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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Daniel C. Smith
 
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Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

Okay, keep in mind that I'm a beginner. I purchased the Nutrafin system CO2
system because it looked like a good solution for my tank and it wouldn't be
an eyesore in my house. I just have one problem, I cannot get it to produce
any CO2 yet that I can see. The yeast, sugar, baking soda and water have
been in the reactor for over 24 hours now and still no CO2 bubbles can be
seen. The directions say that the fermentation should produce CO2 within
2-10 hours, but my setup has been going for much longer than that now. I
checked the hose and made sure the cap was screwed on tightly on the
reactor. I followed the directions verbatim, but no luck yet. Has anyone
else had a simlar experience? Also, if anyone has any tips they'd be
greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks.

Daniel


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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Anton Valouev
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

The yeast in the bag is probably dead. May be got frozen, or overheated
before you have bought the system and died. So get yourself some yeast from
the baking section of the food store.

"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message
...
Okay, keep in mind that I'm a beginner. I purchased the Nutrafin system

CO2
system because it looked like a good solution for my tank and it wouldn't

be
an eyesore in my house. I just have one problem, I cannot get it to

produce
any CO2 yet that I can see. The yeast, sugar, baking soda and water have
been in the reactor for over 24 hours now and still no CO2 bubbles can be
seen. The directions say that the fermentation should produce CO2 within
2-10 hours, but my setup has been going for much longer than that now. I
checked the hose and made sure the cap was screwed on tightly on the
reactor. I followed the directions verbatim, but no luck yet. Has anyone
else had a simlar experience? Also, if anyone has any tips they'd be
greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks.

Daniel




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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Philip Ash
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question


"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message
...
Okay, keep in mind that I'm a beginner. I purchased the Nutrafin system

CO2
system because it looked like a good solution for my tank and it wouldn't

be
an eyesore in my house. I just have one problem, I cannot get it to

produce
any CO2 yet that I can see. The yeast, sugar, baking soda and water have
been in the reactor for over 24 hours now and still no CO2 bubbles can be
seen. The directions say that the fermentation should produce CO2 within
2-10 hours, but my setup has been going for much longer than that now. I
checked the hose and made sure the cap was screwed on tightly on the
reactor. I followed the directions verbatim, but no luck yet. Has anyone
else had a simlar experience? Also, if anyone has any tips they'd be
greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks.

Daniel


Dan,

There are a few things to consider.

Was the water too hot? Better too cool than to hot.

Have you taken the diffuser out of the tank or taken the hose off the
container or opened the container? It is a pressure system. The CO2 has to
build up a head of pressure before it makes its way up the tube, forces the
water in the tube out, and then starts producing bubbles. The first bubbles
will be air, and then the CO2 comes later.

It seems that Hagen supply too much stabiliser for some peoples setup. I
only use half the stabiliser they supply. My first batch with the full
amount did as yours did. There are at least two others on here that had the
same problem.

hth


Phil.


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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Dave
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

In , "Philip Ash"
empowered us with this mighty blow against the
Patriarchy:


"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message
...
Okay, keep in mind that I'm a beginner. I purchased the Nutrafin
system

CO2
system because it looked like a good solution for my tank and it
wouldn't

be
an eyesore in my house. I just have one problem, I cannot get it to

produce
any CO2 yet that I can see. The yeast, sugar, baking soda and water
have been in the reactor for over 24 hours now and still no CO2
bubbles can be seen. The directions say that the fermentation should
produce CO2 within 2-10 hours, but my setup has been going for much
longer than that now. I checked the hose and made sure the cap was
screwed on tightly on the reactor. I followed the directions
verbatim, but no luck yet. Has anyone else had a simlar experience?
Also, if anyone has any tips they'd be greatly appreciated at this
point. Thanks.

Daniel


Dan,

There are a few things to consider.

Was the water too hot? Better too cool than to hot.

Have you taken the diffuser out of the tank or taken the hose off the
container or opened the container? It is a pressure system. The CO2
has to build up a head of pressure before it makes its way up the
tube, forces the water in the tube out, and then starts producing
bubbles. The first bubbles will be air, and then the CO2 comes later.

It seems that Hagen supply too much stabiliser for some peoples setup.
I only use half the stabiliser they supply. My first batch with the
full amount did as yours did. There are at least two others on here
that had the same problem.


In addition to the replies already posted ....

I set up this system and, after letting it sit for 24 hours, was only
getting one bubble about every 10 seconds. It was only after letting it
sit an additional day that I started getting a reasonable output.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the water used (hardness?
don't know) that causes this delay to vary amongst people. With my regular
DIY CO2 setup (2qt juice bottle, 8 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp yeast), I always
need to wait at least 24 hours before I get an adequate amount of CO2,
while others have said that they only need to wait a few hours.
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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Craig Morrison
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

Dave wrote:

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the water used (hardness?
don't know) that causes this delay to vary amongst people. With my regular
DIY CO2 setup (2qt juice bottle, 8 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp yeast), I always
need to wait at least 24 hours before I get an adequate amount of CO2,
while others have said that they only need to wait a few hours.



I wouldn't say that water hardness has anything to do with it. I have liquid
rock here.

Personally I think it has more to do with the preperation of the batch itself.
I run a DIY yeast system on my 75 gallon tank. 3 2-liter bottles, with a
staggered change ~2 weeks on each bottle.

My recipe is a bit different though. 3/4 cup sugar, 1.5l water, 1/4 tsp yeast.
I use tepid water in a small cup with 1 tsp of sugar to "foam" the yeast
before introducing it into the bottle. Tepid being slightly warm, not quite
cold. I let the bottle sit open for 30-45 minutes at room temp (74F). I always
get production in an hour.

