DIY Co2 injector

[Guest anthony]

hey everyone, i heard that I should get a Co2 injector since i am currently working on a planted freshwater aquarium. can anyone here tell me how to make one? also do i really need one? if so i would appreciate if you could post the steps on how to make one, Thank you.

[Charlie97L]

hey everyone, i heard that I should get a Co2 injector since i am currently working on a planted freshwater aquarium. can anyone here tell me how to make one? also do i really need one? if so i would appreciate if you could post the steps on how to make one, Thank you.

 

for planted tanks, especially freshwater, to really thrive, yup, you need C02. you can go 1 of two routes... first, get a c02 reactor... that'll probably set you back a few hundred.

 

or you could do the DIY one with a 2 or 3 litre soda bottle and yeast. i'll see if i can't dig up plans for one of those. they are cheap, and they do the job, but inevitably, something will fail, and you'll have a yeasty mess.

[ctreptow]

I did the soda bottle yeast thing for about a year. I used a 2 litre soda bottle drilled a hole in the top and glueg in an airline valve. I then drilled a hole in the filter intake tube. I ran the airline tube from the yeast bottle through a bubble counter into the filter intake.

 

the reason I ran into the filter intake was to make sure the co2 was mixing with the water. You need max contact with the water to get it to mix properly.

 

It did work great and I really saw a big improvement from my plants.

 

here is a mix

 

The third step is to create CO2. I mix 3/4 cup sugar, 6 cups water and a pinch of yeast (roughly 1 teaspoon does the trick). The exact ratio of ingredients is not critical. For example, I use enough water to fill the bottle to about 3 inches from the top. You don't want to get the mixture too full, as the mixture may foam a bit, and you don't want the foam flowing into your tank.

 

Using the above mixture, I regularly get 10-14 days of strong CO2 production, at a rate of one bubble every 3-7 seconds. When the system stops bubbling (the drop in gas production is often precipitous), dump out everything and mix up a new concoction.

 

check here

 

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/co2-narten.html

 

Chris

[Guest anthony]

ok thanks guys. just to make it clear i am going to be making a planted 10 gallon nano, do i still need one?

[Charlie97L]

ok thanks guys. just to make it clear i am going to be making a planted 10 gallon nano, do i still need one?

 

probably not... but it always helps.

 

you do need some type of diffuser, like what ctreptow said, that gets the C02 into the water, that's really the big issue.

 

i'd say, try it without, and if you like how it looks, there you go.