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CO2 source



Greetings everyone,
This is my first post.
I am just getting started with a new tank, adding a few plants.
I used to be a dealer for the Tropica plants out of Denmark, back in the
early 1980s.
I just got a brainstorm about how to produce CO2 cheaply.
Perhaps you all could tell me what you think of this idea.
How about using a 2 litre bottle of soda pop, ( the really cheap brand you
can purchase a 2 litre bottle for less than a dollar US). Chill the soda in
the fridge for a few hours. Then remove the cap and drill a small hole in
the cap. The hole should be just large enough to tightly fit a piece of
plastic tubing through. Then slide the tubing through the hole and seal with
hot glue. If you have a cap from another bottle that fits the full bottle
you could use silicon aquarium sealent to keep the tube/cap from leaking.
Next pour out about a cup of the cold soda. Be sure that the tubing will
reach the bottom of the 2 litre bottle. You are going to invert the bottle
of soda with the cap on and the tubing reaching the bottom of the bottle
will be above the level of the liquid ( so it will not siphon ). Next get a
pair of ladies stockings or panty hose poke a small hole in the toe and
slide the other end of the tubing through the hole in the stocking. The
stocking/pantyhose will suspend the inverted bottle above the tank like an
IV bottle. Next place the other end (the end not in the bottle) of the
tubing in the tank, you will want to put a valve on the tubing to regulate
the CO2 flow.
After the cool soda reaches room temperature it should release the CO2
slowly into the tank. This should work nearly as well as the yeast and sugar
method. I would suspect that a 2 litre bottle of soda pop should last for
several days. Then just replcae the spent bottle with a new one. Should only
cost pennies a day for CO2.
WHat do you all think? 
Paul Jarvis
Assistant Research Scientist
Aquaculture Research Institute
University of Idaho
208-885-2823
pjarvis at uidaho_edu


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