babygeige's CO2 adventure

[kagome]

When you get a chance can we see some more pictures? Especially while there's still old growth and new growth to compare. I know you're busy so just whenever you have a chance.

[babygeige]

Jul 30, 2009 23:33:37 GMT -5 supi said:

Glad to hear your plants are doing well. It is great to have lush aquarium plants.

Did you get your narrow red leaf Ludwigia planted?

I did finally get them planted on Thursday. I will take some pictures and post them here. I'll get some updated pictures of the WW too. I don't think I'd describe my tank as lush quite yet. The old stuff on the wisteria is still kind of brown. I'm not sure if it will improve, or that's permanent.

I did a full water test on all of my tanks today.
Here's the 30's results.
Ammo, nitrite and phosphate = 0
Nitrate = 10
KH = 5 drops
GH = 9 drops
pH = 7.6

bubbles = 7 per minute
So, everything is holding steady, which is nice.

[babygeige]

I finally got some new pictures taken!! Sorry it's taken me a whole month, Kagome. This working business is really cramping my style, lol. I took these sometime last week.

Here are the new plants. Red Leaf Ludwigia. They've been shedding all the old bottom leaves, but the new ones look pretty good. They are red on the underside. I'm hoping that the rest of them will turn red. Today I removed a plant, cut the bottom twiggy part off, and replanted it to see if the new growth on top will hang on and it will grow taller.


Here is a water wisteria. You can really see a difference between the old and new growth!


A shot of the whole tank. I cut off the old dirty brown top of the WW on the far left to try to encourage new growth. Now it has a little sprout growing out of the top.


Another view of the new plants. You can see how twiggy they are on the bottom where they've been shedding their old leaves.

[Carl]

Your plants are really looking nice.

Have you been using ferts (root tabs & other addtional minersls, etc.) and Flourish Excel or just the CO2?

Carl

[babygeige]

Thanks Carl! They've got a long way to go, but I'm getting there slowly...
I have root tabs in there, but other than that it's just the CO2. I thought I'd just try that for a while and see how it works out.

[babygeige]

Back in October, I decided to add another bottle of CO2, so right now I'm using the little Hagen canister as well as a 2 liter bottle. I bought a ceramic air stone. It makes much smaller bubbles than a regular air stone.

I'm not very diligent about keeping up with making new batches of yeast mixture, so I decided to try a totally different recipe. This uses Jello!

There are a lot of recipes out there. For this first attempt, I'm using a recipe from plantedtank.net www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/9916-jello-co2-thread.html
1. Mix together 2 packs of Jell-O (any flavour - all that's gonna go into your tank is the CO2 either way) and 2 cups boiling water. Mix really well until it's all dissolved.

2. Add 1.5-2 cups sugar and mix well again.
3. Add 2 cups cold water and mix AGAIN. Make sure the sugar is dissolved and not just collected at the bottom.

4. Pour the mixture into the bottle and stick it in the fridge overnight, until it actually turns to Jell-O.

5. Once the jello has hardened, add one cup room temp/lukewarm water and 1/2 tsp yeast. More yeast will produce more CO2. I would suggest starting with 1/2 tsp. If you find that it's not enough, you can always open the bottle later and put in some more.

I'm going to go make my jello tonight. I will hook it up the tank sometime this weekend. I'm going to do this in the 2 liter bottle and just keep using the old same recipe for the smaller canister thing.

[goldenpuon]

Very interesting/original idea for CO2 production. I shoulds try that if I ever get live plants.

[Carl]

This is an interesting concept, especially since i never really cared for the hassles of the more traditional CO2/yeast methods.

A person I speak with while down in LA, mentioned this in passing a few months back, but I never had time to engage him as to the exact method and results, including diffusing into the tank.

How do you plan to diffuse the CO2 into the tank?

I used a sponge filter (connected to the bulls eye) and turned sideways to diffuse the CO2 in years past using traditional yeast method

Carl

[babygeige]

I made the jell-o right in the 2 liter bottle friday night, and this afternoon I added the yeast and lukewarm water. We'll see how this works...

Carl, I'm diffusing it into the tank the same way as the traditional yeast method. I've got the tube inserted through the lid of the pop bottle and sealed. The other end has a ceramic air stone diffusing into the tank. I have that positioned right under the outlet for the filter so that it get circulated through the tank.

[babygeige]

So far, the jello concoction is working. It's making lots of bubbles. Now we just have to see how long it lasts.

[Carl]

Apr 18, 2010 19:08:52 GMT -5 babygeige said:

I made the jell-o right in the 2 liter bottle friday night, and this afternoon I added the yeast and lukewarm water. We'll see how this works...

