DIY CO2 and Reactor

[someguy9812]

So i ventured out and setup a DIY yeast system. It is a 2 liter bottle, with check valve and airstone. I did not do a bubble counter. I also setup a reactor to create a finer mist of CO2. Mine is similar and based on this except I used a table top fountain pump, have an airstone and used batting as the cover. The CO2 has started reacting and producing bubble already pretty well(3 hours since i mixed up the solution). The reactor makes a very very fine mist so looks all good.

Questions are.
1) Can this be to much CO2 for a 5 gallon tank. Do i need to worry about anything. Its is a cherry shrimp tank. I also will turn off the pump at night and just let the bubble stone blow out CO2. What should I check for, or should I be ok?

2) As stated the mist is very fine, but it seems to stay in the area of the reactor. Is this ok, or do I need to come up with a way to disperse the mist more evenly throughout the tank? If so any suggestions. Currently it is on the side, but perhaps i can position it in the middle next to the HOB intank. What do people so with glass diffusers? How do you get it to disperse, or should I not worry about it?

Thanks for the help

[Darkblade48]

Originally Posted by someguy9812

1) Can this be to much CO2 for a 5 gallon tank. Do i need to worry about anything. Its is a cherry shrimp tank. I also will turn off the pump at night and just let the bubble stone blow out CO2. What should I check for, or should I be ok?

This should be reasonable for a 5g tank.

If you want an added layer of security, I would put an airstone on a timer for when the lights go off.

Originally Posted by someguy9812

2) As stated the mist is very fine, but it seems to stay in the area of the reactor. Is this ok, or do I need to come up with a way to disperse the mist more evenly throughout the tank? If so any suggestions. Currently it is on the side, but perhaps i can position it in the middle next to the HOB intank. What do people so with glass diffusers? How do you get it to disperse, or should I not worry about it?

For larger tanks, CO2 dispersion is always a problem. People often use powerheads, etc, however in a 5g tank, space is definitely at a premium. You could position your reactor such that the output "mist" is either sucked up through the intake of your HOB filter, or alternatively, just place the reactor near the outflow of the HOB, so that the water current will push the CO2 bubbles around the tank.