DIY CO2 in the cold and other animals...

[Dominic Large <fish at element_plus.com>]

Hi folks,

Sorry, but I'm afraid this is a monster post!

I've just tried adding a coke bottle CO2 DIY yeast beast to one of my
tanks (it's already got two Dennerle BioC030 units on there - they're
essentially the same as DIY).

I started the mix yesterday with baking yeast and warm water.  Within a
couple of hours the reaction started, and was producing a bubble (counted
on a diy bubble counter) every 2-4 seconds.  The problems is that few
hours later the mix was struggling to make on bubble every 10 seconds, and
this morning I only saw one bubble before I went to work.

Is it possible that the mix has already died (too much too soon)?  Or is
it likely to be that it is too cool I'd imagine room temp is about 15 - 20
Celsius?

If it is the temp then are there any yeasts that like cooler temperatures
(I can't realistically heat the mix - although if there are any fairly
compact ways to heat the mix I'd be interested in hearing about them).  I
have searched the archives but there seem to be varying opinions on which
yeast is best for a number of reasons - I'm not as fussed about the
longevity of the solution (though longer is better), but would like it to
last at least a week; I think output is more important for me.

If I created the mix that did too much to soon (it was 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp
yeast, 1 tsp baking soda, ~1.6 litres water in 2 litre bottle), then in a
properly balanced mix, how many bubbles would you expect per second?
  
I suppose the real problem is that I don't seem to be getting enough CO2
from the dennerle systems (each of the two is doing one bubble every 4-5
seconds, so effectively overall one bubble every 2-2.5 seconds), and this
is not having any impact on either pH or plants...so I want to beef up the
output with DIY.

If it helps the tank params are as follows (with just the Dennerle systems
in place - I haven't connected the DIY up yet because I want to make sure
I get it right before letting it loose on the tank):

48"x15"x12" (~32 Imp Gallons, ~38 USG, ~142 Litres)
17 dGH
8 dKH
pH 8

I am not adding fertiliser at the moment because the plants are not
sucking up the nitrates (I have all the ingredients for PMDD, but I have
only added a small amount of trace so far, because the plants don't seem
to be using things up).  There is no perling coming from the plants.

Looking at the charts from thekrib, if I am reading them right it looks
like I've only got about 5-10 ppm CO2 (80 watts light - plus an additional
30 watts that are switched off because I don't think I've got the balance
of CO2/nutrients right for the extra!).

From the info I've given, does it look like the CO2 is not being diffused
efficiently (the Dennerle units came with 'mini-flipper' diffusers if that
helps), or that my production is too low?

It's probably worth noting that I've got an Eheim 2227 wet/dry filter on
this tank which I expect drives a lot of the CO2 out of the water so I
probably need to add more to compensate.  I've put the 'mini-flippers' at
the other end of the tank from the inlet and outlet of the filter, and
I've got the spray bar below the water line so the only surface agitation
comes from the fish when they go to the surface.  I've also got a Fluval 4
internal filter in there (this is at the same end as the diffusers), which
again has its output directed down so as to not cause surface agitation.

As always, your help would be appreciated!  Sorry there's so many
questions in there!

Thanks

Dom


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