# Is a DIY CO2 possible for a 125 gallon?



## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

I have a 125 gallon planted tank with approx 3 WPG with 6700/10,000K CF bulbs.

I would like to try CO2 to give my plants a boost (anubias, vals, wisteria, crypts, dwarf baby tears, micro swords, and moneywort). 

If the DIY CO2 is not really viable, what are my most economical options?

thank you,


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## dinosaurodon (Jun 1, 2011)

you would need a ton of coke bottles for a 125 gallon, and they would be a PITA to fill. Try paintball co2, costs only about $70


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

sjsuper76 said:


> If the DIY CO2 is not really viable, what are my most economical options?


In the long run, a full blown CO2 setup with a 10/20# CO2 cylinder would be most economical and least headache-inducing.


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## DesmondTheMoonBear (Dec 19, 2011)

I'm already leaning towards pressurized Co2 for an 8 gallon, I can't imagine how much work DIY Co2 would require for a 125 gal!


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

Paintball CO2? any good links for this type of set up? would it be enough CO2 for a 125g?


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## fantomas (Dec 11, 2007)

a paintball tank would certainly be enough, but you'll be filling it more often (quite a bit more than a 10# or 20# co2 tank. I think altogether my paintball setup was $120, which included:
a new filled tank - $30 (my old tank that I was using for real paintball expired)
CO2 regulator w/ solenoid - $63
Paintball tank CGA320 adapter - $16
Diffuser/bubble counter - $11

for such a large tank you'd probably need at least 1 more diffuser or some sort of reactor


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## fantomas (Dec 11, 2007)

oh and except for the tank (purchased locally), everything was found on ebay


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## TedP (Mar 25, 2011)

I fill the paintball tank on my 30g once a month. Its $4 so it's less than $50 a year but it can be a hassle getting to the store to do it. I would figure on a 125g, you would need to do it weekly.


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## f22warzone (Dec 16, 2011)

I run DIY co2 on my 125g, and its doing really good.
I run 5x 2L coke bottles in a 10 gallon aquarium with a 300W heater to keep the temp at about 80’F. Heck with this and no surface agitation I almost killed my fish. Down side of adding the heater is the bottles only last 10 days.

Notice the before I just changed out the bottles and there was air in them reason why it’s not fully dissolved in diffuser
Start of heated yeast system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2N8i6iAiMY&list=UUFyKQWa5lNw63NMxD2NBr0Q&index=2&feature=plcp

9 days later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtQFWx4EBsQ&list=UUFyKQWa5lNw63NMxD2NBr0Q&index=1&feature=plcp


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

sjsuper76 said:


> Paintball CO2? any good links for this type of set up? would it be enough CO2 for a 125g?


You wouldn't want a tiny 20 oz paintball tank for 125 gal tank. A 20lb co2 tank is your best option, then a 10lb tank as the next best option


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## [email protected] (Apr 27, 2011)

f22warzone said:


> I run DIY co2 on my 125g, and its doing really good.
> I run 5x 2L coke bottles in a 10 gallon aquarium with a 300W heater to keep the temp at about 80’F. Heck with this and no surface agitation I almost killed my fish. Down side of adding the heater is the bottles only last 10 days.
> 
> Notice the before I just changed out the bottles and there was air in them reason why it’s not fully dissolved in diffuser
> ...


Man, I can't believe you got that kind of growth, in that big of a tank, from DIY Co2!! Now I'm seriously thinking about this in my 105 with a gallon jug or 2. I think I could fit atleast 1 in my sump. Now to find me a DIY diffuser:hihi: Good job on that, that tank looks great.


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## f22warzone (Dec 16, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> ........ Now to find me a DIY diffuser:hihi: Good job on that, that tank looks great.


Thanks, now i need a way to slow down the growth, Thinking about selling the smaller lights and hanging the big one.

also if you drink, I have found that the vodka bottles make great diffuser as pictured....about 95% diffusion when just co2 is in the bottle


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Without adding CO2 to the tank, the CO2 concentration just from atmospheric CO2 is probably from 1 to 3 ppm. That's not much. If you can even double that it helps the plants grow much better. That's why if you limit yourself to low light you can improve the plants situation with even one bottle of DIY CO2. Of course that's not nearly as much as the plants need, but it still helps. If I had that size tank, and I did once, I would, and did, use a 3-4 liter DIY bottle, changing it every 2 weeks, and using baking soda in the mix to stretch out the production a bit. Of course 2 bottles is a lot better.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

Guys,

Can I just use one 5 gallon jug (blue water cooler jug) and put in 5x the recipe for one 2 liter DIY CO2? Wouldn't that be the same as using five separate 2 liter bottles?


