Amano New Year Build!

Try gelatine sheets

 

I will give it one more try!

 

This morning there was some slight fizziness in the reactor, so on a hunch hunched by this post of yours, I experimentally added a pinch of bicarb. The reaction was VIOLENT, so much so that I had to rush to get the cap on and it eventually spilled over into the cleaner bottle.

When it had calmed down I opened it up again and proceeded to add small amounts until there was no further reaction. I once again have some bubble activity in the filter and while slow, it's better than nothing. Maybe it will pick up as the yeast multiplies - until low pH sets in again.

The jelly I used does indeed contain citric acid, but I have no idea how much - but clearly it's not an insignificant amount. If I had the means to measure the amount of bicarb I would add as the reactor eats through its entire supply of jelly, I could have the ultimate ghetto Heath Robinson titration apparatus.

Clearly what I have now isn't workable unless I babysit it with bicarb in hand, but I'm too lazy to go to the shops and get proper supplies. I'll persist until my professional curiosity about the rate of acidification goes into sufficient decline.

 

Have you tested the pH of the jelly solution? Baking yeast performs best in a pH range of 5 to 7.

"Fermentation is the process in which Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly known as yeast, breaks down sugar to get energy and produces CO2 and ethanol as byproducts. Because of its products, fermentation of yeast is an important process in the baking and brewing industries. Yeast’s ability to ferment is affected by many environmental factors, such as pH, and to examine the effect of pH on fermentation, we measured the CO2 production of yeast in three different pH environments: control (pH 7), pH 3, and pH 5. Our results showed that yeast produces more CO2 at lower pHs. " https://undergradsciencejournals.okstate.edu/index.php/jibi/article/view/14120

 

Yes, it's somewhere between 3 and 3.5 - good for derusting 'n eenskaarploeg!

ETA: I definitely intend looking for brewer's yeast.
ETA2: Yeast can be inhibited by sodium citrate (the byproduct of reacting citric acid and bicarb) - so I might be chasing my tail here if I kept adding bicarb without flushing the fluid layer. Another nail in Rhodes' coffin!

 

The yeast will produce lactic and acetic acid during fermentation which will further reduce the pH, so if you start at 3.5 it's just going to go downhill from there. Have a look at the paper I posted above, they find that starting at a neutral pH of 7 will increase co2 production over time due to the change in pH from the fermentation process.

 

I tested the pH after adding the first small pinch of bicarb. Accuracy in doubt due to it being a marine test kit plus the fluid layer is greenish to begin with so 3, 3.5-ish is a best guess. I'd have to mix a fresh batch of jelly to determine its baseline pH, but that isn't going to happen.

 

I must've missed something, but may I ask why you're going with this gelatin method?
Why not the sugar/water/yeast?

 

The gelatin gatekeeps how much access the yeast has to the sugar in the mix. The idea is that it slows down fermentation and makes the mix last much longer. Most of my issues stem from the fact that I used party jelly instead of plain gelatin.

 

Ah I see. Sounds like it's doing the job too well then

 

As @Jaco de Jongh relates from his own experiments, it will take a while to settle on the correct formula - if I ever manage to pin that dragon down. I may not have enough sugar in the mix, or there may be too much or too little gelatin - but current signs indicate it's due to the added citric acid in the party jelly. I'm sure the next batch (and I will use plain gelatin) will perform much better.

Currently I'm getting a steady 30-odd bubbles per minute and I have something that "works", but is a bit of a faf and bother. I don't have an indicator bubble or a "proper" diffuser yet so it's very much a makeshift affair with almost no control.

 

I have something very interesting to report. The taller rotala green stems are nodding their heads downwards now that I've started injecting CO2.



I also noticed root growth on the tips of some of the free-floating frags I didn't have the space for - this pic was taken before starting CO2 though:



The head nodding was curious but my initial suspicion was that it was a propagation behaviour - they nod downwards to access the substrate and push out new roots. Perusing the internet confirms this, however the behaviour suggests that it is due to a lack of nutrients. It could be that they have not sufficiently developed new roots in the substrate - the shorter frags don't show this behaviour.

Nevertheless, in the interest of curiosity and the lack of any aquatic root tabs or WC ferts (yes yes I know the NPK and dosing method are all wrong) - down the hatch! I dropped a stick into a now bare corner of the tank, and will see what happens.

 

@LilMissMurder I am not trying to hijack your thread, but all this talk about CO2 got me thinking. I always wanted to do it , tried your system, gave up and bought a few things, then got distracted and eventually forgot about it. Went to the garage and fishroom now trying to figure out what happened to everything i bough, and look what i found. Need to set up a timer, get a few pipes and the first tank can be running by this evening.

 

Nou pra jy. Get cracking! Sadly, a pressurized CO2 setup will be among the things I *wont* find in the treasure heap

Feel free to share, I don't pay for the hosting costs Besides, I will end up going this route anyway for the ADA and would like to see how it functions and performs.

 

Up and running, o-ring in regulator needed replacement after standing for almost 3 years. 1.5bubbles per minute on a 400l tank. Will gradually increase as needed. Running hours, from 8H30 to 16H00. Lights Increasing and decreasing intensity from 8H00-18H00. Dont want to run the CO2 all the time.

 

Don't you mean bubbles per second?

Oh btw I use a free (and ad- and telemetry-free) android app called Tap Tempo to count bubbles. Dead simple to use.

 

Thats the one, sorry, typo.

 

Blue pill? Oh hai! BOINGGG!



The leaf burn is a bit concerning though. Potassium deficiency perhaps?

 

How much does co2 refill cost?

 

It could be still acclimating to it's new living quarters. If you start to see a couple more leaves like that, then I'd look at checking potassium. For now I think you're all good