Diy Co2 Question

[bordercollie05]

I'd like to set up a soda bottle CO2 system for my ten gallon. I tried once but I wasn't sure if it was working. Do you need something to get the CO2 to enter the water from the bottle? I read to attach it to the filter somehow but I don't really understand. I have a Whisper10 filter and its all enclosed. I'm just a little confused about all of this.


Laura

 

[Liam]

The soda bottle (plastic) needs to be sealed with a pipe coming out of the lid which is attached to a diffuser of some kind which is placed in the water, there are different kinds, you can use an airstone if you don’t have a real diffuser but the smaller the bubbles the better, big Co2 bubbles just escape the water without dissolving. Check out the sticky on nutrafin Co2 the second sticky on this page. You can get small glass diffusers quite cheaply on ebay.
The Co2 can be plumbed into some types of filters but I am not familiar with your filter.

 

[bordercollie05]

Thanks very much, I think I'll try to get a diffuser on ebay. I had seen those before, but I wanted to be sure they were what I thought they were.

 

[sjdriscoll]

Thanks very much, I think I'll try to get a diffuser on ebay. I had seen those before, but I wanted to be sure they were what I thought they were.

Just a quick note.

I have a DIY yeast CO2 on my 20galion and I could not get enough pressure to run it through a ceramic diffuser - it would break my bottle cap seals (I run two bottles in tandem) before it would run through the diffuser. I now take my CO2 tubing and place it directly into the uptake pipe of my filter (external) so that it gets 'smashed' up by my filter impeller before being returned to the tank. Works really well, my drop checker is always green and the plants have gone into hyper-growth so algae doesn't stand a chance.

Good luck.

 

[aaronnorth]

Thanks very much, I think I'll try to get a diffuser on ebay. I had seen those before, but I wanted to be sure they were what I thought they were.

Just a quick note.

I have a DIY yeast CO2 on my 20galion and I could not get enough pressure to run it through a ceramic diffuser - it would break my bottle cap seals (I run two bottles in tandem) before it would run through the diffuser. I now take my CO2 tubing and place it directly into the uptake pipe of my filter (external) so that it gets 'smashed' up by my filter impeller before being returned to the tank. Works really well, my drop checker is always green and the plants have gone into hyper-growth so algae doesn't stand a chance.

Good luck.

I always offer advice on ceramic diffusers and fermentation kits because of that, bubble ladders or similar diffusers are better. I have just ordered an 'infinity' diffuser from Aquaessentials

 

[bordercollie05]

[/quote]
I now take my CO2 tubing and place it directly into the uptake pipe of my filter (external) so that it gets 'smashed' up by my filter impeller before being returned to the tank. Works really well, my drop checker is always green and the plants have gone into hyper-growth so algae doesn't stand a chance.

Good luck.
[/quote]


This is what I'm confused about. What do you mean by the "uptake" of the filter. Also, what do you use to test CO2 levels?

 

[aaronnorth]

This is what I'm confused about. What do you mean by the "uptake" of the filter. Also, what do you use to test CO2 levels?


The uptake is the part of the filter that takes the water in, aka intake.

You can use this chart as a reference

http/www.aquamaniacs.net/co2.html

There is a calculator on PFK website.

Or get a drop checker, fill it with 4DKH (makeyour own or available at aquaessentials) then add a few drops of pH reagent to check colour.
green = 30ppm
blue = <30ppm
Yellow = >30ppm