[kevintoronto]

Hi,
New member here, appreciate all the informative posts I have read to date!
I am trying to decrease the efficiency of my CO2 diffuser until I have more plants. I have a 5 Gallon tank with Amazon Sword and some Java Fern on driftwood, with a betta inhabitant and nerite. After fighting with algae for several months I decided to add some DIY CO2 (using yeast).
I failed DIY 101, so ordered from Amazon a DIY CO2 lid kit (designed for citric acid but I modified for yeast).
Finally developed pressure and delivered through the spiral bubble counting Seachem ceramic diffuser.
Amazingly I'm getting 1-2 bps which in my 5 gallon, with dKH of 4 drives my ph from 7.6 to about 6.6 (3 ppm to about 30).
Plants pearled happily but the betta seemed a bit stressed and I wasn't happy with the idea of leaving on 24/7 since it might increase further at night. When I say stressed he wasn't gasping at the surface, but was floating at the top mostly whereas he usually hangs out at the bottom.
I tried running 1 and 2 airstones but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, I think the pH dropped back to about 6.8 but created a lot of flow for a betta.
I would be happy to settle around 10-15 ppm CO2 to have a better safety margin and until I add some more plants.

1) Tried a gang valve add on to bleed pressure, that didn't work. It all took the path of least resistance and I think the gang valve was a bit leaky.
2) Tried a T-connector to add a Lee's 2-way air valve on the extra connector as a bleed valve, but even that bled all the pressure away from the diffuser.

Looking at two options and asking opinions:
A - bring the CO2 diffuser to about mid-tank. This should bring more bubbles to surface with less diffusion yes?

B - Put a T-connector with second identical CO2 diffuser, into a cup of water or something. That should split the flow but equalize the resistance so pressure should build in both.

Any advice would be appreciated, with thanks!

 

[burr740]

DIY is tricky to adjust and keep stable, this is the main problem with it.

Option A could do the trick. Option B probably wont because the co2 is gonna take the path of least resistance, which means most of it will be going out of one or the other, even using identical diffusers (trust me lol)

You could also try using less yeast in the mixture. Try about 1/3 less and see how many bps that generates. Speaking very generally - sugar affects the longevity of the mix, yeast determines the rate of production

Here's an old thread about my DIY CO2 exploits, you might find something useful in it - DIY CO2 for 75 gallon (and others) Build Thread /...

 

[minorhero]

With a compressed co2 setup you use a needle valve to control the flow. That would work here but you probably don't want to buy a needle valve. Next option is a bit less refined, but an airline control valve will do the trick if a bit finicky, just close it down to get 1 bubble every 1 to 2 seconds or less as needed.

 

[kevintoronto]

DIY is tricky to adjust and keep stable, this is the main problem with it.

Option A could do the trick. Option B probably wont because the co2 is gonna take the path of least resistance, which means most of it will be going out of one or the other, even using identical diffusers (trust me lol)

You could also try using less yeast in the mixture. Try about 1/3 less and see how many bps that generates. Speaking very generally - sugar affects the longevity of the mix, yeast determines the rate of production

Here's an old thread about my DIY CO2 exploits, you might find something useful in it - DIY CO2 for 75 gallon (and others) Build Thread /...

Thanks. I thought option B was promising..
Went through your old thread, it was very instructive thank you. I'm going to try moving the diffuser up near the top and gradually bring it down until optimal, assuming it makes any difference at all.

 

[Aaronious]

While reading I was think of exactly the samething as minorhero. the problem with a T connector is you have to get the pressures on both ends the same. so they need to be roughly the same depth with similar lengths of tubing.

I just did with an air line splitting to two tanks. Without a control valve all the air went into the 5 gallon tank as this was both the shorter route and it is slightly more shallow. So I had to put on an airline control valve to reduce the amount of air going to the 5g. Now I can close it off completely or open it completely to make air go to only one tank or the other. or just split the air like I was trying to do in the first place and run both sponge filters in the 5g and the 10g.

Also, if you have a lid it may still create an atmosphere of higher co2 which will still get into the water, just not as much. So if there is a tight fitting lid you may not see a lot of difference as the day goes on. so just raising the output may just help for the beginning of the day if you had a solid lid.

 

[jeffkrol]

Hi,
New member here, appreciate all the informative posts I have read to date!
I am trying to decrease the efficiency of my CO2 diffuser until I have more plants. I have a 5 Gallon tank with Amazon Sword and some Java Fern on driftwood, with a betta inhabitant and nerite. After fighting with algae for several months I decided to add some DIY CO2 (using yeast).
I failed DIY 101, so ordered from Amazon a DIY CO2 lid kit (designed for citric acid but I modified for yeast).
Finally developed pressure and delivered through the spiral bubble counting Seachem ceramic diffuser.
Amazingly I'm getting 1-2 bps which in my 5 gallon, with dKH of 4 drives my ph from 7.6 to about 6.6 (3 ppm to about 30).
Plants pearled happily but the betta seemed a bit stressed and I wasn't happy with the idea of leaving on 24/7 since it might increase further at night. When I say stressed he wasn't gasping at the surface, but was floating at the top mostly whereas he usually hangs out at the bottom.
I tried running 1 and 2 airstones but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, I think the pH dropped back to about 6.8 but created a lot of flow for a betta.
I would be happy to settle around 10-15 ppm CO2 to have a better safety margin and until I add some more plants.

1) Tried a gang valve add on to bleed pressure, that didn't work. It all took the path of least resistance and I think the gang valve was a bit leaky.
2) Tried a T-connector to add a Lee's 2-way air valve on the extra connector as a bleed valve, but even that bled all the pressure away from the diffuser.

Looking at two options and asking opinions:
A - bring the CO2 diffuser to about mid-tank. This should bring more bubbles to surface with less diffusion yes?

B - Put a T-connector with second identical CO2 diffuser, into a cup of water or something. That should split the flow but equalize the resistance so pressure should build in both.

Any advice would be appreciated, with thanks!

WAY outside the box thinking..
1) 3 way Clippard mouse solenoid 12 or 24V coil
2) Tc-420
3) win computer for programming (may be able to use tc421 and android app but don't know for sure.
4) 1A power supply that matches the Clippard coil.

So w/ the tc-420 set it to simple on/off rather than ramping.
Do a pulse type schedule 1 hr on 1 hr off (your choice)

CO2 will vent on the off cycle since it's a 3 way.

Heck you could feed a second tank.

If you want to capture the CO2 you could make calcium carbonate out of the waste:
Alternatively, calcium carbonate is prepared from calcium oxide. Water is added to give calcium hydroxide then carbon dioxide is passed through this solution to precipitate the desired calcium carbonate, referred to in the industry as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC):[8]

CaO + H2O → Ca(OH)2 Ca(OH)2 + CO2 → CaCO3↓ + H2O

F

 

[Nanomike]

Okay so more than a bubble per second is way to much! I use 0.7bbps on a 9 gal which is perfect I would chose an airline control value. This could potentially be dangerous for the fish as it is uncontrollable last thing you want is a spontaneous pressure build up when it dumps the co2 in the aquarium because of a change is room temperature or many other possible reasons.

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