# Did Co2 Do This?



## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

I setup up my diy Co2 Tank and the next day my 10 gallon tank was 
all foggy and has a row of foam a t the top of the water level.
Before it was setup it was clear And i could c through it.

Here's a Pic. (*Notice the ring of Foam at the top.)


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

Yep it did. The cloudiness is most like caused by an algae bloom. Increased filtration and/or more live plants to compete with the algae will help this. It will most likely clear on its own however. The same thing happened in my plant growing tank which I first started using a co2 reactor on it but it cleared up within a few days without any filtration whatsoever. It tends to happen more often in a tank that is not properly cleaned allowing more nutrients to remain for bacterial and algae related blooms that cause water cloudiness. Out of curiosity I have to wonder why you are using co2 in that particular tank...there don't seem to be many live plants in it to utilize the co2...in which case a co2 reactor serves little purpose...

As you can see my main tank has far more plants to use the co2 that is produced but still not so many that a co2 reactor is required although I use one to help out the plants that I do have with spectacular results. Some of the plants grew an additional inch or two within 2 days after adding a co2 reactor to the tank. Note in this tank I'm not allowing a space for co2 buildup. The co2 is being delivered via an air wand at the bottom of the tank. The series of valves I have it all hooked to allow me to turn off the co2 flow to the tank at night (when it is absolutely not needed by anything) and to immediately switch over to an air pump if for some reason emergency aeration was required. While all of that may be a bit confusing you have to keep in mind that I have vastly different setups for each of my tanks depending on what they are being used for and which fish are present in the tank.









*Note the co2 reactor is not running in this picture. 

To compare the effects of co2 in the tank this is the tank today, 3 days after running a new co2 reactor to the tank.









*Note the growth achieved on the plants towards the rear of the tank. Pretty impressive in less than 72 hours.


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## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

i set it up so that it would be up and running when i got the plants tommorow.
What do u mean by ur not allowing Co2 Build up?
How can i shut it off if its a diy using a 2 liter bottle?


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

to shut it off, just take it out of the tank. Dont block tube, otherwise it will blow up and you'll have to clean the mess.


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

By not allowing it to build up I was referring to the "shot glass method" we've been discussing. And I know you're using the diy method with the bottle...I use the same thing except with gallon jugs because I have more of them sitting around. Its not so much a matter of shutting it off but a matter of redirecting the co2. I have an airline splitter with valves hooked up to the co2 reactor. If I close one of the valves the co2 goes into the tank, whereas if i leave them both open the co2 vents into the room rather than into the tank. Its not too hard to hook one up to your set up if you have something available. Just cut the airline and hook up the valve. Personally I'd wait til you have the plants in there before you add the co2. Always a good idea to see if its working but its simply not necessary just yet.


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

Good point on not blocking the tube musho. You definitely have to let the co2 continue to vent out of the reactor or you're going to end up with quite a terrible (and rather foul smelling) mess to clean up when the 2liter explodes from co2 buildup.


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## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

i found out the hard way with blocking the tube.....
i still got sum on my carpet

also, i have a redirector thing.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

also note that it might not be co2, cloudy water can mean overfeeding and decaying food, how much do you feed your fish?


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

While the cloudy water very well could be caused by overfeeding in this case I'd look to the co2 contributing if not outright causing the cloudiness. I have a 10gal set up with nothing but plants (therefore no possible way to overfeed the fish...since there aren't any) and had the same thing happen upon addition of co2. Like I said though it cleared up shortly thanks to the plants.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Also make sure you dont have an airtight room where the co2 bottle is, otherwise it could have a lot of co2 in that room which is poisones to humans. 


I have no proof of this, its just a random guess but you never know.....


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

Well here is an area of expertise for me! I'm a firefighter and co2 can indeed be deadly to humans in high enough concentrations. However unless the room was entirely airtight (and trust me I've yet to ever see one) and maybe not even then, theres no way a small co2 reactor in the form of a 2liter bottle with some yeast could build up the co2 levels high enough to cause a health threat. If on the off chance you were to walk into such a room and begin to feel dizzy or sleepy I'd suggest exiting immediately and finding some means of ventilating the room. Realistically though this should not be a problem at this scale and with general home construction.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

well better safe the sorry lol. It was a guess by the way


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

understood and indeed better safe than sorry and its not as if you were totally off base. But assuming he's not actively trying to make his room airtight it should be no problem whatsoever. If we were talking carbon monoxide it would be an entirely different story but it takes a whole lot more carbon dioxide at a much higher concentration to cause serious harm to a person.


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## Jaysn (Dec 13, 2006)

With that much foam I'd say your yeast mixture got into your tank. Smell it, does it smell like what's in your 2L bottle? If it does, you get to do a water change to try and dilute it enough. The yeast shouldn't hurt your fish I wouldn't think, but it may cause an algae bloom.

And there's no way a 2L bottle will produce enough CO2 to be harmful to humans, or small animals. I've had 15 gallons of beer brewing at once in my house, and I'm pretty sure I'm still ok.


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## RubberFrog (Nov 30, 2006)

morebeer refuge?


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## Matt (Jan 20, 2007)

yeah, it went away and the plants already grew.


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