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## f22warzone (Dec 16, 2011)

actually 10 litters only comes out to 2.6 gallons but I do like the way your thinking..... I drink a bit so the coke bottles were easy to come by ( you know celebrating the passing of finals  ) 

if i were to go with a 5 gallon jug i would go ahead and put the heater inside of it....may do that so i can have my quarantine tank back  

so you would need 9x the recipe for 5 gallons
to make it easy a 5 pound bag of sugar is 11 cups
so you could make 11 litters or about 3 gallons of brew 
then a good helping of yeast and you will have great plant growth  
heck you could even fill the thing up with 5 gallons of water this would ensure all the sugar was converted before they died of alcohol


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## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

For pressurized on that scale I wouldn't use a paintball setup, I'd go with a 20 pound tank. I know someone running a 20 pound tank on a 125. He's at about 6 bps and it lasts him about 10 months. Around me a 20 pound tank costs ~$20 to refill. A 10 pound tank costs ~$16, so it is worth getting the larger tank if it fits. My setup (cheap Milwaukee kit) with a 20 lb tank ran me $160 shipped in the swap/shop here.
For DIY anywhere near that scale you'll need a ton of pop bottles.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

i was suggesting the five gallon to replace five 2 liter coke bottles because that would be enough CO2 already, right? If I use the capacity of the 5 gallon (18.9 liters) wouldn't that be too much CO2...?


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

*vodka diffuser?*



f22warzone said:


> Thanks, now i need a way to slow down the growth, Thinking about selling the smaller lights and hanging the big one.
> 
> also if you drink, I have found that the vodka bottles make great diffuser as pictured....about 95% diffusion when just co2 is in the bottle


....the video sped by the vodka bottle kinda fast...how did you set it up exactly? is it just the air tube going into the bottle? 

thanks for the great suggestions so far, I am going to try the 5 gallon set up this week, will post pics.


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## f22warzone (Dec 16, 2011)

for the diffuser. I have my canister filters going into the top of the of the bottle so their passing water through it, as seen when you pause their is a jet of water coming down. the co2 is injected into the bottle from the bottom..... so it bubbles up to the top and gets broken up by the powerful jet of water until eventually its all diffused.... same thing as a rex reactor


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Assuming you switch out the mixture every two weeks, you'll have matched the price of a cheap single stage reg in 2 or 3 months. You sure you want to go this route?


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## Rich Conley (Jun 10, 2008)

kevmo911 said:


> Assuming you switch out the mixture every two weeks, you'll have matched the price of a cheap single stage reg in 2 or 3 months. You sure you want to go this route?


You must be getting the world's cheapest regulators/worlds most expensive sugar. 


Sugar is about $.30/lb in the supermarket. You'd have to go through 300lbs of sugar to hit $100 (and thats buying in 5lb bags).. more is cheaper. Thats about what a CO2 tank costs alone, before you even start looking at regulator/needlevalve/etc.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Rich Conley said:


> You must be getting the world's cheapest regulators/worlds most expensive sugar.
> 
> 
> Sugar is about $.30/lb in the supermarket. You'd have to go through 300lbs of sugar to hit $100 (and thats buying in 5lb bags).. more is cheaper. Thats about what a CO2 tank costs alone, before you even start looking at regulator/needlevalve/etc.


Okay, my math was way off. Still, with a 5g jug refilled every two weeks, that's 20lbs of sugar a month, as well as a handful of yeast packets. And a cheap single stage regulator, complete with solenoid and nv, can be grabbed for $80 (Aquatek from Amazon, for example). So while my timeline was way off, the cost of DIY CO2 adds up pretty quickly for something as big as we're talking about. Maybe $10/month for sugar and yeast? Doable, but there might be better ways to spend that money.

*Edit* Just went to the supermarket. My local store (Harris Teeter) prices tend to be on the high side, but the best deal on sugar was 4lbs for $2.50 or so. In my case, with a 5g jug with a standard mix of 2 cups of sugar (1lb) per half gallon, refilled every two weeks, that's $12.50 for sugar in a month. Add another few bucks for yeast, and I'd be over $15 per month for A DIY setup. For me, that's just not worth it.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

kevmo911 said:


> *Edit* Just went to the supermarket. My local store (Harris Teeter) prices tend to be on the high side, but the best deal on sugar was 4lbs for $2.50 or so. In my case, with a 5g jug with a standard mix of 2 cups of sugar (1lb) per half gallon, refilled every two weeks, that's $12.50 for sugar in a month. Add another few bucks for yeast, and I'd be over $15 per month for A DIY setup. For me, that's just not worth it.


I see your point...but what would the TOTAL cost be for a pressurized CO2 set up? (not going super cheap, but with at least decent quality components)


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

If I can spare $10 a month for CO2, but don't want to wait 15 months to save up $150 for a cheap pressurized system, I would prefer to get the limited benefits of DIY CO2 now, not over a year later. Some of us have very limited spare $$$ to put into the hobby. And, that is the group that DIY CO2 makes a lot of sense for. But, this is only good with low light. With high light the fluctuations in CO2 concentration in the water would very likely cause algae problems.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

sjsuper76 said:


> I see your point...but what would the TOTAL cost be for a pressurized CO2 set up? (not going super cheap, but with at least decent quality components)


Substantial. Going a step up from the cheapo rigs, I'd expect to spend $2-300, including cylinder, for a used dual stage, solenoid, and several needle valves.

