# 7 mth old planted betta journal, moving from low to high tech, lots of pics, diy co2



## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Just got the bottles set up following the guide at http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/DIY-Yeast-CO2/7/

I'm using 2 x 1 litre bottles instead with half the dose each, and hopefully a 2 week rotation with bottles.

I ordered a regular ceramic/glass diffuser, and a generic bubble counter on [Ebay Link Removed] Should be here tom or next day. For the time being, i've mixed one bottle and left it gassing in a cup of r.o. drinking water, neutral ph. Hopefully i'll be able to get an idea of bubble count, worst ph swing possible..., and any other issues before its added to the tank.








Definitely seeing visible signs of the liquid co2, increased lighting, and api root tabs, over the past 4-5 days. New growth on the crypts, java fern, and especially the rotala indica, some on the swords as well. I did find a few chunks of anacharis laying on the substrate instead of floating, they're still green and seem to be growing though. The diatoms? are also changing color on the outskirts of the colonies, hopefully dieing off.


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Heres some updated pics

































































So have one bottle set up now for the diy co2. Had a leak somewhere with the second bottle/check valve/t-valve, so just gonna keep it with one bottle for the time being. I'm using a cheap co2 diffuser from ebay, working good so far (24 hours). The bubble counter is showing about 1 about every 3 seconds.

Also got some java moss as well.

Pretty excited about the new growth using the api co2 booster with bigger lights thus far. Anacharis appears to be dieing, but everything else seems great.

Using the api 5 in 1 test strips, readings are 25ish kh, 10 gh, 0 no2, 7.5 no3, 6.7 ph. Ammonia is back at zero after a small spike when i added the root tabs and mixed up some substrate. 

I'm trying to do at least 2 30%ish water changes a week, and both times dosing the ferts (Seachem flourish comprehensive and nitrogen both recommended dose). 

A few other interesting things have been going on as well. Tank temp has reached 84 during the day here, pretty hot where I'm at. I found some thin kinda long white worm thing swimming around, watched it for about 3 seconds, before the fish saw and ate immediately. Also been having a good amount of flying ants around the house, and a fish that keeps getting fatter...

Anything would you people do different? I'm still wondering if its worth adding potassium or phosphorus, or anything else.


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## AGUILAR3 (Jun 22, 2013)

Tank looks good. 

Why the need to go high tech? The plants you have should do well with half the lighting you currently have.

I had white worms in one of my betta tanks that turned out to be mosquito larvae. Like yours, they didn't last too long.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

I don't think I'd mess with it . Everything's running smoothly for you , and it looks great . Though you might want to get rid of the duckweed , especially if you've got multiple tanks . The stuff spreads like wildfire . I've probably got 10 tanks overrun with the stuff .


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Re DIY CO2, sealant methods are all crap. Ive used silicone, hot glue, super glue, various epoxies, water weld, you name it, and never had one stay leak-free for very long. There's a much better way to do the connections ITT - www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=659290 . 

Thought that may give you some food for thought. Tank looks nice. Good luck!


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## crazy barb (Jul 6, 2014)

nice tank


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Thanks for the input. To answer your question aguilar, I think i'm addicted... I was getting bored with the slow grow rate when I had the lower tech setup for about 6 months. It seems like there's more noticeable growth in the past two weeks, then most months before...

I can see why duckweed is illegal to buy or sale or certain states due to it being an invasive plant. 

Just 2 weeks of growth...















Great thread burr, I might have to try that in the future.

Thanks


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

so changed up a few things recently. 

I took someoldguys advice and removed a bunch of the duckweed. Hopefully some no3 might stick around so i don't have to dose nitrogen as frequently.

I also planted a bunch of the rotala indica? thats been floating for awhile and is nice and curved...

I built a simple raft with airhose/connector to try to keep the salvinia in so hopefully keep growing..

