HUGE DIY Co2 system

[mark razmandi]

Tank looks like S**t with my cell. it looks much better in person but heres an idea.

[cichlid1409]

looks pretty slick. i would get some mosses for the wood.

[mark razmandi]

hmm didnt even think about that. i ruberbanded anubias nana to them but moss sounds good...

[Matt in Houston]

its been running over a week. its not going to explode and im not gonna go pressurized anytime soon considering this thing had my tank at 95 ppm of Co2 in the water before i had to adjust everything to make it put out 13-18ppm.....this works exactly the same as a pressurized system as much as people might like to not believe that.

I dont doubt it works...I have done DIY co2 as well using a twin bottle setup. Thats not my point. There are other cons to running DIY as well, such as buying sugar all the time, changing the system, and inconsistant pressure over a short amount of time.

My point is after running it a few months it became a major pain in the butt to keep changing out the water, sugar, and yeast...and considering how much sugar you are using...? Thats a lot. And considering that you can find a used 10lb bottle WITH a reg for $100....?

Good job on the DIY, I just couldnt put up with mine for very long.

[WhiteDevil]

How long does it last?

using bread yeast? have you tried champagne yeast or brewers yeast. put out more then dry active yeast can and lasts twice as long, but with the brewers yeast, throw a jug of juice in there instead of water, when its done, strain it and have a very very nice mind numbing drink.

I use the brewers yeast on my DIY system (4 2 liters, 1 accumulator, two bubble counters, two venturi valves, 2 marineland 660 powerheads) I am having actually better faster lusher growth then my father with his 400 dollar pressurized system.

I am trying to get a DIY system done with dry ice as the Co2 source, where did you get your 5g jug at? they dont sell those around here except thru business to business, we get 5g buckets as containers up here.

did you use the vent on that container for the Co2 line?

[WhiteDevil]

I dont doubt it works...I have done DIY co2 as well using a twin bottle setup. Thats not my point. There are other cons to running DIY as well, such as buying sugar all the time, changing the system, and inconsistant pressure over a short amount of time.

My point is after running it a few months it became a major pain in the butt to keep changing out the water, sugar, and yeast...and considering how much sugar you are using...? Thats a lot. And considering that you can find a used 10lb bottle WITH a reg for $100....?

Good job on the DIY, I just couldnt put up with mine for very long.

DIY can be a pain in the butt but you can overcome those obsticals easily. around here filling a Co2 tank can be a challenge and a 5 day wait in itself. then you have to worry about regulator breaking and the like, getting the tank tested every 3-5 years as required by federal law. Ive got both systems, the pressurized is much easier to change out I agree but I can tell you my tank runs with no electricity, ive watched my dads pressurized system go out of order yesterday when we had 4 power outages from incoming storm cells. His tank shut down, mine kept going. I keep angels and angel river mates in my tank he keeps discus, his fish went into shock last night from Ph fluctuations with the Co2 being knocked out. took nearly 3 hours to get them to act like discus and not sole fish.

I make my new bottles a week before the old one expires, and having multiple bottles means alot less time involved for me. change two out every 3 weeks I constantly keep a strong brew on the tank and 15 minutes every 3 weeks is worth it to me.

[mark razmandi]

my setups involve a lower ratio of yeast to sugar which will put out less Co2 but will last alot longer. if my math is correct, my 5 gallon setup should last a few months if not more on my smaller tanks with powerade bottles, they will usually last a couple weeks if not a little longer.

[WhiteDevil]

Yeah all I got in the 5g range is a ice mountain water cooler water bottle, maybe a PVC cap will work.