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DIY CO2 for large tanks
>> Also- I am going to be utilizing DIY co2 for the tank as well. How do
I
>> know how many bubbles is good? I heard that you can buy bubble counters
from
>What do you mean by DIY co2? If you mean a yeast bottle, it won't help
>in a 120g tank. Plus, with a yeast setup, you don't control the bubble
>rate...
This is not really true. I have a 90 gallon tank that I use DIY CO2 on with
really good results. I use two 4 liter bottles in tandem and change each
bottle alternately every 2 months. About the middle of the month I also add
a little yeast nutrient to each bottle. The output is way more stable than
you would imagine. The pH drops about .4 to .6 below my non-CO2 injection
levels and in this range my plants grow very quickly. I could not get a
bubble counter to work on this setup because the large volume of CO2 in the
bottles causes several bubbles to be released at once making them
impossible to count. I got around this by making a bubble counter out of a
pop bottle filled with soapy water. The bubbles come out one at a time but
you cannot leave the counter hooked up or soap bubbles will end up in your
tank. I count the bubbles everyday and the bubble rate remains between 1.2
and .7 seconds per bubble over the two month period. I think this can be
stabilized even more by adding yeast nutrient in week 3 and yeast energizer
in week 5 but I have not been doing this for very long so I am not sure
yet. Once I added yeast energizer to both bottles on the same day and the
bubble count went up to .5 seconds per bubble for over a week this made me
nervous so I don't do that anymore. This is not as good as pressurized to
be sure but good enough for good results. The system requires weekly
attention and 4 cups of sugar per month but is actually very little work. I
am thinking of getting Discus though in my new 120 gallon and if I do I
will switch to pressurized for a more stable system.
Wayne