# Poor Man's CO2



## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

AWolf said:


> Take a straw and blow into your tank every few minutes.
> 
> I couldn't help myself.>


I once actually asked this. Your added all that you breathe into the tank co2 will dissolve quickly so...I know you couldn't help yourself but it really cannot be done.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Once thought of blowing up a large balloon and pinching off the rate of it's escape into the tank, but couldn't muster up the energy needed on just one lung.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I found this poor man's technique worked great several years ago when I was experimenting with CO2 and drop checkers. That was with a pint of water. With 10 gallons the effect is harder to get. With 55 gallons of water it ceases to be a poor man's technique and becomes an attempted suicide!>


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## No.92 (May 1, 2016)

AWolf said:


> Take a straw and blow into your tank every few minutes.
> 
> I couldn't help myself.>


Yes but what kinda of bubbles per second can you get?
:wink2:


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Already tried this years back. I'd ride my bike around the block to build up some carbon dioxide and then re-breathe my last breath into a plastic bag to give it an extra amount of CO2, then quick into the house with my head swimming from oxygen deprivation to blow that last breath into the tank bell jars.

Really dumb.

Yeast and Sugar works fine by comparison


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## epiphysis (Apr 7, 2016)

Do not attempt if you are smoker like myself.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

GrampsGrunge said:


> Already tried this years back. I'd ride my bike around the block to build up some carbon dioxide and then re-breathe my last breath into a plastic bag to give it an extra amount of CO2, then quick into the house with my head swimming from oxygen deprivation to blow that last breath into the tank bell jars.
> 
> Really dumb.
> 
> Yeast and Sugar works fine by comparison


 Thanks for that laugh!

Bump:


No.92 said:


> Yes but what kinda of bubbles per second can you get?
> :wink2:


Ok, well I bet we could figure that out. But the truth of the science is, that you can't 'take a breath' and then breath into the tank. You have to have a normal period of breath, and the amount of CO2 will be substantial. So not a lot of air, just a little breath.

Bump:


epiphysis said:


> Do not attempt if you are smoker like myself.


Yea, I think I'm really waiting for the day I find that all I need to do is piss in my tank each day, and everything will grow beautifully and live well.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

AWolf said:


> Bump:
> Yea, I think I'm really waiting for the day I find that all I need to do is piss in my tank each day, and everything will grow beautifully and live well.



This only works for cycling a tank.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

epiphysis said:


> Do not attempt if you are smoker like myself.


You could give your fish a serious case of gill cancer.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Your exhaled breath is like 100,000 ppm by volume CO2 from what I can remember. The key is to collect the CO2. Does anybody work in the CO2 scrubbing field? What about a device that collects CO2 while the lights are off and release CO2 when needed.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

mistergreen said:


> Your exhaled breath is like 100,000 ppm by volume CO2 from what I can remember. The key is to collect the CO2. Does anybody work in the CO2 scrubbing field? What about a device that collects CO2 while the lights are off and release CO2 when needed.


Brilliant! Yes, Richard Branson is/was funding a CO scrubbing contest a few years back. I don't know if a facility has been built yet, but it's a game changer if we get good at it.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

AWolf said:


> Brilliant! Yes, Richard Branson is/was funding a CO scrubbing contest a few years back. I don't know if a facility has been built yet, but it's a game changer if we get good at it.


I read it a while back. There's a compound that traps CO2 naturally like activated carbon. You'd move air through a matrix of the stuff. When you need CO2 released, you apply heat.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Lithium hydroxide is a substance that can scrub the CO2 out of air. But, I couldn't find out how you can "withdraw" the CO2 for any use, or recycle the lithium carbonate that forms when it is combined with CO2.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

There was an article on BBC news website about some new baking soda (if I remember correctly) based CO2 scrubbers, this past week, you should be able to find it with a bit of searching

edit... found it
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36197603


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You can store CO2 in water too! Just blow again and again and again and the water becomes carbonated. This thought makes me rethink how to make a DIY yeast sugar system that can be shut off at night. See my DIY forum post to see what this generated.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Blow up a bunch of balloons?