I grew up in a bakery which is where I learned the benefits of foaming the
yeast first. It gets them cranking faster.. YMMV



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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Dave
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

In , Craig Morrison
empowered us with this mighty blow against the Patriarchy:

Dave wrote:

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the water used
(hardness? don't know) that causes this delay to vary amongst people.
With my regular DIY CO2 setup (2qt juice bottle, 8 cups sugar, 1/4
tsp yeast), I always need to wait at least 24 hours before I get an
adequate amount of CO2, while others have said that they only need to
wait a few hours.



I wouldn't say that water hardness has anything to do with it. I have
liquid rock here.

Personally I think it has more to do with the preperation of the batch
itself.
I run a DIY yeast system on my 75 gallon tank. 3 2-liter bottles,
with a
staggered change ~2 weeks on each bottle.

My recipe is a bit different though. 3/4 cup sugar, 1.5l water, 1/4
tsp yeast. I use tepid water in a small cup with 1 tsp of sugar to
"foam" the yeast before introducing it into the bottle. Tepid being
slightly warm, not quite cold. I let the bottle sit open for 30-45
minutes at room temp (74F). I always get production in an hour.

I grew up in a bakery which is where I learned the benefits of foaming
the yeast first. It gets them cranking faster.. YMMV


Sounds reasonable, but ... why does putting the yeast into tepid water in a
small cup with 1 tsp of sugar cause it to activate more quickly? Versus
being put into a two quart bottle with tepid water and 8 cups of sugar?
  #7   Report Post  
Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Daniel C. Smith
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

First of all, thanks everyone for being so helpful. I decided to wait a
little bit longer and now I'm finally seeing a few bubbles, but it's only
like one bubble every 5 minutes or so, so I still think something is wrong.
I'm going to go to the store tomorrow to pick up some wine yeast (everyone
says it is better) and I'll add it to my current batch to see if it ups the
CO2 production. Thanks again to everyone.

Daniel.
"Anton Valouev" wrote in message
...
The yeast in the bag is probably dead. May be got frozen, or overheated
before you have bought the system and died. So get yourself some yeast

from
the baking section of the food store.

"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message
...
Okay, keep in mind that I'm a beginner. I purchased the Nutrafin system

CO2
system because it looked like a good solution for my tank and it

wouldn't
be
an eyesore in my house. I just have one problem, I cannot get it to

produce
any CO2 yet that I can see. The yeast, sugar, baking soda and water

have
been in the reactor for over 24 hours now and still no CO2 bubbles can

be
seen. The directions say that the fermentation should produce CO2

within
2-10 hours, but my setup has been going for much longer than that now.

I
checked the hose and made sure the cap was screwed on tightly on the
reactor. I followed the directions verbatim, but no luck yet. Has

anyone
else had a simlar experience? Also, if anyone has any tips they'd be
greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks.

Daniel






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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Phil Dietz
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

"Daniel C. Smith" wrote in message m...
First of all, thanks everyone for being so helpful. I decided to wait a
little bit longer and now I'm finally seeing a few bubbles, but it's only
like one bubble every 5 minutes or so, so I still think something is wrong.
I'm going to go to the store tomorrow to pick up some wine yeast (everyone
says it is better) and I'll add it to my current batch to see if it ups the
CO2 production. Thanks again to everyone.


Here's one thing I noticed yesterday...

I too wasn't getting any bubbles after 24 hrs. Even though I had the
tubing nicely coiled...I had a suspicion.

So I cut the 4 foot tube that comes with the Hagen system down to what
it needed without any coiling.

Now I'm getting bubbles. Less resistance helps.

I figure if I need the 4 feet back, I can call Hagen. They were quite
helpful in the past.
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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Terence
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

"Philip Ash" wrote in message ...
[snip]
Dan,

There are a few things to consider.

Was the water too hot? Better too cool than to hot.

Have you taken the diffuser out of the tank or taken the hose off the
container or opened the container? It is a pressure system. The CO2 has to
build up a head of pressure before it makes its way up the tube, forces the
water in the tube out, and then starts producing bubbles. The first bubbles
will be air, and then the CO2 comes later.

It seems that Hagen supply too much stabiliser for some peoples setup. I
only use half the stabiliser they supply. My first batch with the full
amount did as yours did. There are at least two others on here that had the
same problem.

hth


Phil.


I've also been using one of the Hagen CO2 units and I guess I must've
gotten a good batch of yeast. I used to use the DIY system as
described in thekrib - and that would usually take 2-3 hours before it
would start to work. But with my first batch of the Hagen CO2, the
reaction was almost instantaneous i.e. in less than 5 minutes bubbles
were already coming out.

Terence
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Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
Craig Morrison
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

Dave wrote:


I grew up in a bakery which is where I learned the benefits of foaming
the yeast first. It gets them cranking faster.. YMMV



Sounds reasonable, but ... why does putting the yeast into tepid water in a
small cup with 1 tsp of sugar cause it to activate more quickly? Versus
being put into a two quart bottle with tepid water and 8 cups of sugar?



Smaller vessel, more contact between the yeast and food source.



  #11   Report Post  
Old 20-04-2003, 07:20 AM
cindy
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hagen C02 Natural Plant System question

Sounds like you got things working....I had the same problem (no
bubbles for 24 h)...then I cut the hose and placed the diffuser closer
to the bottle.

The bubbles started slowly but before long I had a steady stream with
a bubble every 2-3 seconds. The bubbles stayed the same size all the
way through the diffuser for the first few days but now they shrink
down to nothing - perfect!

I started it on 12/17 and it is still running strong.
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