# Why wont my diy co2 bottle work?



## tapscrew (Jul 1, 2006)

Hi,

I have had a hagen co2 for a while now and have always run it with yeast and bicarb instead of buying their packs of stuff and it has always run fine. 

I set up a new 120litre tank on the weekend and reckoned I would need more co2 as well as my hagen unit so I set up a 2litre soda bottle with a glass diffuser and used the recipe on the sticky on this forum. 

Trouble is the poxy thing wont work properly, about an hour after I set it up it bubbled fine for about half a day then just stopped. I thought maybe it had gone too cold so I sat it on a covered hot water bottle - nothing. I thought maybe some more yeast would help so I cleaned it out, doubled the yeast and bicarb and it bubbled slightly for about 1/2hour. I checked the seals, all were fine. I checked for pipe blockages - there were none.

Can anyone tell me why this thing wont work???????


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

Okay, someone smarter than I may step in and correct me - and please do so if I am wrong but...

DIY CO2 may not have enough pressure to push CO2 through a ceramic diffuser. It may only be pushing through when the pressure builds high enough to do so. Because DIY CO2 production is not uniform, perhaps the pressure is not continuous? So you don't get a steady flow?

If I am wrong, please jump in and correct me. I'd like to learn on this one too.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

It dose take some pressure to push CO2 through a cermic disks. This added pressure could also be causing a leak in one of you lines that you arent detection. Check all of you connections with Windex or soapy water. You may have to scrap the diffusor and do with a ladder. If you pull the diffusor off are there bubbles comming out of the tube?


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## jeffk (Apr 14, 2006)

Yea check for bubbles coming straight out the tube.

I have used a glass diffusor with DIY co2 before with good results [this was more then one 2 liter bottle though], and it took some time for enough pressure to build up for a continuous stream of bubbles to come out.


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## werner (Jul 6, 2006)

Check the expiry date on your yeast too.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

i did a diy setup for an eight spiral diffuser and i had to use two 2liters to overcome the pressure of the ceramic disk. with all that pressure i had a small leak at the cap of one of my bottles.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Try swapping the disc out for an airstone and see if that alleviates your problem. If so, you may want to look into either using the airstone or getting a couple of the Sweetwater Fine Pore Diffusors from Aquatic Eco Systems.


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