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DIY CO2 Bottle Leakage
I began running a 2 liter DIY yeast bottle just before last Christmas. I
used vinyl tubing, which I threaded through the hole I drilled in the bottle
cap. I sealed the joint around the bottle cap with clear aquarium grade
silicon.
The first batch gave me about a bubble every 7 to 8 seconds and lasted me a
couple of week. The plants loved it. My hygrophilia polysperma grew like .
. . well . . . weeds. Over the next month or so, the bubble rate got slower
and the bottles petered out quicker. I though my yeast had turned bad, so I
got new packages from the local grocery store. I thought I saw a small
improvement but not much. At various times, I thought the water I used to
mixed my batch was was too hot or too cold.
Finally, last week, even with fresh packaged yeast, my bottle wouldn't work.
Not a single bubble. Something in the Spring air perhaps? Or is it my
black thumb which can't even grow yeast?
I had suspected a leak earlier so I had put a whole bunch of silicon over
the bottle cap joint a couple of weeks ago. I thought that was that. I
even used plumbers teflon tape on the part of the bottle where the cap
screwed on. But last Saturday, when a newly mixed batch wasn't making any
CO2 at all, I happened to get the silicon joint on my bottle wet. And lo
and behold, it was bubbling at the joint. No more silicon for me.
I went to the lfs and got a plastic fitting, the kind used to join two air
lines together. I drilled a hole in a new bottle cap and EPOXIED the
plastic fitting to the cap. I used LOTS of glue. I then attached the air
line to the fitting. Once again, I have a bubble every 7 seconds. The
plants are pearling again. I am now a happy camper (for the time being)!
Chin See Ming
Portland, OR
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