Worth it, in my opinion, but I understand money constraints. It's just that DIY CO2, while useful, is surprisingly expensive over time, and can potentially be a huge (*HUGE*) PITA. Maybe DIY CO2 is a necessary step on the road to pressurized (it was in my case), but my advice is to skip DIY completely (if you can stand it), and save up for a pressurized rig. Or maybe give DIY CO2 a go on a smaller tank for the sake of experience.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

ah...had not considered that. I am using 2 65W 6700K CF bulbs and 2 96W 10,000K CF bulbs in a 125 gallon tank. The dimensions are 72 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 23 3/8. I think that puts me at roughly 2.5 WPG...which should be moderate light?

How much $$$ aprox do I need to save up for a decent pressurized system? $200? $300?


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## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

Most of the people I've seen use DIY CO2 on a large tank end up using it as a stepping stone, or a trial, not as a permanent solution.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

multiple needle valves? 

i have been reading up on pressurized systems, but didn't realize I would need more than one needle valve (?)

Here is what I know/think I need:

10 or 20 lb tank

regulator w/solenoid and bubble counter

CO2 line/tubing

Glass diffuser



.....what am I missing from this list? ...do I need more than one diffuser?

and what the heck is the difference between a reactor and a diffuser?

sorry to ask so many questions, but I am starting to see the virtue in a pressurized system and I want to do it right!


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## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

What is your filtration setup? It might be easier to plumb in to that.
A diffuser generally dumps small bubbles in to the tank.
With a reactor the bubbles live in a chamber with water flow, so in an ideal world the bubbles don't show in the tank or escape to the surface. I use airline tubing for my CO2, although I also run mine at a really low pressure (5psi) so I doubt I have any significant losses.
You will want one needle valve per device distributing CO2.


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## sjsuper76 (Dec 8, 2011)

I am using two Aqua Clear 110s (HOB filters)
I just placed a small black PVC pipe under the outputs so the water rolls over the pipe and into the tank to lessen surface agitation.

I had an idea...what if I use a power head from an old undergravel filter? It has a air tube input, I could just hook the CO2 line to that and it would mix with water it pulls from the tank...?


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## Rich Conley (Jun 10, 2008)

kevmo911 said:


> *Edit* Just went to the supermarket. My local store (Harris Teeter) prices tend to be on the high side, but the best deal on sugar was 4lbs for $2.50 or so. In my case, with a 5g jug with a standard mix of 2 cups of sugar (1lb) per half gallon, refilled every two weeks, that's $12.50 for sugar in a month. Add another few bucks for yeast, and I'd be over $15 per month for A DIY setup. For me, that's just not worth it.


 There is absolutely no reason to be buying new yeast after the first batch. You have a live reproducing colony. You don't need to replace it. 


That, and Harry Teets is really expensive. 10lb bags of sugar should be a couple bucks. 


I tend to do nowhere near 2 cups of sugar in a 2L bottle. Generally, with that much sugar, you're limited by the alchohol well before you run out of sugar. It also seems to last me substantially longer than 2 weeks.


At the scale of a 125 gallon, its definitely going to add up, but the cost of regulator and tank, needle valve, etc, is quite a bit, and its going to take a while to hit that point.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

sjsuper76 said:


> Guys,
> 
> Can I just use one 5 gallon jug (blue water cooler jug) and put in 5x the recipe for one 2 liter DIY CO2? Wouldn't that be the same as using five separate 2 liter bottles?


You could, and it will produce at 9x the rate of a 2L bottle. It's going to cost a fair amount to keep it going though.

ETA: I'd also be concerned about leaks with that type of setup. You're going to have a not insignificant amount of pressure in the bottle just to overcome the depth of the water and force the CO2 through whatever you're using to diffuse it, and a water bottle just isn't meant to hold that. I'm betting the lid keeps popping off and/or leaking.


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## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

sjsuper76 said:


> I am using two Aqua Clear 110s (HOB filters)
> I just placed a small black PVC pipe under the outputs so the water rolls over the pipe and into the tank to lessen surface agitation.
> 
> I had an idea...what if I use a power head from an old undergravel filter? It has a air tube input, I could just hook the CO2 line to that and it would mix with water it pulls from the tank...?


That's roughly what I do.


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Anyone try the big jug yet? I need to get enough co2 for my 55. Using two 2liters im only averaging about 1bps, not nearly enough. Does help a little but not what I want. Wouldt the big jug with all that sugar just cause a giant spike in the yeast population with a mucher larger supply medium and a lot lower alcohol concentration?


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## Bandit1200 (Dec 11, 2010)

before i went pressurized, I was using two of the gallon jugs you get Hawaiian Punch in. The are square and have that neat handle on the side, as well as sealing up pretty tight.


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

I got one of those in the fridge right now. What recipe did u use?


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