DIY "pressurised" CO2 system

[dannypd]

Alright, so here's my new experiment. 

It involves a LOT of air tubing, about 6 or so 2 lt pop bottles, and 6 or so air control valves. 

I drill the perfect hole in the cap of each pop bottle to fit the air tubing and seal it with glue/silicon.  I attach each tube to a valve and have them all connected with splitters.  All the connections are treated with a bit of silicon.

In 5 of the 6 bottles, I fill a BIT of yeast, with sugar, and COOL water, in THIS order.  When I am ready, I flip a bottle over quickly to stir it up.  The only valves thats not opened is the one in the tanks.  With this setup, I find I can have a good buffer of 100psi easily.  Ofcourse, I never made it past 90ish, but thats still good.  You can REALLY feel the pipes expand!  When I first did this experiment, I only used one bottle with no expansion bottle for a buffer, and I either ran out of CO2 pressure or my pipes burst off their connections at the valves...

Comments??

[dannypd]

Here's a rather cheap MSPAINT version of the setup.  Only thing I did not include was the bike pump to see my pressure gauge.

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[darkdep]

Pics!

[dannypd]

beat ya too it

Also, I would probably hide this somewhere in my shed or garage and run a LONG 100 ft pipe....that way its hidden and you can forget about it for a month.

I did this setup because its:
a) cheap.
b) self sufficient (tune it once, leave it for a while)
c) make alcohol to burn later once it produces CO2 no more

[jgolden]

Lol I have a similar setup as well, running 3 2L bottles; 1 is changed every 5 days. Also, instead of the air valves, I use check-valves. That way, if I disconnect any one of the bottles, the pressure built between the other 2 bottles and the bubble counter is not lost.

[dannypd]

Lol I have a similar setup as well, running 3 2L bottles; 1 is changed every 5 days. Also, instead of the air valves, I use check-valves. That way, if I disconnect any one of the bottles, the pressure built between the other 2 bottles and the bubble counter is not lost.

I put a valve at every bottle, so when I remove one, I turn it off...my method was cheaper for me as I have a bit of spare valves and no check valve available.

[darkdep]

Ok, so, the purpose of this is to maintain a system with even pressure? It is a cheap solution, but when I was doing a planted tank I found the bottle change annoying...how often do you change one?

What do you do with the alcohol?

[dannypd]

Ok, so, the purpose of this is to maintain a system with even pressure? It is a cheap solution, but when I was doing a planted tank I found the bottle change annoying...how often do you change one?

I change a bottle once the pressure runs low...in theory, I should be changing the bottles when the fiz runs low.   Ofcourse, running the system PRESSURISED keeps the bottles lasting longer...in my case, 20-30 days depending on tempurature and 3 outputs to a sponge..

What do you do with the alcohol?

Burn it...no reason yet, maybe I'll make a steam generator/motor/or something.

[Seanc]

good idea.
I think this is a good way around real presurised, although i bet it takes up alot of space. I would watch out for the presure, if one of the tubes pop off, you won't be having a very good day.
good idea
If there was karma, 1 plus to you
sean

[dannypd]

good idea.
I think this is a good way around real presurised, although i bet it takes up alot of space. I would watch out for the presure, if one of the tubes pop off, you won't be having a very good day.
good idea
If there was karma, 1 plus to you
sean

It does take a lot of space...it's gonna be in my shed   all I need is one long airtube from my shed to my tank.  I may just go down to 2 bottles, as I only have one tank that really needs co2. 

And when I first did this experiement, the tubes did pop off....it left me with two surprises, an expected depressurised bottle, AND a rush of co2 escaping from the liquid...EXACTLY what happens when you open a bottle of pop...  Unlike Vinager and Baking soda, the co2 doesn't seem to disolve back into the liquid!!

[DonCorleone]

I think its a workable idea, although I'd be worried about the pressure in the bottle(s) building up to dangerous levels, and potentially causing the bottle(s) to burst. But your  pipes bursting off their connections at the valves would be more likely to happen... Also, using a ceramic diffuser instead of a sponge would really help you to make the most of the CO2 that is released from the bottles.

[dannypd]

I think its a workable idea, although I'd be worried about the pressure in the bottle(s) building up to dangerous levels, and potentially causing the bottle(s) to burst. But your  pipes bursting off their connections at the valves would be more likely to happen... Also, using a ceramic diffuser instead of a sponge would really help you to make the most of the CO2 that is released from the bottles.

A ceramic diffuser would probably be better, but remember, I am cheap .

For the bottles bursting, I think I just built a solution.  Its very crude, but I believe it works.  It's a nail attached to the end of an airline pipe, held in place by a spring.  I pump up the airline to 80psi and it releases a bit of air.  I pump up to 100psi and it flows out madly...so crude I dare not post it online.  I dont have a washer on it, but my "underwater" test shows no leaking.

[tbarb]

I have a similar setup with 3 bottles into one tank. All the bottles  connect to a valve (metal) which I use to turn on/off when I do changes. A check valve on the output to the tank as well. Now, about the high pressure... if you make your sugar/yeast mixture the right way, you can go lower the pressure but keep it running for up to 1 month. Too much yeast will build the pressure but it will stop sooner. My two cents...

[artw]

that looks like a lot of work,  and instead of going through the effort of mixing 5 batches of sugar/yeast every month, I'll just spend the $200 ish on a bottled co2 setup

[dannypd]

that looks like a lot of work,  and instead of going through the effort of mixing 5 batches of sugar/yeast every month, I'll just spend the $200 ish on a bottled co2 setup

See, the keyword in your message was $200....

I spend $10 for 6 months

[artw]

right but how much time do you spend fiddling around with sugar and water and yeast, and all of that bs.  I agree the Garnpet trademark disconnects make it easier but I would just prefer the bottled system.  if one or 2 pop bottles for me is not enough, I'll get the co2.  $200 is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.  just ask the saltwater folk

[dannypd]

right but how much time do you spend fiddling around with sugar and water and yeast, and all of that bs.  I agree the Garnpet trademark disconnects make it easier but I would just prefer the bottled system.  if one or 2 pop bottles for me is not enough, I'll get the co2.  $200 is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.  just ask the saltwater folk

I'm kinda "the saltwater" folk now!!  I'm at 1.019 salinity!!     I've also got coral growing on the back of my tank too...finally