[Project]

Just thought i would post up some pics of my DIY CO2 setup. Its not that different from most of the others that have been posted earlier, but it works nice for my 10 gallon setup. If anyone has any ideas on improvements please post it up! As for my reasons for choosing to use a DIY setup in the first place. Well its my first tank and i didn't want to spend the money on the regulator, solenoid, tank, and other items until I knew this first tank was going to work out.

Here are all the parts i used for an outlet from my sugar and yeast bottles.

Here is another shot of the outlet assembly. This goes through the cap that put into the mill at work and drilled a 1/4" hole through.

Here is the cap that I put the 1/4" hole through. I cleaned up all the edges with a jewelers file to get a good seal with the rubber O-ring.

Here is the cap with the outlet tightened down. You can see how it compresses the rubber o-ring between the cap and flat washer. It also squeezes against the brass 1/8" nipple fitting.

Here is the whole bottle with the cap on. I already added 4 cups of sugar and dissolved it into the water. All i need to do now is add the baking yeast.

Here you can see the setup with the CO2 line connected. I put a 1 way valve to prevent back flow of water when i disconnect the bottle for refills.

Next in line is the Fluval bubble counter. I dont suppose i really need this now considering i have no control over how much CO2 is being added, but I can at least see if its time to replace the mix. I usually don't let it drop below 2 bubbles a second if i can help it.

Last, but not least is my diffuser. I got this off of Amazon.com with my Drop Checker. Not bad for a combined total of $30 for the pair. (maybe it is a bad deal. I'm just telling myself it's good!)

That's about it. If you have any questions about anything on the setup please post up a reply!

-Project-

 

[jaafaman]

If you use an intermediate filter bottle you won't get the white bacterial build-up at the outlet.

You can also pick up a gang valve to daisy-chain more than one bottle together. That way you can rotate the bottles that get refreshed and keep a fairly constant level of CO2 going through.

I use the half-gallon juice bottles, simple rubber corks with 1/8-in holes through which I force pieces of standard 3/16-in hard line, the one-way check valve after the filter bottle, and since I use a Magnum 350 I feed the output to the Magnum's intake with an airline connector plugged into the side of the tube.

Here's the setup for the 75-gallon in the living room...

 

[Project]

Ahhh Ok. So thats why i have been getting the white fuzz building up on the diffusers ceramic disk. I was wondering what was causing that. It didn't look like algae, but I wasn't sure. Thanks! I'll pick up another one of these sweet tea bottle and make that filter. So ill just need to put the CO2 supply line to the bottom of that bottle fill it with water and have another line out the top that goes to the bubble counter. Right?

-Project-

 

[jaafaman]

Yes.

You just can see the stone in the filter bottle sitting behind the two left-most yeast bottles....

 

[Project]

So my next question.... Is that bacteria that is building up on my diffuser going to do any harm to my tank or is ok to leave it like that until i do my weekly water change?

 

[jaafaman]

It's much, much more unsightly than it is problematic. You'll be fine...

 

[Project]

Cool! Thanks again for your help!

 

[jaafaman]

You're quite welcome...