The co2 seems to be producing at best around 1 bubble every 3 seconds, and at most 1 bubble every 5 seconds. I've been trying to replace the mix when it slows down to that point though, maybe every 4 days. It really does seem to be making a difference. First time seeing pearling in this tank.

After reading some of the great threads about par and cfls on here, I re-positioned the lights so they are more vertical, as well as a little closer from the top of the tank.


























































Thanks again to the people that have left their advice here, and the plantedtank community in whole. Great website...


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

You should be getting a lot longer out of your CO2 mixture, like closer to two weeks before seeing a reduction. Use a bigger bottle than 1L, more water=more CO2 for a longer period of time. Try that recipe in the thread I linked, a 2 Liter bottle runs for about 16-17 days before slowing down. If a 2 L bottle is too big space-wise or something, you can find 1.89L fairly easy, they're a bit more compact. I use one of those on a 20 gallon with about the same results as the 2Ls.


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Thanks again burr. I'm gonna mix up a two litre and put it on tonight so hopefully it will be kicking by lights on tom. Great tank/journal on the 75 gallon too, interesting read.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Thanks!


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

so a new update, about one month since i've upped lighting and added co2 (both through liquid and diy) also figured out how to post higher res pics, so i'll try to do it that way now.



































































For the DIY CO2, moving from a ltr to a 2 ltr bottle has made a huge difference. 7 days with the same bottle and averaging between 1 bubble every 1.5-3 seconds, with a little shaking every now and then.

I've only added a small amount of api co2 booster if I've had to depressurize the diy setup, twice now since last update.

Plants seem like there loving life. Salvinia is coming growing back slowly but surely, even a branch of anacharis, which i've always had problems with appears to be thriving. 

I've added a new bunch of API root tabs, except I broke them in half and put them at 3 inches apart around the plants (as opposed to the directions with one tab every 6 in). Between that and some pruning of the old diatom? covered growth, the crypts and swords are happy.

Since I got rid of 90% of the duckweed, my no3 has been testing a lot higher (around 15ish ppm), so I'm starting to lower the dose of the Flourish Nitrogen. Duckweed does make a heck of a no3 mop...

KH and GH were both around 40 today. Gh shows a lot lower with api test strips, around 10, but I'd like to believe the liquid api gh/kh test kit.

I'm planning on ordering some flourish Potassium soon. I was thinking of getting all the NPK macros, but i've read fish food is high in phosphorous (can any1 confirm), so i'll wait on that.

The brown algae crap (diatoms?) seems to have really slowed down on the front glass, but continues to grow in area of low light/current, I'm debating spot dosing excel, but i do really like my anacharis...

Really would like some input on this... Thinking of getting rid of the dragon and sponge filter/etc on left side of tank and starting some carpeting or other low growing plants. Any thoughts/ideas? I kinda like glosso, but wondering if the inch of flourite would make that a p.i.t.a.


Thanks again, appreciate all the comments/critiques so far.


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

another update...

tanks really starting to grow in now.








































seems like i have to replace the co2 mix about every 5-6 days to keep it steady between a bubble every 1.5 to 4 seconds. Still works a lot better than I originally thought it would. Highly recommend it over the liquid stuff.

Seems like i'm getting some deficiencies though, Some of the newer crypt leaves are turning brown at the edges on one plant, and the other one (lower water current) has that in addition to some pin holes/chunks of the leaves missing...

And some new brownish hair algae stuff is popping up in the lower levels of tank with lower light/current. Any ideas? would rather not do any liquid co2.
Also still have a brown algae thing (maybe diatoms???) in some of the same areas, especially the darkest areas










I'm planning on ordering both Flourish potassium and phosphorus. I'll start with the potassium and see if that balances things out, then I plan on waiting to see what effect that has for a month our two. Then I'll add the phosphorus and see what that does.

All in all, pretty happy with the way this tank is coming along.

