jhemlow

Please take everything I say with a grain of salt because I have not been in this hobby long. However, recently I've been frustrated with the inconsistencies associated with my DIY Co2. Being a student I cannot afford a pressurized system, but as we know, CO2 is critical for making an effective aquarium.

Anyways, to the point:

What I did was place my CO2 bottle in a bucket of water with a spare thermostat heater in the water surrounding the bottle set to 74F. The effects were immediate and impressive. 4 hours now CO2 production is greater than it's ever been.

I'm sure this is all old news to you all, but for those of you in colder climates it's an option.

Cheers,

Jason

Ollie

Do you know whether the warm yeast mixture will last as long as the unheated one?

Piscesgirl

Have you tried the Tarah Nyberg recipe? Basically you add a bit of protein powder, molasses, and/or Ammonium Sulfate (yeast nutrient) to the mix. Be careful to not put too much protein powder or the yeast get tooo happy and bubble out/explode. Also, you can attach two bottles with a T valve.

jhemlow

I will let you know if it lasts as long, so far been going strong all day.

One hot month (my rooms gets really hot in summer and FREEZING in winter) last summer I had DIY last for 37 days, some people don't believe me because aparently it's not possible but I marked the days... perhaps it wasn't releasing CO2 anymore, but there was pearling taking place.

Jason

csf

I've had DIY CO2 going for about that long, but it was on small tanks so a little CO2 went a long way.

A couple other tricks - put the heater on with your light timer. It will lower production during the night, when it's not needed.

Another easy way to increase CO2 production is to simply add a 2nd bottle. Then change them out at different times to help keep production level. 2 week cycle, change one every week. Stretch it out to 3 weeks or more of you want.

slickwillislim

Thats what i do. I have two bottles connected with a T. I have it in a 2.5 gallon bucket with a heater i put gravel in the bottom of the bottles to keep them in place but i am sure their is a easier way to weigh them down. I get quite a steady flow during the day but if i pump up the temperature it tends to increase production but lower how long it lasts. I like it around 80 just because thats what my tanks at and that works for me.

Protien powder huh i will look into that, sounds interesting.