# co2 diy how much



## deup (Sep 9, 2013)

k so i am starting to experiment with planted tanks again first time was total failure this time i be successful. 

i am going with a soil base tank with a pool substrate ontop. with alot of help and advice from zapins

i am also going with a co2 tank setup however untill i get all peices be it a few months i am going to go with a co2 DIY setup as far as i have read all i need is a few water bottles empty. and some air tubing if i am missing anything please let me know. 

however i do not know how much mixture i need i will be attaching this to a 40 gal tank so any help would be wonderful thank you


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## herns (Aug 28, 2007)

You need a CO2 diffuser as well.

If I want to have 40g tank, I would set up 4, 2L empty bottles. The reason behind this is DIY fluctuates often. Presently i have 2.5G tank and I run 2, 2L empty soda bottles. I replace one bottle every week alternately. I run pressurized in my two other tanks.

Take a look of investing pressurized in the future if you want to grow lush, colorful plants.


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## deup (Sep 9, 2013)

yeah i am going to be going pressurized tanks but unforchantly i live in the boon docks so access to things are vary limited. i figure take me lease 4-6 months to have everything needed for basics . but for the moment i am going to hit up a diy system till i have everything .


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## deup (Sep 9, 2013)

how long you or anyone figure a 2l bottle can last for ? 

i was thinking . 2-3 bottles 2L filled with mix. piped into a empty bottle then just a direct line into the tank . and i think a defuser is there right ?


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## herns (Aug 28, 2007)

deup said:


> how long you or anyone figure a 2l bottle can last for ?
> 
> i was thinking . 2-3 bottles 2L filled with mix. piped into a empty bottle then just a direct line into the tank . and i think a defuser is there right ?


It depends how much co2 you want in your tank and your lighting.

Sent from HTC One device using Tapatalk2


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## fjord (Sep 22, 2011)

Use care. I just started DIY CO2 yesterday with one 3L bottle. This morning I awoke to two dead fish & the rest gasping at the surface for oxygen. Now I'm distressed. FYI, my tank is a 37 high...

Michael


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## deup (Sep 9, 2013)

yeah i doing a fishless tank right now but i have heared if you add a air supply to the water may help with your diy co2 thingy but as for other cures i don't know  new to this co2 thing myself.


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## Lornek8 (Jul 30, 2013)

I use 2-2L bottles on a 5.5 gallon. Tank has shrimp and no problem with deaths. The amount of co2 you get into the tank and how long the bottles last depends a lot on the mix you use. A large amount of yeast to start with gives you a large amount of gas quickly but the bottle doesn't last very long.


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## sonvar (Oct 21, 2013)

I was wondering if there would be issues with putting a valve on the co2 line. I am not sure how much pressure yeast would produce. I don't want to add co2 at night to cause an excessive co2 build up, but I don't want to blow out a hose line or bottle.


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## Sake (Apr 20, 2012)

sonvar said:


> I was wondering if there would be issues with putting a valve on the co2 line. I am not sure how much pressure yeast would produce. I don't want to add co2 at night to cause an excessive co2 build up, but I don't want to blow out a hose line or bottle.


Never made soda bottle bombs as a kid? I wouldn't chance it, I use to blow up mailboxes with soda bottle bombs, think of what that would do in your house  more than likely it would just blow the hose though. As far as CO2 build up, you really don't have to worry about it unless you have 0 surface ripple. It's very difficult to gas your fish on DIY CO2 if you have surface ripple.


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## sonvar (Oct 21, 2013)

Ok. My main tank has pressurized co2. no ripples, but its on a timer, so no co2 at night. The fish seemed to be doing fine. Was just worried about my smaller tank. no co2. I planned to get rid of the cheap HOB filter and replace with something else. I guess I can just leave it


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

using more than one 2L bottle, and alternating when you recharge them is good. As noted above the timing on the production varies with the recipe. 
I find that it takes a few days to ramp up, runs pretty good for a week. Then I can get some more production for about another week, but it is obviously slowing down. 

Based on this I run 2 bottles on mid-size tanks, and 3 bottles on larger tanks. The very smallest also have 2 bottles, and these are cross-connected to two tanks, so that each tank gets about half of the CO2 produced from each bottle, but it is more stable because of running two 2L bottles. 

Ways to 'turn off' the DIY system at night:
1) Put an air bubbler on a timer, and turn it on when you want the CO2 blown off faster (ie, from lights out to shortly before lights on). 
2) Put the CO2 bottle on top of your light, in the warmest spot. I do not know, but suspect, that the warmer the mix the faster the yeast will produce. 
3) Manually raise and lower the CO2 outlet. If it is really high up in the tank the CO2 will not be so well mixed with the water, so it will leave the tank faster. 
4) Adjust the recipe so the CO2 production is lower.


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## zippelk (Jul 28, 2009)

I run 6 half-gallon bottles on a ~170 gal high-light system. Every 4 days I add another bottle and remove the oldest, so each bottle is on for ~3-4 weeks. Keeps production (CO2 and plants!) fairly steady.


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