timwu12

Hi,

I'm new to this, but I have a 20 gallon tank and I want to run a CO2 system through it. My question is, I have a 1 gallon syrup container, and 1 gallon is about 4 liters, so is it ok to just double your 2 liter soda bottle recipe so that it works for a gallon or is that too much that it'll burst the bottle and add too much co2 into my tank?

also, for your yeast muck catcher that you made out of a check valve and a syringe, are you supposed to fill the syringe with some water as in seen in your post? Because if so, won't the CO2 get dissolved into that water? I'm assuming that the pressure won't build enough to make it out of the water, up the tubing, and into the diffuser.

Thanks for the help guys!

hoppycalif

The first question: you are right - just scale up the quantities when you use a bigger bottle or jug.

Second Question: it is the water in the "muck catcher" that catches the "muck". Yes, CO2 dissolves in that water, but CO2 comes out of solution as easily as it goes into solution, so the effect is the same as CO2 just flowing right through the water and into the outlet tube.

timwu12

Cool, Thanks for the help... now that I know it'll work, should i fill the whole syringe with water or leave some air in it like in the picture?

Also, I have a Penguin 660 powerhead, and it's got a little opening on the top by where the water rushes out and that opening is attached to a line that lets oxygen in so that the water gets oxygenated. Can I pull that out and directly add the CO2 line there?

I have a co2 diffuser that'll get picked up by the powerhead and dispersed throughout the tank, but that's coming in the mail and it won't arrive for quite some time, so i was wondering if this method would sufficiently suffice for now or is it too close to the top of the tank that any co2 produced would just evaporate? THanks again!

hoppycalif

You need to leave air at the top of the water, otherwise the CO2 would tend to lift water out just as a trail of air bubbles lifts water. The venturi on the outlet of a powerhead is not a good place to add CO2, and it is a very bad place to add DIY CO2. That venturi generates suction which would try to suck the DIY bottle contents into the tank. And, the CO2 bubbles would be too big, using that, to get much dissolving of CO2 before the bubbles float to the top of the tank.

The best way to use the powerhead as a CO2 reactor is to inject the CO2 in the powerhead inlet, so the pump rotor chops it up into small bubbles. If you remove the pump rotor and drill a few holes in each blade, the bubbles will be much smaller after going through the powerhead.

narcoleptic

I finished my DIY CO2 last night with the bubble counter syringe. This morning everything works. However there is more water in the syringe than I had previously put in? I filled it 3/4, but this morning it was almost full. I can still see the bubbles inside, it and the diffuser inside the tank seems to be working too.

What happened here? Should I be worried?

critter333294

Hate to necropost, but just wanted to throw this out there.

Has anyone tried using the Sugar in the Raw(its natural cane sugar instead of processed)? It's the kind that's bigger brown crystals and comes in the brown boxes at the grocery store. I used it in my mixture, and I noticed that it's been producing much longer than my regular sugar mix.

ghengis

I use brown "Raw" sugar. Only because it's all I have in the pantry. I have read of prople preferring to use this, or white sugar with a spoon or two of brown for longevity...

jaiko1975

My questions is how much 2 l bottles should i use for a 40g tank, and should it be tank level?

Also will this cause my pH to tank sense my pH right now is 6.2?

timwu12

sounds like a plan! thanks hoppycalif!

however, how should i point the deflector on my powerhead? Right now it's angled up about 45 degrees or so and breaks a little of the surface with a hill of water that runs up, out of the surface by a couple centimeters and then back down (just like a little hill of water that's from the powerhead) is that ok positioning of the powerhead for co2 dispersal or should i flip the deflector all the way down to 0 degrees so that it just gets pumped straight out without it breaking the surface? What if i turn the deflector upside down so the water pumps downwards? Is that a bad idea?

hoppycalif

If you are adding CO2 to the inlet of a powerhead you will get CO2 mist out of the powerhead. That mist should be directed so it hits as many plants as possible, preferably low in the tank. I think it is a good idea to have a little ripple on the water surface, too, but I do that with the canister filter outlet. I have that outlet near the top and angled so the surface is just slightly rippled.