Carl, I'm diffusing it into the tank the same way as the traditional yeast method. I've got the tube inserted through the lid of the pop bottle and sealed. The other end has a ceramic air stone diffusing into the tank. I have that positioned right under the outlet for the filter so that it get circulated through the tank.

Babygeige;

The reason I asked is although he use of ceramic air stone is "the traditional method" I know of many (including a high end plant keeping friend who follows Tom Barr's Plant Site) that take this method a step further and use an upside down sponge filter (along with the air diffuser) to provide better diffusion. This allows for many more tiny bubbles of CO2 on the surface of the sponge filter than a ceramic air stone would allow.
Although I have not personally tested this method, my friend has and tested about a 2 to 1 difference in dissolved CO2 levels using this method.

See this picture from Aquarium Plant Care



Carl

[babygeige]

That's an interesting idea. I may try that out someday. I don't particularly care for the way it looks though, so I'd have to figure out a good way to hide it.

[Carl]

Apr 28, 2010 18:14:46 GMT -5 babygeige said:

I don't particularly care for the way it looks though, so I'd have to figure out a good way to hide it.

That is the problem with almost any effective CO2 diffuser/reactor.
I personally like the green cylinder of the Sanders Systems, but unfortunately this company has stopped selling their CO2 system.
The Hagen (which I see in your pictures) is also noticeable as with the Jungle diffuser box (which is quite ugly and an "algae magnet" too).

The reactors used by many large pressurized systems are uglier yet IMHO, often large sponges are used for these too as well as power heads attached to gravel vacuum nozzles (which are really ugly, albeit effective)

Carl

[babygeige]

I've actually removed the Hagen ladder thing since that picture was taken. It's too annoying to have to take out and clean. The disgusting little snails that have invaded my tank like to live on it, so I took it out.

I don't mind the looks of the glass diffusers. They blend in a bit better. I may get one of those someday.
i3.tinypic.com/4cdmg04.jpg

[Carl]

That looks like a good idea as well.

It still looks like it may disperse CO2 more rapidly than some chambers or the sponges, but it definitely is better looking than most.

Aesthetics and maintenance (so as keep off ugly gunk) is one aspect of most CO2 kits, especially entry level such as the Hagen, Jungle, or Sanders that I dislike most.

The Jungle Kit really collects algae and gunk fast and although I admittedly sell this kit, I do not like the aesthetic part of it. I wish Sanders had not gone out of business as I liked it's reactor/diffuser best in terms of function and aesthetics over the Hagen and Jungle, but alas they are no more.

I would like to better adapt the sponge idea to these smaller/entry level units as well, as my friend's controlled tests speak volumes over all other reactor methods he used by over 2 to 1 (he used this in larger "professional grade" pressurized CO2 systems with regulators and such)

Carl

[babygeige]

How well would using a small sponge work, say the Hydro #1 size? It would look a little better since it's half the size, but would it only be half as effective?

[Carl]

May 2, 2010 15:29:12 GMT -5 babygeige said:

How well would using a small sponge work, say the Hydro #1 size? It would look a little better since it's half the size, but would it only be half as effective?

It probably would work about as well for the amount of CO2 your producing.

The trick in my own experimenting is to achieve a regulated flow and even dispersion of CO2 over the sponge's surface (I am attempting to adapt this sponge idea for using in replacing the ugly diffusion chamber that comes with the Jungle CO2 unit, so it does not take much to improve aesthetically from this one).

My friend was adding larger amounts that were already regulated, so these were not an issue (& it performed beautifully with tiny air bubbles all over the sponge).
For me regulation is the issue followed by placing the air stone in a place that the small amount of CO2 being added permeates a large surface of the sponge, not just the path of least resistance.

For you application (using yeast), I actually think the #1 might work better providing again proper air stone placement in this smaller sponge.

Carl

[babygeige]

The jello recipe that I used for this experiment was less than impressive. It didn't last as long as the regular old sugar and yeast way that I was using. I'm going to have to do a little digging and find how to tinker with the recipe to see if I can improve it.

Basically right now there is no added CO2 in there. Maybe next week I'll get around to starting it up again.

[Carl]

May 12, 2010 17:34:52 GMT -5 babygeige said:

The jello recipe that I used for this experiment was less than impressive. It didn't last as long as the regular old sugar and yeast way that I was using. I'm going to have to do a little digging and find how to tinker with the recipe to see if I can improve it.

Sorry this did not work.
I have not tried it, nor have others I know (until you tried it), but I have read good reviews about this method.

Maybe tinkering with the recipe will improve it.

Carl

[babygeige]

I haven't done anything with the bottle yet, but I noticed yesterday that it was making bubbles again...weird. It wasn't making a whole lot, but it was a decently steady stream. I remember shaking the bottle up a bit a while back, I guess it helped.