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## Beamer (May 5, 2016)

Can I raise the stakes on the recklessly impractical CO2 solutions?
What about the flue gasses from your gas boiler? A nice premix burner produces a steady 9.0%CO2 and lots of it, about equal to the volume of gas that being burnt and that is measured in litres per second. Now that sort of CO2 rate would grow some plant. Save the planet a bit as well.

Disclaimer...
If anybody tries it and it and it all goes boobs up, it wasn't my idea, I was never here.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Beamer said:


> Can I raise the stakes on the recklessly impractical CO2 solutions?
> What about the flue gasses from your gas boiler? A nice premix burner produces a steady 9.0%CO2 and lots of it, about equal to the volume of gas that being burnt and that is measured in litres per second. Now that sort of CO2 rate would grow some plant. Save the planet a bit as well.
> 
> Disclaimer...
> If anybody tries it and it and it all goes boobs up, it wasn't my idea, I was never here.


You left out another gas, CO right?


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## APynckel (Jun 2, 2016)

Hoppy said:


> You can store CO2 in water too! Just blow again and again and again and the water becomes carbonated. This thought makes me rethink how to make a DIY yeast sugar system that can be shut off at night. See my DIY forum post to see what this generated.


Yea, you drop a dry ice "torpedo" down to a level where the pressure ensures it stays solidified.


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## Beamer (May 5, 2016)

Mistergreen, Its obviously a joke but no I didn't forget CO. Even though it tends to be CO that kills people (the ones that don't get blown to smithereens), there is very little CO, often less than 5ppm, in a clean burning premix burner. (0.0005% CO compared to 9.0% CO2 and in turn the CO2 is only 30ppm in the water)
If somebody monkeys with the gas air mixture however... then its a different story. Like I say, it goes boobs up and I'm out of here.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

OK, I THINK YOU JUST SLIGHTLY HAVE TO MODIFY THIS...


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## Doogy262 (Aug 11, 2013)

Gosh Nordic you are a little cutee:smile2:


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Nope, I could be that girl's dad


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## Beamer (May 5, 2016)

Funny Nordic, I did wonder about making a reference to 'plant' production when I mentioned the flue gasses, you may have guessed but I'm in the gas industry and I have been to companies that produce horticultural heaters/CO2 generators that sail rather close to the wind.


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

That girls method of co2 delivery will have your fish craving doritos and twinkies.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

Why not a bladder/balloon with tiny holes that you blow into, until full, and then submerse in the tank? Like the Burr said.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

AWolf said:


> Why not a bladder/balloon with tiny holes that you blow into, until full, and then submerse in the tank? Like the Burr said.


A ballon in a tank wouldn't look nice, plus it'll keep wanting to float out of the water. 

How about a regulator at the end of the ballon, maybe 3 bubble/ minutes into a in the tank with a powerhead with a venturi?


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

mistergreen said:


> A ballon in a tank wouldn't look nice, plus it'll keep wanting to float out of the water.
> 
> How about a regulator at the end of the ballon, maybe 3 bubble/ minutes into a in the tank with a powerhead with a venturi?


Maybe I hold it down with a coir mat that has been pre-charged with Ca/Mg Dolomite? Currently, my bubble wand is under the coir and blowing up thru. I can see a bladder doing the same without the ugliness. Put some suction cups.


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## Beamer (May 5, 2016)

Okay Guys you have dragged me in and I'm thinking about this now. So air has 20.8% O2 and 0.04% CO2, an exhaled breath, I googled, has 15.7% O2 3.6% CO2. So simples A breath is about 0.5 litre so inflate a balloon to 2 litres then rebreathe the balloon air eight times and the 02 will be down to 10.6% and the CO2 will be up to 5.3%... you will feel a little dizzy by now. This isn't as good as the 9% in boiler flue gasses but nobody died (probably).
This however is the easy bit, the flaw is the 79% Nitrogen that is still in there, so we would need to inject 5 times more balloon gas to provide the same CO2 volume as neat CO2. So the solution we need is a way to distill the CO2 out of the balloon, this would need temperatures below -80°C so perhaps a chemical scrubber.... or we could use a microbe that exhales CO2, no wait that has been done before, bum! Naw I sticking with Yeast (or citric acid/bicarb) and Andy the minions pressure regulator and day/night storage system.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

Nitrogen you say.....hummm...


