 59 replies 33 participants last post by  kwheeler91 
#1 ·
So, I am pretty new to live aquatic plant keeping. I am working with a DIY system. I have a 2 liter soda bottle filled with water and sugar and have an air stone hooked up to my impeller. It is creating these tiny bubbles all around the tank. I have five tanks total but I only have two tanks with the DIY CO2 system. Here is the thing;

I ran out of white granulated sugar so I opted for brown sugar. I read of someone doing this before so I thought I would give it a shot. Whoah! What a major difference and a big improvement. I have been running it for a day and within eight hours nearly ALL of my plants are pearling. Even my crypts are pearling. I have never had pearling before. I swear my hornwort grew 1.5 inches just tonight alone (from 3pm until midnight)! It is pretty cool to see the pearling affect. I can see dramatic growth in just one day. At this rate I will be out of control very soon. Not that I am complaining. :hihi:

I only have experience with white granulated sugar. The only drawback I can see at this time is that the brown sugar is a tad more expensive. Here is my recipe:

I filled the 2 liter bottle just a tad over half way with warm fresh aquarium water from my water change. The water itself is roughly 86 degrees. Then I mashed about 1 cup of brown sugar with some aquarium water (just enough to get sugar and water to mix like a thick stew) in a large bowl (to get all the lumps smoothed out and to mix it up well). Then I poured the mixture into the 2 liter bottle with a funnel. Lastly I put 1 TSP of brewer's yeast and I connected it all. I think I will try to use some baking soda next time as I read that this helps to stabilize the pH. Is that right? I know I did hear of this.

Just thought I would share. :icon_lol:
 
See less See more
#6 ·
I've read that cane sugar (which is brown in color) will produce more CO2 than white sugar, though I'm not sure if they meant more CO2 at one time, or just that it would increase the life of the DIY unit before a resupply.

Unconfirmed and untested (by me), but just a thought.
 
#9 ·
I've found molasses doesn't make it last longer but it helps start the co2 faster and the co2 is more consistant. The bubbles come out like clock work. Sometimes if i dont add molasses, the co2 can be more sporadic.

86 is kind of high for tank water, especially a panted tank. Is this a discuss tank? Whats the point of using tank water? I use warm water from the tap.
 
#10 ·
Whats the point of using tank water? I use warm water from the tap.
Depending on where you live your tap water may be heavily chlorinated which is not good for fish. It is not good for the yeast cells either, I imagine. I never use tap water for my terrestrial home plants either. I save aquarium water in buckets from my water changes and they love it. It is so much better than tap water.

You could even just let tap water sit overnight and more than likely the chlorine will evaporate. But usually I do a water change and use the freshly siphoned water to create a new mixture for DIY CO2.

The water gets that warm because I have my tanks stacked vertically on a shelf that I made. It is simply from the heat rising. The tank on top gets pretty hot. I am thinking of getting some sort of cooling system or fan to help blow the rising heat away from the tanks. The tank on the floor (I have five tanks stacked vertically) is 80 degrees. The tank on top can reach 90! But I keep the lid open and it cools down to 84-86.
 
#18 ·
Awesome that you guys are getting good results! I tried some in my utra-uber secret DIY too, seems to be doing infinitesimally better than regular white sugar, but I used 1 cup granulated and 1/2 brown (organic brown sugar [everything we buy is natural/organic] is 'too expensive for me to be using it for my fish tank'. I agree. Might just go to the chain store and pick up some standard dark brown sugar for myself and write my name on it in huge letters).

Perhaps brown sugar produces more carbon dioxide because the molasses (naturally found in the sugar cane) in the sugar is too a sweetener: with the sugar, it makes more 'food' available for the yeast to use? Just ramblings....
 
#20 ·
Perhaps brown sugar produces more carbon dioxide because the molasses (naturally found in the sugar cane) in the sugar is too a sweetener: with the sugar, it makes more 'food' available for the yeast to use? Just ramblings....
The molasses has other stuff in it (e.g. minerals) that the yeast need for metabolism and reproduction -- I've seen elsewhere that potassium added to yeast mixes helps with fermentation. I used to use plain sugar & water, but after seeing some online articles that added things like soy proteins and other nutrients, I use a tbsp of molasses and a instant boullion cube in a 2L bottle (1/8 tsp yeast and 2 cups sugar). That goes for about 3 weeks or so, but I change after 2 to keep CO2 production up.

notopt
 
#19 ·
i am using this mix in my DIY setup. half a kilo of raw cane sugar (darker in color than normal brown sugar) and it's labeled "RAW" in the packing. plus a teaspoon of instant dry yeast and a teaspoon of baking soda. this is just my first mix and it gives a contant CO2 mist thru a ceramic diffuser (UP D-531). its in a 3/4 filled 2.54l bottle. i have no bubble counter yet.
 
#22 ·
I also have DIY CO2 systems on both my tanks (10 & 15 Gal) however I have the ones that you can buy which already come with a canister and diffuser. I have always used white granulated sugar (with differing results, no consistency) and it lasts approximately 2-3 Weeks. The thing that I wanted to mention was that the instructions for the mixture say !DO NOT ADD AQUARIUM WATER! I agree with what you mentioned above (Aquarium water is safer and contains no Chlorine) but I am wondering if there are other organisms in the water that might influence the production of CO2?? Just rambling here, curious.
 
#24 ·
How consistent is your bubble flow during that time? Bubbles per minute, or per second?
 
#27 ·
I tried the brown sugar and in about 15 minutes it started producing CO2 like crazy. I'm getting so many bubble per second I can't even count them, now it have me worrying if it will kill my shrimp and crayfish at night.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Molasses is the impurities that are removed from the sugar during the refining process.
EDIT: I checked and molasses is about half sugar
There are most likely compounds that are aiding the yeast in metabolizing the sugar.

Chlorine and chloramines are used to kill microbes and bacteria. Yeast falls into this category as well. I've proofed baking yeast many times in fresh tap water and the yeast still functioned fine. Wether it was optimal or not is another story.
The only thing I can come up with on the argument against tank water is that there is bacteria in the water that could get a foothold and out compete the yeast for food and give you different results.

I tried the baking soda on a bottle that happened to not be fully sealed. I got a very strong sulfur odor. Fermentation temperatures and the yeast strain were the same (same jar)
 
#31 ·
Actuall, now that I think about it, I think some tank water may have back siphoned into the bottle. I may try the baking soda again. I'll bring home some tank water (my tank is not set up yet) to experiment with to see if that caused the sulfer production.

In brewing beer different bacterias are sometimes used to give different flavor charectoristicis. Certain yeast strains have been selected to give a specific flavor or aroma when fermented under specific conditions. Lager yeasts will produce sulfers when fermented at warmer temperatures.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top