Also starting a new 20 gallon long, i'll link its journal here soon.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Im no expert on deficiencies, but I do know it takes a full range of everything (N, P, K + micros) otherwise you will eventually have one. Plants are limited by whatever nutrient is in the least supply. (see Leibig's law of minimum) Pinholes in older leaves can be a sign of low potassium, not saying that's what it is though.



> seems like i have to replace the co2 mix about every 5-6 days to keep it steady *between a bubble every 1.5 to 4 seconds.*


From my exp using DIY currently on two different tanks, I can tell you that is nowhere near consistent enough to not have algae issues. On my 20 gal, a new bottle starts off at a solid 1 bps. After two weeks, it's down to roughly 2 bubbles every 3 seconds. If I let it go a third week, it becomes 1 bubble every 2 then 3 seconds. It is at this point that algae starts showing up. It happens every time. 

Another thing is I cant understand why you arent getting more Co2 production, for a longer period of time. I just use plain old yeast/sugar and a tbsp of baking soda to get the previously mentioned rates out of a 2L bottle. Are you sure you dont have a leak somewhere in the connections? That is a strong possibility if you're relying on any sort of adhesive to seal it off. You can test them with soapy water. Just dab some on and if you see bubbles, there's a leak. 

Tank is looking good, btw. I bet that betta is happy


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Hey thanks burr.

Hopefully i'll have the ferts, flourish p and k, by next week. i've read a few things saying that fish food contains phosphorus in good amounts, so I'll start with the potassium and see what that does. 

I tried the bubble leak test and didn't see anything. I do rinse the bottle out with our tap water (extremely hard coming in past a potasium water softener) so maybe its something in that that is slowing the production. I just rinse it in the tap and then use bottled drinking water for the mix. I also really shook up the bottle probably a lot more than needed during the last mix, and it jumped to like 10 bubbles per second for a while, then it dramatically slowed down the next day and i switched it, so maybe that made it end prematurely. Does yeast have a good shelf life as well? 

When this mix slows down, I'll take better notes about how many bubbles per day/when it was shaken etc, and get a better idea. 

Seems like its a good idea to add baking soda, at least by looking at your threads. diy co2 guru man...

I forgot to mention in my last update that i also removed some zip ties and rocks from the filter input to allow a higher flow. Seems like i'm getting good circulation in the majority of the tank now. 

Thanks


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

I dont know if one type of water is any better than another. I just use straight from the tap, which mine is also very hard. I've read about people leaving the old yeast in the bottle for various reasons, but I just rinse them out well each time and start totally fresh.

I did make a big mistake with yeast one time. The little jar said refrigerate after opening, so I did. Next couple batches I took it straight from the frig and started the activation process. I noticed it didnt bubble as much as usual while in the little bowl, but didnt think much about it. That is until the next day when nothing was happening. Turns out your supposed to let it get room temperature before use, or the dramatic shift in temp can kill it off. Since then I just keep it in the proverbial cool dry place, aka the kitchen cabinet.

Lol @ diy guru man, not even close my friend. I've just made enough dumb mistakes that Im starting to learn what not to do :red_mouth


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## desertfish24 (Jun 23, 2014)

Hey, time for another update.








































I've been dosing the seachem npk and flourish according the dosing chart on their website for 8 days now. Seems like the potassium and phosphorous makes a pretty big difference. The pin holes stopped spreading on most of the plants, and the new growth looks good. The brown algae is still there, but seems to be growing slower than ever.

I started 2 fresh c02 mixes 5 days ago now, one here and another on my new 20 gallon long. I shook them both up a few hours ago. Right now the're both producing about 2.5-3 bubbles per second. 

I'm thinking about next time i remix the bottles, trying one with baking soda and one with out. Or try a few different water types and see if there is a difference in ro vs tap.

I did find a small leak at where the airline is glued into the coke bottle last week. I put some superglue (KrazyGlue) on it and seems like it was fixed about instantly.

The crypts seem like there doing good. Most of the new growth is coming in a brownish red color and about twice the length of the old growth. 

I also added a little bit of marsilea minuta in front.

Thanks


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