yet another CO2 question

[The-Wolf]

ok firstly thanks for all the CO2 topics on this forum
(and those that have answered them) they have helped me so far

I purchased a Nutrafin(tm) co2 system recently (as they were half prce)
and set it up. 2 days later and nothing happened.
I read many topics here and realised I'd
proberbly used water that was too hot to start with.
so I started again.

now all is working but I seem to have bubbles every 10 seconds,
should it be faster, slower or is this the correct speed?

 

[Jen]

When mine first went, it took forever for the bubbles to show (36 hours I believe)

The first bunch of bubbles is air coming out of the canister and through the tubing. How long that goes for will depend on how long your tube is.

The speed of the bubbles doesn't really matter if you are getting the right amount. Test your pH and kH in a little while, and see what your levels are.

You could try giving it a bit of a shake (more swirling than shaking so you don't get mixture up the tube)

 

[zig]

First of all the satchets that come with them are useless, the diy sugar, yeast and bicarb etc is the way to go, so if you are useing a homemade mix 1 bubble every 10 seconds would'nt be great, i usually get about 4 bubbles every 15 seconds when the unit builds up a bit of steam, that can take a day or so, and should go pretty steady then for the rest of the week (i change mine every week, it may last longer but i change it anyway)

To make up my mix i use half a teaspoon of yeast and put this in a cup and i add a small amount of lukewarm water (tank water temprature is about right, but dont over do it as you found out) and i stir the yeast with about 1 1/2 inches of lukewarm water in the cup and i make sure the yeast is totally diluted with the water in the cup, i then get the sugar and bicarb and add that to the nutrafin unit up to the marker, and i then add the yeast and water that i have mixed and fill the rest of the container with lukewarm water, and then i get a fork and stir the whole mix until the sugar is dissolved (or nearly all of it) and then im finished and put the unit together, id say within half an hour i have a steady stream of bubbles, it doesnt bother me that it can take a while to pick up (usually only a few hours) as i allways have another one running at full steam anyway.

Anyway thats how i do it, im sure others do it differently, but i find mixing it the way i do makes the mix more active pretty much straight away, the other way of not stirring and not premixing the yeast with water i used to find more hit and miss and sometimes i would have to wait ages (several hours) for a bubble to appear.

Anyway they are all going pressurised around here, theres going to be very few of us left using the nutrafin diy systems, to much money mate thats what i blame, half of them are loaded and dont know what to be doing with their money

 

[Jen]

Anyway they are all going pressurised around here, theres going to be very few of us left using the nutrafin diy systems, to much money mate thats what i blame, half of them are loaded and dont know what to be doing with their money

[snapback]898861[/snapback]​

Lol. That's exactly the problem. 6 extra shifts on 2 concecutive pays = new co2 unit!

 

[paulioo]

Not forgetting Ebay. I got a JBL Profi 2 for £129.99 (£10 p+p) and got two Co2 cannisters fully filled!!!

When i used my Nutrafin unit i was getting around 1 bubble every 4 seconds using half a teaspoon of yeast.

Paul

 

[The-Wolf]

thanks, I think

another idea that has popped into my head.
my Father makes his own wine, could I use this
fermentation process to inject CO2 into my tank?

 

[nodding_dino]

Walts your man for that...he's just done something very similar! Theres a post in here...can't be too far away - I'll see if I can find it for you!

 

[George Farmer]

Good to see you're taking the CO2 route. Your plants will reward you with much improved growth.

Please bear in mind though that stable CO2 levels are almost as important as the CO2 itself. Fluctuating levels - common with yeast-based systems can cause algae. You can easily avoid this by using 2 or more systems and changing the mixtures alternately.

Have you read the CO2 pinned article? There's a link re. the Nutrafin units there too.

 

[Walt]

Yoooooo....

Ya, im a brewer as well, and i also thought about using the co2 from a fermentation to run through my tank

I finially decided to just hook up an extra #5 tank instead...
So i just bought a needle valve($6), and the disfusser ladder from nutrfin($11), and off i go!

Been working excellent for the last couple weeks