# diy co2 to the extreme??



## padlock (19 Jul 2009)

i'm looking at diy co2 but am worried about gas imbalance, how about splitting the mixture into 4 and putting it into 4 coke bottles then change one each week, the would alll be connected to one line into a nano diffuser using tee-splitters, would this work and even out any wvers in my gas levels?


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## nickmcmechan (19 Jul 2009)

i've done this on my nano for more consistent co2

couple of tips


change different bottles on different days, e.g. have a tues, thurs and sat bottle...that way the peaks and troughs of production from each bottle will cancel each other out

make sure you always use the same quantities of yeast, sugar etc

use airline clamps so that the pressure from the other bottles isn't affected when you refresh the mix on another

PS, do you realise its just as costs effective in the long term to use pressurised when your using that much diy (hint add up the total costs over 2-3 years)


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## a1Matt (19 Jul 2009)

I did similar, but found I only needed two bottles to keep things constant. 
I would also recommend upgrading to pressurised.  Initial investment is more, but running costs are cheaper (the sugar cost me more than the FE's).


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## padlock (19 Jul 2009)

would preesurised still work with a nano diffuser? i already have this and don't really want to have to get another one when i haven't even used the one i have

thanks, Paul


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## padlock (19 Jul 2009)

a regulator is costing around 90 euro   a FE is 35-40 + packaging, bubble counter 5 euro, solenoid just under the 50 euro mark, thats a whole lotta pennies, in the tutorial it doesn't say the price of a reg but whats the norm?
could either of these reg's work? http://cgi.ebay.ie/ALUMINUM-PRECISE...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1301|293:1|294:50
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Co2-Regulator-Si...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1296|293:1|294:50


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## a1Matt (19 Jul 2009)

Your price for an FE is nearly double what I would pay... that may change whether DIY is more expensive than pressurised.
Pressurised is a lot easier to get stable CO2 levels with though, so can be recommended just for that alone.

Your nano diffuser will work fine.

The first ebay item you showed linked is not a reg, it looks like a needle valve to me - which is what you can use inbetween a reg and diffuser to fine tune the co2 level.

The second item would work, but with only one dial it does not give you as much info as a two valve reg.
One dial tells you the amount of gas left in your FE.
The other dial tells you the amount of gas you are letting out of your FE.
I do not know which of the two dials this reg provides.

When I ran pressurised I used a cheap aquili reg that had no dials at all!
I used to tell how empty my FE was by the weight of it.
I used to set my output by trial and error.
Worked fine for me. 

I also did not run a solenoid and built my own cheapo internal reactor.  That brought the intial investment cost down.

Each to their own though 

Have a look around with the search funciton, there are plenty of posts on here already discussing which kit to buy and the pros and cons


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## padlock (19 Jul 2009)

thanks, in the tutorial he says he put the big dial, the one on the reg i'm looking at, at 50 and the 2nd one at 1.5 because he doesn't know what its for, would i get away properly with taht for a rekord 60? i'm confused by the reactor, how does it work and how does it replace a solenoid?

thanks for answering these simple questions, i'm new to the plented tank scene and want to get this right, i'm using c02 depot in my other tank but don't really like it, Paul


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## padlock (19 Jul 2009)

i found a 1kg bottle for 25 euro, how long would that last?
if i do do this then is all i need the nano diffuser, the reg and the FE? if so i think this is more economical

Thanks, Paul


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## a1Matt (19 Jul 2009)

padlock said:
			
		

> thanks, in the tutorial he says he put the big dial, the one on the reg i'm looking at, at 50 and the 2nd one at 1.5 because he doesn't know what its for, would i get away properly with taht for a rekord 60?



That reg will be fine to set to 50. 
The problem you might have is that as it only has one valve you will not have much fine control over the output.
So it will be perfectly safe and easy to get the output roughly right, but then tweaking it may be difficult.
If you buy aneedle valve this will let you easily fine tune the output.
The first product you provided an ebay link to will fulfill this job.



			
				padlock said:
			
		

> i'm confused by the reactor, how does it work and how does it replace a solenoid?



A reactor does not replace a solenoid.  A reactor is an alternative to a diffuser.  As you have a diffuser already you do not need a reactor   

There is nothing that replaces a solenoid; but as the solenoid is optional this is not a problem!



			
				padlock said:
			
		

> i found a 1kg bottle for 25 euro, how long would that last?



How long a 1kg bottle lasts will vary depending on how much you crank into your tank.... if I had to hazard a guess, on a 60l I'd say you get 3 months out of it. Please do not hold me to that though! 



			
				padlock said:
			
		

> if i do do this then is all i need the nano diffuser, the reg and the FE? if so i think this is more economical



Yep. That will do it. but I would get a needle valve as well (as per above), you can buy the needle valve either separately, or you can look for a reg that has one built in.  I would hunt around and go for whatever option is cheapest personally.

I hope that helps


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## padlock (20 Jul 2009)

that clears all of it up for me i will get both those ebay listings and let you know how i get on
Thanks, Paul


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## GreenNeedle (20 Jul 2009)

Solenoid and needle valve would be approx EURO30 total shipped from Lunapet/Aquarianversand on ebay.

The needle valve in the first ebay link you have there is fine.  Same as I have used in the past.

AC


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## padlock (20 Jul 2009)

how come i can't find any of these cheap equipment items on ebay? can anyone provide links to these please?

Thanks, Paul


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