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Ok, I have what may be a crazy idea for a canister, I have the Hagen CO2 canister but I think it may be too small, so in a tinkering sort of way I am looking to make one out of a 2L pop bottle or a wine bottle. I bought some whiskey spouts from Ikea, they are black plastic, my idea was to fit them in the top of the bottle and attach the air line to the spout, sort of the way the Hagen line attaches.

My questions are: has anyone done this? did it work? did it fail miserably? did it completely blow the top off and spew yeast and sugar water all over the place? can anyone see why this would/would not work?

If I decide to go ahead and try I will post pictures of it, I may give it a 'dry run' for a few hours before attaching it to the line that's already in the tank.
Thanks in advance for your replies/suggestions.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Just tried this with my ten gal. I used a 2 liter pop bottle with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp of yeast and filled it up with warm water. I ran tubing and an air stone into the water for 12 days. I have mixed feelings on it. First, the plants are greener and have grown new roots. BUT it clouds up the water a bit cause there is an ooze that comes out of the air stone (not sure how to deal with this)

For a diffuser I have the Hagen Ladder diffuser, no ooze, you may need to add a check valve to the line, it prevents water from being siphoned back into the canister and may also prevent yeast from being forced through the line and into the tank. Try brewer's yeast or winemaking yeast, I think they stay on the bottom of the canister during fermentation and so they aren't drawn into the tank.

Did you use the traditional way of attaching the line to the lid of the bottle or did you use the whiskey spout?

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Well I am about to attempt it, I will post the results, and if my house is still standing and I don't have any major burns I might take a picture of it as well.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Ah I guess that would be a good way to go

I drilled a hole into the top and ran the tube about 3 inches away from the top of the mixture and sealed it with a fish safe silicone.

I also used a bakers yeast which worked well and it is less expensive than a brewers yeast.

I am using baker's yeast right now, I am hoping my friend will take up winemaking again, then I will be able to get my hands on vintner's yeast, champagne yeast is supposed to be the best though, but it will be much too expensive I'm sure.

I've got the spout in and sugar and hot water, I have activated the yeast and am waiting for the sugar water to cool down before adding the activated yeast. I noticed though that there is an air release hole in the top of the fitting, I will have to get some aquarium sealant to plug it up if this is to work. I may be back to square one before even getting the yeast into the bottle! I was trying to make things simpler and instead they've gotten complicated in a hurry. At least I have 3 days before the CO2 bottle on the tank needs replacing. Plenty of time to get it worked out.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

smapty,

The ooze coming from the airstone may be due to how full the bottle is. You said "filled it" - did you really? I ran mine with about 1/2 full of water. This kept the froth from reaching the air tube... The tank stayed clean and I still got about 2 weeks from the mixture.

I ended up moving to a Zac Carbo+ unit when I jumped from a 29 gallon to a 72 gallon tank. It's expensive to refill, but very easy to use.

Gary

Well the spout has stayed in the bottle all night, but there seems to be a pressure problem, the CO2 hasn't moved since last night. There are lots of bubbles forming in the bottle, but no bubbles have made it to the ladder yet. I have sealed all joins with pipe tape, handy having a fitter in the house! Both valves are open all the way, do I need to partially close one or both to create more pressure, prime it in some way? Anyone have any ideas on how to make this work?

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Just in case ANYONE is interested at all in this experiment, I would have to say it has failed, I am pulling the plug and putting the Hagen canister back on the ladder, there seems to be a problem somewhere in the line, there is just enough pressure to keep the water from siphoning back in the bottle, but not enough to push the bubbles down to the bottom of the ladder. Maybe I will figure this out but right now the tank has been without CO2 for 24 hrs. The water has become slightly cloudy, I am not sure why but it could be related. Obviously I cannot mess with the tried and true way of DIY CO2 injection, thus I will bow my head and give in as gracefully as possible.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Ok Luv,

Walk me through how you made the batch.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hi Wings, I gave up on this one. The yeast culture was fine, it was the delivery that failed. If you've ever been to a bar, they have pouring spouts in their booze bottle, I found one made from plastic at Ikea and decided to try that rather than drilling a hole in a pop bottle lid and messing with silicone. I used a 1.5 L wine bottle and tried to seal all the places where there were joins. I never did get any pics of the set-up, but I did keep the spout and line attachment. I couldn't get enough pressure in the line to push the bubbles out to the ladder. So I scrapped that idea, dumped as much of the batch into the Hagen bottle and sucked as much sugar mix from the bottom as I could and went with that. The wine bottle had been going for 24 hrs so I had bubbles right away after the switch. I may try it again with a 2L pop bottle and the traditional way, or if I can find the hose barbs, then I may do that. In the meantime I am lazy and would rather just get a second Hagen bottle and run two bottles on that tank, or get a Red Sea bottle and run one larger bottle. Then I could move the Hagen bottle over to the 10g tank and it could benefit. What I did learn was to start a new batch 24 hrs before swapping out the old batch, then bubbles don't stop at all. I have a new batch on the go right now just waiting for bubble production to get going.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

I am guessing there must have been a leak some where along the line. It is best to goop the crap out of everything.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

You must be right! So anyway, I am putting this little project behind me now, if I decide to try it again in the future, I'll stick to proven methods. It did look like it should work though. Imagine a honkin' big green wine bottle sitting beside the fish tank, on an upside down bucket with a tube coming from it. I thought it would be better than a pop bottle.

It shows I live by my siggie, I'm not afraid to make mistakes, or to admit when I've made them.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus