• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Diy co2 and shrimps

Asifur

Seedling
Joined
16 Feb 2014
Messages
10
Hello guys,

I have got a 72 litre planted tank with 2 litre 2 bottles of DIY co2.My plants are doing well. Recently i have added cherry

shrimp.when i refill yeast baking soda and sugar, diy reactor makes a lot of co2 and for the first week it starts from 7 bubbles per

second for 2 days then 5 bubbles per second for rest of the week. My question is, will cherry shrimp be okay?
3enyteqa.jpg
 
Like fish, he will be fine as long as you don't add too much CO2.

I can't see a drop checker in your picture so I'd highly suggest you get one along with some 4dkh water and drop checker solution (Bromothymol Blue).

Guessing how much CO2 you have using bubbles per second is completely pointless as bubbles are different sizes and everyones water absorbs CO2 at different rates depending on it's KH (carbonate hardness).
 
My water kh is 6 , if i could not control or turn off diy co2 at night,will drop checker still be effective? What should i do if my co2 reactor is producing a lot of co2? Shall i get 2 bottles of 1 litre instead of 2 bottles of 2 litres ? Thanks...
 
Oh ! Now i understand how drop checker works,i have just read about it in a forum.Thanks for the suggestion...:)
 
Make sure you use 4dkh water, else it will not work properly.

You can get solenoid valves for DIY CO2 like this one that connect directly onto the tubing (make sure if you do buy one that it has 2 pipe connectors):

491447460_207.jpg


If your reactors are producing too much CO2 and your drop checker is turning yellow (yellow = bad, red = very very bad), you need a way to slow it down. You should have one of these already, but if you don't, it's called a 'Needle Valve':

-font-b-Co2-b-font-generator-micrometering-font-b-valve-b-font-full-metal-font.jpg


Again, make sure it has 2 connectors for the CO2 tube. It's worth spending a bit of money on one of these, don't go cheap else you'll find that plastic/cheaply made metal ones aren't 100% air tight and will let CO2 escape through the joints. Anything around £10 should do the job.

You have to be very patient when it comes to CO2 and making your drop checker turn green. Remember that the drop checker takes 2-3 hours to change colour, so if it's green, it means that 2 or 3 hours ago, your CO2 was at acceptable levels. If it turns yellow, there's a good chance that at the time you're looking at it, there's enough CO2 in your water that in reality the drop checker would be red/orange (which means your fish and shrimp will be dead very soon if they aren't already). If it ever does turn yellow, I'd change at least 30% of the water to keep your inhabitants safe. You want to aim for a greeny-yellow (lime green) colour in the drop checker by the end of the day.

Just start out slowly, it won't make a huge difference if your tank goes a few days with insufficient CO2. You might see some Algae, but that's better than a dead shrimp.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much Julian...you are the best ...:)
 
Just curious but is it advisable to use a solenoid with DIY CO2? Turning the solenoid off will mean that CO2 pressure is gonna build in the DIY bottles!
 
I think soda bottle has got the capacity to handle the pressure but again when u turn on diy in the morning ,it may produce a lot of co2 which was stuck in the bottle overnight.Drop checkers gonna work that time..i mean ,if its producing a lot then drop checker will turn yellow,again ...drop checker takes time to change color(3 hours i have heard) ,so it doesnt give you immidiate result.Co2 running at night will cause PH reduction,which is baad for shrimp.I have bought an air pump to circulate oxygen during night but it is still risky to run co2 cause plants do not absorb co2 without light.For shrimp set up , it is ideal to use pressurized co2 or no extra co2 ( co2 is already in the water and will add more with every water change) using moss/low requiring plants.I may use pressurized co2 in future but for now i have removed diy system and my low/medium requiring plants are doing well.
 
Just curious but is it advisable to use a solenoid with DIY CO2? Turning the solenoid off will mean that CO2 pressure is gonna build in the DIY bottles!

Sorry, yes thats correct. I forget that most people use coke bottles!

When I was using DIY CO2, my bottle had a pressure release on it, think it was made by Fluval, specifically for DIY CO2. Worth having a look for, it was only about £20.
 
I think soda bottle has got the capacity to handle the pressure but again when u turn on diy in the morning ,it may produce a lot of co2 which was stuck in the bottle overnight.Drop checkers gonna work that time..i mean ,if its producing a lot then drop checker will turn yellow,again ...drop checker takes time to change color(3 hours i have heard) ,so it doesnt give you immidiate result.Co2 running at night will cause PH reduction,which is baad for shrimp.I have bought an air pump to circulate oxygen during night but it is still risky to run co2 cause plants do not absorb co2 without light.For shrimp set up , it is ideal to use pressurized co2 or no extra co2 ( co2 is already in the water and will add more with every water change) using moss/low requiring plants.I may use pressurized co2 in future but for now i have removed diy system and my low/medium requiring plants are doing well.

I don't use DIY CO2, but I wouldn't take the risk of using a regulator with soda PET bottles either. From what I've read, there are some variations in yeast, sugar and water. And if you were distracted and made a mistake when mixing which results in higher CO2 production, it could be potentially harmful if the bottle explodes.
 
I would rather use pressurised co2 ....not gonna do diy thing anymore
 
Back
Top