I have the Hagen Nutrifin CO2 system and am out of the "magic packets"
that it comes with. I'm not one to pay huge money for the magic
ingredients when I know that it's just yeast in one packet and baking soda
in the other.

I'm now doing my first attempt at a hybrid DIY-Hagen CO2 system and am
certainly getting lots of CO2. In fact, I believe I'm getting way too much
CO2 and would like to slow it down. With the Hagen packets, I was getting
about 1 bubble every 35 to 50 seconds. I'm now getting 22 bubbles a
minute! Do I just need to add more baking soda to the mix?

And, as a general rule-of-thumb, should the measurement of yeast and
baking soda be approximately equal?

Thanks.

You were not getting enough CO2 before..
22 bubbles per minute is decent - certainly not high. I'm pumping 3 bubbles
per second
into my 75G. What size tank do you have?

-
ghazanfar ghori

"Tim Stephens" wrote in message
news
I have the Hagen Nutrifin CO2 system and am out of the "magic packets"
that it comes with. I'm not one to pay huge money for the magic
ingredients when I know that it's just yeast in one packet and baking soda
in the other.

I'm now doing my first attempt at a hybrid DIY-Hagen CO2 system and am
certainly getting lots of CO2. In fact, I believe I'm getting way too much
CO2 and would like to slow it down. With the Hagen packets, I was getting
about 1 bubble every 35 to 50 seconds. I'm now getting 22 bubbles a
minute! Do I just need to add more baking soda to the mix?

And, as a general rule-of-thumb, should the measurement of yeast and
baking soda be approximately equal?

Thanks.

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 19:53:46 +0000, Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:

You were not getting enough CO2 before.. 22 bubbles per minute is decent -
certainly not high. I'm pumping 3 bubbles per second
into my 75G. What size tank do you have?

-
ghazanfar ghori

I have a 27 gallon tank with loads of plants. :-)

So the CO2 levels are ok then?

Do I need to keep a close eye on my pH with this much CO2?

Thanks

Always keep an eye on pH. Determine your CO2 levels using the
pH / KH chart available on Chuck Gadds website. (works as
long as you're not using any buffers).
About 25-30ppm of CO2 should be your target.

"Tim Stephens" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 19:53:46 +0000, Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:

You were not getting enough CO2 before.. 22 bubbles per minute is
decent -
certainly not high. I'm pumping 3 bubbles per second
into my 75G. What size tank do you have?

-
ghazanfar ghori

I have a 27 gallon tank with loads of plants. :-)

So the CO2 levels are ok then?

Do I need to keep a close eye on my pH with this much CO2?

Thanks

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 21:05:05 +0000, Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:

Always keep an eye on pH. Determine your CO2 levels using the pH / KH
chart available on Chuck Gadds website. (works as long as you're not using
any buffers). About 25-30ppm of CO2 should be your target.

How long does your CO2 last before you have to dump it and mix a new batch?

"Tim Stephens" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 21:05:05 +0000, Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:

Always keep an eye on pH. Determine your CO2 levels using the pH / KH
chart available on Chuck Gadds website. (works as long as you're not
using
any buffers). About 25-30ppm of CO2 should be your target.

How long does your CO2 last before you have to dump it and mix a new
batch?

When I was doing the DIY CO2 thing with yeast/sugar and water, I used to get
about 8~10 days of consistent production. From about 28 hours after
mixing to about 11 days later then the co2 production would taper off
significantly. So to ensure that I was always getting max co2 into the tank
I'd mix a batch every Saturday afternoon and swap the yeast/sugar/water co2
generator every Sunday evening. I didn't use pop bottles but rather the
64oz juice bottles. The chemistry experiment was fun in the beginning but
the habit got old quick. I never experimented with adding baking soda to
the mixture to try and stretch the co2 production. That may work, but I
have no first hand experience with it. The DIY CO2 worked fine for my 37
gal tank....Plants flourished etc. However when I "upgraded" to a 70 gal
tank the DIY system could not keep up with the demand for CO2 and I had
serious difficulty with Ph swings throughout the day. Eventually, I lost a
couple of fish and had serious battles with algae that I and others
attributed to unstable Ph. Turns out that the DIY system just couldn't
produce enough CO2. Couldn't take it anylonger and so for around $100 I
added a pressurized CO2 system to my tank and have never looked back.


