# DIY CO2 tubing configuration



## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

Ok, really quick and stupid question. I have two DIY CO2 bottles on each of my tanks, and for some reason, when I set them up I ran individual tubes up to near the top of the tank, then joined them into one just before they go into the tank (Figure A in attached image). I got to thinking that this was dumb and I should join them into one tube down near the bottles (Figure B).

Other than the neatness of only having one tube going up to the tank, does the configuration make any difference in the efficiency of the system? Also, I have check valves on each and every section of tubing, is this necessary? Does having more or less check valves affect the efficiency?

---Not sure why image is so tiny, please click to see bigger... ---








I neglected my tanks over the holiday season and am now back into the swing and full of beans!


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## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

More nonsense....

Here is a "detailed" diagram of my actual setup, including bubble counters.









I realized another possibly dumb thing I did is to use a separate bubble counter for each bottle. I guess in a way this might be a good thing since I can monitor each bottle separately. But does this just end up hurting the efficiency of the system? Is changing the design to the following going to make any difference whatsoever?








Just trying to milk every last drop of CO2 out of the system.

Thanks!


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## Jeffww (May 25, 2010)

It may take a bit longer to pressurize/flush out the air and get started but in the end it won't make much of a difference. I would only use one bubble counter though. What's the point of two? It's best to count the bubbles going IN to the tank. Not the bubbles that combine.


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## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks for the reply.

I'll redo it this weekend when I change out one of the bottles. The original reason I added a bubble counter to each bottle was really to prevent the residue that used to build up on the diffusor, not so much to count bubbles. But even then, I guess one still would have done the trick.

Thanks again.


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## HolyAngel (Nov 3, 2010)

I have two bottles of diy co2 on my 29gallon and the first time I set it up with both bottles going into a single bubble counter. I found one bottle was always giving out bubbles every second, but the second bottle would only give out maybe a few a min; this seemed inefficient, so I split them and have separate counters for them with separate injections(one goes to a power head and the other to the intake of my CF) and my co2 content in the tank went up significantly..


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## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

That is an interesting thought. I will have to spend some time this week monitoring the output of each bottle. 

Maybe if two CO2 generators are feeding into the same system, they could be exerting pressure on each other, lowering the output of the whole system? I change out one bottle on a weekly basis so that at any given time one is on its first week, and one is on its second. Maybe the new bottle ends up "overpowering" the older one?

Although, I do have check valves right after the output of each CO2 bottle, and again after each bubble counter.

Any engineering types out there that might know the physics involved? If you have two pressurized containers feeding into a single line, could one be exerting a force that cancels out the other?

Thanks!


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

interesting title... i thought it was about diy co2 tubing which would have been very interesting. instead of going through all that trouble, why don't you just run each bottle separately into the tank? with multiple bottles it'd be more efficient around the tank rather than just one powerful one.


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## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks for the reply.

haha, read *DIY CO2, tubing configuration*, not *"DIY CO2 tubing" configuration*. I can see how it might be confusing.

The only reason I wouldn't run the bottles separately is because I already have them running together, and it would be the most work out of all my options to completely separate them .

Based on HolyAngel's reply it seems that you get more CO2 output from two completely separate systems as opposed to two bottles on one system, but maybe the increased CO2 content was due to better distribution like you mentioned, and not an increase in CO2 output.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

juantoro said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> haha, read *DIY CO2, tubing configuration*, not *"DIY CO2 tubing" configuration*. I can see how it might be confusing.
> 
> ...


i saw the shortened part on the overview of diy projects it showed: diy co2 tubing... lol! 
it'd depend on your circulation as well. i had 3 bottles of diy co2 in my 20 long, one to my canister filter, one to a diffuser and one to a bell thing. my drop checker was green everywhere in my tank. but when i moved the bottles to one side of the tank away from the drop checker, it turned blue.


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## Jeffww (May 25, 2010)

I've got ~4 litres of yeast soln. on my 20. It's 2 bottles. They are rigged together with a Y joint. I get ~1bps with it.


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## HolyAngel (Nov 3, 2010)

Yes I believe they exert pressure on each other. For instance, without check valves on the 2 diy co2 bottles going into a single bubble counter, after a day or so, the counter solution would start climbing up the tube of the second bottle until it was emptying *inside* the 2nd yeast generator, all the while the first bottle is still putting out bubbles into the bubble counter and and into the tank. Separating the lines into their own bubblecounters solved the problem and increased the amount of co2 going into the tank..


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## juantoro (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have updated all of my CO2 "systems" so that each bottle feeds its own diffuser. This seems to be the most sensible way to do things.

Any creative ideas on how to keep track of which bottles are new and which are old? I have three tanks and sometimes would forget from week to week which bottles need changing.  What I have done is place a rubber band around the neck of one of the bottles in each system. This way I only have to remember which bottle is old on one of my tanks.

Thanks again!


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