Re: [APD] Re: DIY CO2 Disaster

[revance at indiana_edu]

Quoting Joey Choochootrain <hubbahubbahehe at yahoo_com>: 
> Does this method also act as a check valve?  What I'm concerned is  if the
> aquarium water gets siphoned back and fills the  "tiny bottle"  and then
> water gets pushed back into the co2 generator bottle and then the yeast and
> alcohol spread out and eventually get into the aquarium or does this not
> happen?

Adding the smaller bottle doesn't really act as a check valve. All it does is 
keep the sugar/yeast solution from getting into the tank due to a spill or 
overflow.  If the water from your tank starts to siphon into the middle 
bottle, it will eventually fill with water and possibly start siphoning into 
the co2 generator bottle. However, I highly doubt it is possible for any of 
your yeast/sugar mix to get into the aquarium even if the generator bottle 
fills up completely with water. The siphon is going the opposite direction. 
After the generator bottle completely fills with water there still won't be 
any water movement in the upward direction to bring the solution into your 
tank. If some does manage to work its way up (through the maze of tubing and 
small bottle all containing stagnant water) into the tank, it will probably be 
such a small amount and so dilluted you won't even notice.

If you place the whole thing above your tank, you obviously don't need to 
worry about a checkvalve. If you place it under your tank you might want to 
invest the $0.50 in a cheap airline tubing check valve. Remember, it doesnt 
have to be an expensive check valve... who cares if a few drops get into the 
middle (small) bottle over the course of a few months. It just has to keep it 
from a full blown siphon, the cheapest of airline check valves will do just 
fine. Chances are, the water won't (and can't) siphon into the bottle anyway. 
If everything is air tight it can't siphon because the entering water will 
need to displace the gas inside the bottle/tubes. If the only place for the 
gasses to go is out the same tube the water is trying to come down... it won't 
siphon. Sorry... this was probably WAY too much explaining for your simple 
question.
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