When To Change Diy Co2 Mix

arif_93

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hi when should i change the mixture in my diy co2 mixture
i have a 2ltr bottle i add 1 tsp of allinsons dried yeast and 2 cups of sugar.
when should i change the minxture this is the first month so i havent yet changed the mixture
when should i???
 
Change them as per the pinned instructions, so if you have one bottle change it every 4-5 days, if you have two bottled then e.g. do one on Sunday and one on Wednesday. Leave them much longer than 4-5 days and CO2 output generally drops quite quickly.
 
every 4-5 days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nutrafin kits last 1 month at time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ill probably end up spendind more on sugar and on yeast then on a nutrafin kit and on the refills ???
Will i be able to leave till the end of the week when i do a water change so will i be able to changed it every week (7 days)
 
If you have a means of monitoring CO2 levels then see how long it lasts, then change accordingly. The Nutrafin sachets say they last 4 weeks, but out of the 3 sachets with my kit, one lasted 7 days and the others did nothing at all.

The problem with one bottle is keeping a stable CO2 level. You'll have low CO2 when you first connect it, then high CO2 after a day or so, then CO2 will start to reduce over the next few days. Each sugar/yeast change starts the cycle again. Two bottles means that as one bottle is decreasing CO2 output the other is increasing CO2 output, so things stay a bit more stable. Stable CO2 = less chance of algae outbreaks.

DIY CO2 is cheaper (usually!) than pressurised but no-one says it is really cheap, the larger the need then the more expensive it becomes!
 
Will doubling the suggested sugar increase the life of my CO2 mixture? I currently use a 3 litre bottle and can potentially almost double the amount of water and sugar everyone uses...
 
If it helps I change one bottle on Wednesday and the other on Saturday, my CO2 is always at 30ppm according to my drop checker

Aaron
 
Aaron does it the way I would do it.

Its not about waiting for the mix to run out.

Its about keeping the CO2 stable so no point leaving it to slow down, or you waste your time injecting CO2.

Andy
 
Thanks.

Now when you're refilling your CO2 bottles do you add new water and yeast? If yeast are living beings then wouldn't just adding sugar keep them alive?
 
It is impossible to split the yeast out of the mixture resulting from a few days of use.
 
What I mean was would it be ok to just add sugar? Or do you start all over again and do a water-sugar-yeast mixture. Cuz I'm assuming that the yeast would still be alive.
 
The yeast is sensitive to the alcohol created as part of the process, so adding more sugar won't do much, the yeast will either be dead or close to dead.
 

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