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> From: duncand at sprynet_com
> Subject: DIY C02 recipie doesn't last
> 
> This is for all the DIY C02 users out there.
> 
> I'm running one bottle on a 75g and one on a 50g. The recipie I got from a FAQ 
> file off of the AquaLink web site calls for 3 cups sugar and two tablespoons 
> yeast (roughly 1 packet) to the two litre bottle. The file states that this is 
> supposed to last about two weeks. I'm barely getting one week on mine.

I'm running two bottles on my 100 gallon.  I tried the same recipe for
each bottle, changing the solution every week, but at a three-days
interval between bottles.  One twist was to reuse the yeast (a penny
saved is an eventual plant) ie.  I'll throw most of the yeast-sugar
solution away and keep about a tenth.  I'll then add just the
sugar-solution to it.  I did the above on the advice of my friend
who's got a PhD in microbiology.  According to him, the yeast will
keep producing CO2 and alcohol until the alchohol eventually kills it. 
The trick is to keep the yeast-solution just before the alchohol kills
it.  If anyone has any figures on the mortality of Fleichman's yeast,
pls let me know.

Another twist is to pipe the CO2 under a floating glass jar:

Borrowing Duncan's picture:

  ____________r-------n_
 |_====_________________|
 |~|o~|~~~~~~~~~~~~||~~~|
 | | o|  .  <>-<   ||   |
 | |o |   .          .  |
 | | o| ><>  \       .  |
 |   O        |/  >-<>  |
 |************|*********|
 |______________________|

 where o
      o   are the CO2 bubbles coming from an airstone 


I inverted a glass jar and let it float under a glass pane that was
placed across the aquarium.  The CO2 bubbles are placed under this. 
After a few hours, when it's filled up, I moved the bubbles elsewhere
and replace them back under the glass jar again when the CO2 in the
jar is almost fully dissolved.


A further refinement would be to build a narrow, inverted glass box at
the back of the aquarium to collect the CO2 the same way.  Has anyone
tried this before?


Francis Ngoh