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

I found this that may change your calculations quite a bit. Let me know what you think.
Human Respiration > Innovative Uses > Vernier Software & Technology


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## Beamer (May 5, 2016)

Well Mr Wolf it seems to be a good option but then I remembered that I limited the maximum balloon CO2 to 7.2% because if the o2 level drops to 10% you stand a real risk of up-chucking so the reducing O2 remains the limiting factor. Now I believe you were getting interested in the Nitrogen where did this line of thought end up?


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

Beamer said:


> Well Mr Wolf it seems to be a good option but then I remembered that I limited the maximum balloon CO2 to 7.2% because if the o2 level drops to 10% you stand a real risk of up-chucking so the reducing O2 remains the limiting factor. Now I believe you were getting interested in the Nitrogen where did this line of thought end up?


I considered a sealed bottle of water to store the CO2, maybe two like Hoppy does in his DIY CO2. Instead of a CO2 reactor, replace with breath? I wonder if this method would allow a build up of CO2 from breath. 

Plants love nitrogen but are they able to use it if it's blown into the tank along with the CO2? If so, I'm thinking there may be some beneficial effect to blowing directly into your planted tank other than the CO2.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Just chain a mermaid down in the tank. You know that is why you chose the big tank.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

Nordic said:


> Just chain a mermaid down in the tank. You know that is why you chose the big tank.


Do fish exhale CO2 also? I've never thought about it, but if you have (x) number of fish, you have CO2 added to the tank. Maybe 500 neons in a 10 gallon tank will supply all the CO2 any planted tank would need? :wink2: Would make an interesting experiment....for those with deep pockets>


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

CO2 turned into stone in Iceland in climate change breakthrough | Environment | The Guardian
Pumping CO2 into basalt.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I just found this new CO2 capturing tech.

Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol

You can now convert CO2 to ethanol. All you need is this wafer and apply electricity to it. 
For our use, we then need to convert the ethanol back to CO2 when we need it. I guess a simple anode cathode electrode would work, maybe. It is flammable


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## jumpzakjump (Jun 15, 2015)

This brings me back to the days of general chemistry lab..anyone do that lab where you blow through a straw into water with pH tester and watch the color change? xD Fun times


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Oh, please! I wasted about $125 making "advanced" DIY CO2 systems, and am now back using yeast/sugar, 2 litre bottles and a couple of check valves. Now I need to resist the temptation to go off half cocked again.......


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Hoppy said:


> Oh, please! I wasted about $125 making "advanced" DIY CO2 systems, and am now back using yeast/sugar, 2 litre bottles and a couple of check valves. Now I need to resist the temptation to go off half cocked again.......


A perpetual co2 generator is pretty cool. All you need to do is add electricity.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## BadWolf42 (Oct 24, 2014)




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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

AWolf said:


> I considered a sealed bottle of water to store the CO2, maybe two like Hoppy does in his DIY CO2. Instead of a CO2 reactor, replace with breath? I wonder if this method would allow a build up of CO2 from breath.
> 
> Plants love nitrogen but are they able to use it if it's blown into the tank along with the CO2? If so, I'm thinking there may be some beneficial effect to blowing directly into your planted tank other than the CO2.


Nitrogen is not available to any living creature that I'm aware of, unless it is first converted to a molecule with other atoms attached. For example, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, proteins, etc. Atmospheric nitrogen can be converted, and is converted with electricity (lightening strokes or electric arcs). Back pre WWII Germany used big electric arc devices to make fertilizer by converting the atmospheric nitrogen to a plasma of various oxides of nitrogen, then cooling it very rapidly to fix the nitrogen in usable nitrogen compounds. Oddly enough I used one of their designs, back when I worked for NASA, to generate hypersonic air flow, which is how I heard of this.


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