Trouble with DIY co2

[JamezMan]

I'm having some problems with a DIY co2 system I am trying to set up.

I currently am running a Red Sea Turbo on my tank, and I want to add another 2 litre bottle co2 cannister so I can have more co2 for my tank. I set it up yesterday using a fixture which I screwed into a hole I made into the coke bottle lid. I attached about 2 metres of PVC tubing, as this was all I could find after going to a brewery shop and not being able to find silicone tubing. I also asked the brewery shop worker for a check valve but all he could offer me wasn a 22 dollar valve for high pressure which I didn't think was suitable. I set up the mixture using a recipe from www.tropicalresources.net and attached it to my diffuser. For the last twelve hours nothing has happened and no co2 has entered my tank.

I think the problem may be with the tubing or with the mixture. There is very little consistency when it comes to finding a successfull mixture and everywhere I looked they were considerably different.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Cheers.

Jamez.

[ILLUSN]

yeast and sugar will work fine might take 24-48 hours to get going. make sure you seal around the hole in the lid with silicone to stop gas loss.

get some co2 tubing (try ebay is none of the sponsors have it) you'll loose 1/2 your co2 through the tubing after a week or 2.

[JamezMan]

Yes I've noticed in the last hour it is leaking a bit through the lid, so I am going to seal it with silicone. I might try a few pet stores in Brisbane and see if they have any co2 tubing. Do you wreckon that could be the go?

Luke.

[ILLUSN]

That will help. i used a mix of 1-1&1/2 cups of sugar to 1 tsp of yeast, use to last 2 weeks.

as a quick fix you can use blu tack till you get some silicone.

[JamezMan]

I've siliconed up the nipple and the bottle cap so it should be a decent seal now. I'll see how it goes and let you know.

Cheers.

Jamez.

[JamezMan]

The co2 seems to be working, I am seeing bubbles come out of my glass diffuser. I will probably buy some silicone tubing on the weekend which should be even better.

Jamez.

[JamezMan]

Hi Illusn. Its been a while since my post and my 2ltr DIY co2 bottle has gone caput. I replaced the silicone tubing because it had been discoloured due to some overheating and I resiliconed the screw in nipple to ensure there are no leaks there. There just doesn't seem to be another enough pressure building in the bottle so that it flows through the tubing and the diffuser. My only other thought is that my mixture is ineffective. What do you think could be the problem?

I've also placed the bottle underwater to help locate and leaks and the ones I found I completely resealed.

Cheers.

Luke.

[Merrilyn]

Dry yeast goes off after a while, unless it's been stored in the fridge.

I'd try using some fresh yeast with cool boiled water. Rinse the bottle out with diluted chlorine to sterilize everything before use. Bacteria will attack yeast, so keep everything clean as possible for best results.

[JamezMan]

Ok thanks Merrilyn, thats a possibility. I might have to get some fresh yeast. I was also talking to another friend and he said 2ltr coke bottles can sometimes degrade over time which could be another cause for the problems.

[ILLUSN]

I dont think yopu bottle degraded, mine are still going after 2 years.

try this mix 1 cup of sugar and 2 heaped teaspoons of yeast. fill to 1/2 way up the label.

dont use boiling water, use warm water (discus water works well). if the water is too hot the yeast will die

[Merrilyn]

Yeah, I use the same quantities as Illusn. Never worried about adding bi-carb or anything else. Mine starts to work within a couple of hours, goes for a minimum of two weeks.

Definately cool the water after boiling ( I did say use cool boiled water :P but maybe that was a bit confusing).

Another thing to check, has your diffusor got a build up of scum on the top. Give it a scrub with an old (clean) toothbrush and it should allow the bubbles through more easily.

[Greggy]

FWIW I use 2 cups of sugar and 'just' 1/2 a teaspon of yeast in a 2L coke bottle (three of), the are tubes siliconed into the caps. Each bottle has a 1-way valve on the tube comming out of it. They all lead into a 4-way joiner where the CO2 is delivered to my 6x2x2 via a DIY home made reactor.

Works well for the price, and the CO2 lasts 3 to 4 weeks (sometimes even more), so with one teaspoon of yeast it would last approx 2 weeks but probably not much more. More yeast = more CO2 but less run time.

I never bother sterilzing anything and I don't use BiCarb soda either - no problems at all but I generally keep things as clean as I can.

Regards,

Greggy

[JamezMan]

Thanks for all the replies. Ok, well I replaced the bottle anyways so I can rule that out. The mixture I was using was working a couple of weeks ago and co2 was fizzing bigtime out of the diffuser. I have two spare diffusers so I changed the older one for the new one just to make sure that any build up could be to blame, but nothing has changed. I was using 1 and three quarter cups of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast with some bicarb soda and filling it with warm water three quarters of the way up the bottle. I could maybe cut out the bicarb but I use it in my other reactor and that one is working ok. It is a red sea turbo so the powerhead does assist getting the co2 from the cannister to the water and relies less on actual pressure.

I also tried more sugar and less water to no avail.[/quote]