DJay

"Djay" wrote in message
...

"Tim Stephens" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 21:05:05 +0000, Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:

Always keep an eye on pH. Determine your CO2 levels using the pH / KH
chart available on Chuck Gadds website. (works as long as you're not
using
any buffers). About 25-30ppm of CO2 should be your target.

How long does your CO2 last before you have to dump it and mix a new
batch?

When I was doing the DIY CO2 thing with yeast/sugar and water, I used to
get
about 8~10 days of consistent production. From about 28 hours after
mixing to about 11 days later then the co2 production would taper off
significantly. So to ensure that I was always getting max co2 into the
tank
I'd mix a batch every Saturday afternoon and swap the yeast/sugar/water
co2
generator every Sunday evening. I didn't use pop bottles but rather the
64oz juice bottles. The chemistry experiment was fun in the beginning but
the habit got old quick. I never experimented with adding baking soda to
the mixture to try and stretch the co2 production. That may work, but I
have no first hand experience with it. The DIY CO2 worked fine for my 37
gal tank....Plants flourished etc. However when I "upgraded" to a 70 gal
tank the DIY system could not keep up with the demand for CO2 and I had
serious difficulty with Ph swings throughout the day. Eventually, I lost
a
couple of fish and had serious battles with algae that I and others
attributed to unstable Ph. Turns out that the DIY system just couldn't
produce enough CO2. Couldn't take it anylonger and so for around $100 I
added a pressurized CO2 system to my tank and have never looked back.


DJay


I use 1/4 teaspoon of yeast and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with my Hagen
Co2 units and I find that I am getting 21 days of expectable bubble
production from each.
As I have very soft water I raised my KH level from 30ppm to 100ppm and find
my pH sits on 7. Before I raised the KH my pH was all over the place.This
gives me a CO2 level of 18 mg/l, which I am happy with.

Tony

Tim Stephens wrote:
...
How long does your CO2 last before you have to dump it and mix a new batch?
...

I'm using the Hagen system with two bottles working in parallel. One is
the original bottle that came with the system. Another is a plastic
700ml Pepsi bottle. (700ml is about the same volume as the original
bottle. Looks like only Pepsi makes them.) The bottles are joined by a
2-to-1 gang valve and feed the same reactor.

I replace the mix in each bottle every 4 weeks with 2 weeks overlap
(i.e. I reload the first bottle; in two weeks I reload the second
bottle; in two more weeks I reload the first again; etc.) That helps to
both intensify and even out the CO2 production. The latter is the main
point of using two smaller bottles instead of one bigger bottle. I think
that with my setup I can even switch to 5-weeks-per-bottle cycle without
significant reduction in CO2 production.

The only problem I continuously have with my DIY setup is that white
stuff (bacteria?) that keeps accumulating in the reactor where CO2
bubbles enter the water. At first, it causes the slight increase in size
of each bubble. Later it accumulates in the bottom portion of the
reactor and causes the bubbles to get stuck in the reactor for some time
and combine with each other. Both reduce the amount of CO2 that gets to
dissolve in the water instead of escaping to atmosphere. In the severe
cases the buildup makes the bubbles to bounce and miss the reactor
completely. Removing relatively large clumps of this white stuff is not
a big problem. However, cleaning the path completely (so that the
bubbles don't get stuck at all) could be difficult and might require
removing the reactor from the tank.

I wonder if anyone knows any solution that would prevent this stuff from
forming in the reactor in the first place. What if I bubble the CO2
through an intermediate water-filled container (as suggested in many DIY
CO2 designs)? Does anyone know if it will help to fight the buildup of
this white stuff in the actual reactor?

--
Best regards,
Andrey Tarasevich