Using the CO2 from brewing for a planted fish tank

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Folken

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I was wondering if anyone else had ever done this? I did it for a while in the spring, but kinda got bored of changing things out every 2 weeks or so.

Basically, you take one of those big plastic pop bottles, drill 2 holes in the cap. You use aquarium silicone and put 2 tubes into the bottle. An in and out. Then you hook the output tube to a small pop bottle half filled with water, with another out tube from that, to your aquarium. (Its for if you are growing live plants in your aquarium. Looks better, and more fun)

Anyways, I was thinking of recycling at least one of these devices into making a small amount of cider or something similar. We've got a box of apples, but not nearly enough for my 6g main and carboy.

Do you guys think it would be feasible to make something semi-decent with this setup?
(Of course I would clean out the bottles and disinfect them.)
 
There's plenty of info on the planted tank forums about diy yeast CO2 for aquariums. They typically add something, i forget exactly what, to slow the rate of CO2 generation. It's easy to overload CO2 in a small aquarium and suffocate the fish, so be careful.
 
it varies on your aquarium's pH and carbonate hardness. you can have high levels of CO2 and still tons of O2 and no pH issues IF you have a lot of carbonate/alkaline hardness.

definitely 'filter' the CO2 through a bottle of water before it goes into the tank. this weird 'snot like white fluffy stuff' will form up.

When only making CO2 for aquariums you can add baking soda to the mixture to slow it down but that doesn't work well for brewing :)
 
it varies on your aquarium's pH and carbonate hardness. you can have high levels of CO2 and still tons of O2 and no pH issues IF you have a lot of carbonate/alkaline hardness.

definitely 'filter' the CO2 through a bottle of water before it goes into the tank. this weird 'snot like white fluffy stuff' will form up.

When only making CO2 for aquariums you can add baking soda to the mixture to slow it down but that doesn't work well for brewing :)

Maybe that is why it tasted so awful! ;) After I figured out that the process was basically the same as for brewing, I let my curiosity get the better of me. Never again.

Anyways, as far as actually using the setup for CO2 injection anymore, I've realized Flourish Excel will suffice for my small tanks.

You seem to understand this very well, so I'll ask my basic question to you. Do you think if I cleaned and sanitized these very well, would it work for experimenting on small projects while waiting on my bigger projects? I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do with 30 or so bottles of Island Mist. Haha. I like drinking, but boy oh boy.
 
You do not want to be doing fermentation for drinking purposes in 2liter soda bottles. Get some PET or something a little happier. Biggest issue is a 2liter bottle back-siphoning the aquarium water since its so flimsy/thin plastic.
 
Thanks. Forgot about checking this. I'm probably gonna be getting some 1 gallon or so carboys for Christmas to use for experimenting. Looking forward to it. Especially in the limited amount of space I have available, lifting 6 or so gallons somewhere high enough to siphon is "fun". XD
 
LOL :rockin: I'm glad I'm not the only fish geek who thought of this.

Here's what I was going to try with a future batch.

Run some tubing out of the hole in the stopper/bung - to an adapter to smaller aquarium tube size (a reverse of what I use for my airation setup) into the intake for my powerhead. I would have to keep an eye on it, as I could easily flood the tank with CO2 during the height of fermentation, but after it slows down a bit - might provide some CO2 to my plants.

Flourish Excel is a good product, but when it comes to plants like crypts, or glosso, nothing beats the real deal + appropriate lighting.

Definitely going to think this out a bit - could be fun to try.
 
LOL :rockin: I'm glad I'm not the only fish geek who thought of this.

I can't wait to get my tank setup. Had it when I was in my apartment but had to tear it down when I moved to the house 11 months ago. My big problem is the place it is going to go needs a new floor. Its a 40G tank so no way I am moving it once water is in it. So The floor needs to go down first and I currently don't have the funds for it.
 
LOL :rockin: I'm glad I'm not the only fish geek who thought of this.

Here's what I was going to try with a future batch.

Run some tubing out of the hole in the stopper/bung - to an adapter to smaller aquarium tube size (a reverse of what I use for my airation setup) into the intake for my powerhead. I would have to keep an eye on it, as I could easily flood the tank with CO2 during the height of fermentation, but after it slows down a bit - might provide some CO2 to my plants.

Flourish Excel is a good product, but when it comes to plants like crypts, or glosso, nothing beats the real deal + appropriate lighting.

Definitely going to think this out a bit - could be fun to try.

Ha, I've noticed from various forum searches that if you can think of it, odds are someone else has beat you to it. :D

Figuring out a good way to do this seems like a great idea though, as almost everyone usually has something brewing at one time or another. Why waste perfectly good CO2. Haha. :)
 
I can't wait to get my tank setup. Had it when I was in my apartment but had to tear it down when I moved to the house 11 months ago. My big problem is the place it is going to go needs a new floor. Its a 40G tank so no way I am moving it once water is in it. So The floor needs to go down first and I currently don't have the funds for it.

I'm seriously starting to get worried. I've already got multiple tank syndrome. Pretty soon my entire house will be filled with giant class containers full of some sort of liquid. Where do I sleep?! :cross:
 
The poor man's CO2 generator is what got me back into brewing again after many years off.

Now I've got most of my aquarium stuff sold or on Craigslist, and I just focus on brewing :)
 
The poor man's CO2 generator is what got me back into brewing again after many years off.

Now I've got most of my aquarium stuff sold or on Craigslist, and I just focus on brewing :)

Now I just wonder if you could have avoided selling the tanks and converted them into fermenters. Cleaning is easy enough, just have to figure out what to do about being able to open it to pour stuff in and get stuff out while being able to maintain an airtight seal in between. I foresee very liberal use of silicon sealant and power tools.:tank:
 
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