# DIY CO2 Mix Design



## Chondro (Apr 12, 2006)

I have been using a Red Sea CO2 generator for a few months now and have had great results with it. However, now that I realize that I have been paying $9 for the "refill" material that is only sugar & yeast, I would like to start making my own. 

Can anyone give me what mix design / proportion of sugar / yeast that will work well with a 1 liter water container? Also, what kind of yeast do I need to buy?

Thanks in advance...


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

Based on the quantities used for the Hagen Natural CO2 System which is also 1 Liter generator.
1/8 tsp Yeast
3/8 cup Sugar

Get some Champagne Yeast if you can. It is more alchohol tolerant so you will have a longer reaction. Since you only use 1/8 tsp per mix, one small packet will go a long way.


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## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

no need for baking soda?


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

The Hagen System does include 1tsp of Baking Soda with their mix. Depending on how hard you water is this can completely kill the reaction. If you're not looking to slow down/decrease the reaction, there's no need to add any.


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## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is there to ensure that the pH of the yeast mix does not get too acidic and stop the fermentation process prematurely.


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## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

And so would it be the hard or soft water that would be a problem?

...on edit...

(sorry to highjack your thread here!!!)

If you would like to produce more CO2 with your system do you need to mix a stronger solution or could a little more yeast be added to the existing mixture?


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## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

If you had hard water to start with, you probably would be fine without the baking soda.

To get more CO2, you would need a larger vessel or do something like heating your mix. Making a stronger (more concentrated) mix would not help because the yeast will stop producing when the alcohol level gets to the point where it is toxic to the culture. Any sugar in the mix will therefore be wasted. Most of the recipes are designed so that the sugar will be consumed at about the point the alcohol is becoming toxic so there is no wastage.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

> Based on the quantities used for the Hagen Natural CO2 System which is also 1 Liter generator.
> 1/8 tsp Yeast
> 3/8 cup Sugar


What about adding yeast nutrient and/or protein powder to the mix?


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## smr (Mar 17, 2006)

I have a Nutrafin CO2 generator. After the packets of the mixtures finished I just reverted to making my own mix.

I just use sugar and dried yeast. No baking soda or anything else. The water where I live is quite hard and has a pH of over 8. My mixtures (now I have made two more reactors out of 1.5 liter water bottles) are all running fine. All my mixtures seem to run for about three weeks, after which I just change the whole thing.

I had bought a bottle of dried yeast about a year ago and so far I have only used 1/4 of it. I was looking at the date of expiry and it seems the yeast expired about four months ago. But I think the mixture does not know that because I am still making sugar and yeast mixtures out of it and it is working fine. The plants dont know the difference either.

Therefore I think you can have any kind of mixture and dont worry about soda and other stuff. Just one piece of advice though, I take my CO2 through a home made bubble counter. The bubble counter does two things;

(i) it counts bubbles and 
(ii) it stops any muck from entering the aquarium

Regards and good luck.


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## aquariageek (May 27, 2006)

smr said:


> I take my CO2 through a home made bubble counter. The bubble counter does two things;
> 
> (i) it counts bubbles and
> (ii) it stops any muck from entering the aquarium


A bubble counter is very easy to make- it is up to your imagination. I have a 1 litre bottle filled halfway with water. The air line goes down into the water, and another airline comes out of the cap to the aquarium. I have also seen someone use a syringe. They put a check valve in the large end and glued it in place, and attached the air line to the tip. Looks pretty cool, and less like a meth lab then my setup. 

When I did my first DIY CO2 system, I didnt use a bubble counter. Like smr said, the aquarium will fill up with muck.

I would also recommend "proofing" your yeast. (Someone else on this wonderful forum recommended it...) 
Mix the yeast with a cup of lukewarm water. Then let it sit for 30-60 minutes and see if it starts to foam. If it does, finish the mix. If it doesnt, then you can start again, without wasting all the sugar.


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## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

wiste said:


> What about adding yeast nutrient and/or protein powder to the mix?


Yes, it will speed things up but the mix won't last as long...


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

I was thinking of the Nyberg CO2 Method. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/new-to-aquarium-plants/3688-the-nyberg-co2-method.html?highlight=yeast+nutrient
Sugar, water and yeast gets the job done and it is not too complicated.


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## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

I use a modified Nyberg recipe where I substitute the ammonium sulfate with urea. Seems to work well... I've also used the molasses but it does get messy...


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## fish_4_all (Jun 3, 2006)

I use a 2 liter bottle adding 1Tbsp yeast activated in 1 cup of water at 100 degrees and 1 tbsp sugar to 2 cups sugar. Fill the bottle to 2/3rds full. Once the mixture starts to decrease in production, I simply syphone off some water and add another cup of sugar. This only works about 3 times but there is never a stop in production this way. It takes about 3 months for my bottles to kill the yeast and completely stop production. No baking soda, plain bakers yeast and nothing else added. Produces for about 4 weeks at a times on the intital setup then 2-3 weeks after each time I add sugar. I have even had really good results by letting the yeast settle out then draining the water down to about half a cup and adding a new water sugar mixture. This way makes a huge amount of CO2 but uses up the sugar much faster because of the large amounts of yeast that build up.


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