 Homeade CO2 reactor [message #5335] |
Sun, 25 March 2007 10:25 |
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Even the cheapest of CO2 reactors are nearly 30.00 and you have to constantly buy the tablets that go inside. I have found an easy and very inexpensive way to have one without forking out tons of money.
This is what I did.
I took a 2Lt Soda bottle that had been cleaned out and filled it with water to nearly the top of the bottle leaving just a few inches. Then I put that bottled water into a bowl and mixed with 1 tsp of bakers yeast and 1 Cup of sugar into the water. Let it dissolve and poured back into bottle. I drilled a hole the thickness of air tubing into the cap of said bottle. Put the tubing which was 6 ft long into the cap and pulled through only 1/4 of an inch and hot glued around the tubing on the inside and outside of the cap. You can also use silicon for this. I put an airstone at the other end of the tubing and planted it down under my gravel in the tank. Closed the lid really tight and placed on the floor next to my aquarium stand. Within 12 hours I started noticing little bubbles coming up from the airstone. Its at a very slow pace and seems to be at the right measured time for my 55 gal. You do not have to turn this off at nite. It runs constantly. It can take up to 3 days for it to start working and between 2-4 weeks before it is empty. The bottle does become underpressure so I don't suggest putting it in a place where it is going to get kicked. As long as the airstone and tubing remain clear and clean, there will not be any problems with bottle breaking. I suggest everytime you put a new bottle down that you take a tooth brush and clean the airstone. It has been a few days and I already noticed my plants finally growing and looking healthier. One important thing to watch for; fish going to the surface and gasping for air. You may see this with any CO2 reactor. If you do see this it means your water is getting too much CO2. One of the benefits of having a boughten one from a store is you can control the amount of CO2 that goes into your tank. My tank doesnt have any bubblers in it because I have really good filtration. If I should notice my fish doing this which they have not so far, I will put a bubbler in the tank. If they still go to the top, I will consider either putting a pin hole in the tubing a few inches above the water or putting a valve on the tubing to control the flow of CO2. It is my opinion though that the tank is getting just the right amount of CO2. My fish are still looking good and still full of energy. Don't forget, the more plants you have and the healthier they are, the more O2 is produced. When the plants are at their healthiest you can noticed O2 bubbles coming right directly from the plants. This is the goal to shoot for with plants.
[Updated on: Mon, 02 April 2007 10:20]
Please come visit me at www.atozthatsme.com
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