Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:68592

Hi,

As a lurker here for a while I have picked up a lot of usefull info.
Like a lot of people I had a problem sealing the airline tube into the cap
of a coke bottle.
It worked for three days then stopped when the silicone dried.
I would like to share how I got around this..

1) Drill a hole in the bottle cap just larger than the airline.
2)Cut a square of rubber from an old cycle innertube about 2 inch square.
3)Fold the square over once top to bottom once left to right.
4)Cut a very small amount off the corner. When unfolded there should be a
small hole in the center.
The best hole size I found was about a quarter of the airline diameter.
5)Super glue this to the cap with the small hole inline with the hole in the
centre of the hole in the cap.
Make sure the glue make a continuous ring around the cap about 1/8"
wide.
6)Cut end of airline at 45 degrees with sharp knife and push through the
hole in the rubber.

This works for me and might for others who are have problems using silicone.

Ivor Cave

Ivor Cave wrote in message
...

...Like a lot of people I had a problem sealing the airline
tube into the cap of a coke bottle...I would like to share
how I got around this..

I went to the hardware store to get a couple of rubber stoppers for the
bottles. They're in the fastener and small hardware section. They also run
about US $1 each.

Then I drilled a 3/16" hole down through the center and inserted a piece of
stiff plastic airline tubing through it and cut it off at about 1" above the
top of the stopper. Fish shops sell the tubing to replace things like
airstone connections and skimmer parts. It costs about US 1.50 for a 3-foot
section. Trimming it down to an inch at the top allows me to simply "plug"
it into a rubber/silicone airline.

Lasts forever, and no worries of curing or breaking the seal on silicone.
Don't have to worry if the silicon will stick to a nylon bottle cap, either.

This works for me and might for others who are have problems using
silicone.


--
-Y-

Nestor 10

".chkr" is for mail-bots

Something that I've done recently which seems to work well ...

At most LFSes (inc. PetSmart) you can find "Lee's Discard-A-Stone"
airstones. See: http://www.marinedepot.com/a_ap_lees_as.asp

These are discardable airstones that come with separate plastic barbs; if
you were to use an airstone, you would fit one end of the barb into the
airstone and the other end into your tubing. One end has a (what's the
term I need) collar which would normally seal the end of the airstone.
Crude ASCII rendering if you were looking at the barb from the side:

=|==

I drill a small hole into the center of my CO2 bottle's plastic cap, just
small enough so that I can push the barb through (from the cap's outside),
so that the collar is on the outside of the cap:
_
|
=||=
|_

The end of the barb you're pushing through the cap is slightly tapered; try
to make the drilled hole as wide as that end, and then when you push the
barb through, exert some force and you'll get a good seal around the barb.
In addition, the collar against the cap's outside helps to seal the hole.
I put some aquarium sealant around the collar, but it's probably not
necessary.

Previous setups I've used have actually had the CO2 line glued to the cap,
and I'd have to rotate the bottle to unscrew the cap when I wanted to
change the mixture. Not a big deal, but this is even easier; just plug and
unplug the CO2 line from the barb.

Hmm creative idea but too complicated for me. I just heat a fondue
skewer(or drill with a ~1/12" drill bit) shove it through the cap, cut the
tubing to a 60 degree angle with scissors and pull it through the hole with
tweezers. No gluey mess, little CO2 loss and 5 week CO2 production with
some decent yeast.

"Ivor Cave" wrote in message
...
Hi,

As a lurker here for a while I have picked up a lot of usefull info.
Like a lot of people I had a problem sealing the airline tube into the cap
of a coke bottle.
It worked for three days then stopped when the silicone dried.
I would like to share how I got around this..

1) Drill a hole in the bottle cap just larger than the airline.
2)Cut a square of rubber from an old cycle innertube about 2 inch square.
3)Fold the square over once top to bottom once left to right.
4)Cut a very small amount off the corner. When unfolded there should be a
small hole in the center.
The best hole size I found was about a quarter of the airline
diameter.
5)Super glue this to the cap with the small hole inline with the hole in
the
centre of the hole in the cap.
Make sure the glue make a continuous ring around the cap about 1/8"
wide.
6)Cut end of airline at 45 degrees with sharp knife and push through the
hole in the rubber.

This works for me and might for others who are have problems using
silicone.

Ivor Cave

I used one of those parts on a DIY external reactor. Works like a champ!

"Dave" wrote in message
...

At most LFSes (inc. PetSmart) you can find "Lee's Discard-A-Stone"
airstones. See: http://www.marinedepot.com/a_ap_lees_as.asp

These are discardable airstones that come with separate plastic barbs; if
you were to use an airstone, you would fit one end of the barb into the
airstone and the other end into your tubing. One end has a (what's the
term I need) collar which would normally seal the end of the airstone.

On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 12:43:44 -0000, "Ivor Cave"
wrote:

Why not skip all those steps and just drill the damn hole smaller
than the tubing, then cut the tubing at an angle and pull it though
the hole? I have done this many times and it works like a champ. You
all must be engineers or rocket scientists the way you like to make
things much harder than they need to be.

Hi,

As a lurker here for a while I have picked up a lot of usefull info.
Like a lot of people I had a problem sealing the airline tube into the cap
of a coke bottle.
It worked for three days then stopped when the silicone dried.
I would like to share how I got around this..

1) Drill a hole in the bottle cap just larger than the airline.
2)Cut a square of rubber from an old cycle innertube about 2 inch square.
3)Fold the square over once top to bottom once left to right.
4)Cut a very small amount off the corner. When unfolded there should be a
small hole in the center.
The best hole size I found was about a quarter of the airline diameter.
5)Super glue this to the cap with the small hole inline with the hole in the
centre of the hole in the cap.
Make sure the glue make a continuous ring around the cap about 1/8"
wide.
6)Cut end of airline at 45 degrees with sharp knife and push through the
hole in the rubber.

This works for me and might for others who are have problems using silicone.

Ivor Cave

I did this, and it started leaking after a couple weeks when the tubing had
permanently warped to the smaller size, and was no longer exerting outward force.

Cannibul wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 12:43:44 -0000, "Ivor Cave"
wrote:

Why not skip all those steps and just drill the damn hole smaller
than the tubing, then cut the tubing at an angle and pull it though
the hole? I have done this many times and it works like a champ. You
all must be engineers or rocket scientists the way you like to make
things much harder than they need to be.

Hi,

As a lurker here for a while I have picked up a lot of usefull info.
Like a lot of people I had a problem sealing the airline tube into the cap
of a coke bottle.
It worked for three days then stopped when the silicone dried.
I would like to share how I got around this..

1) Drill a hole in the bottle cap just larger than the airline.
2)Cut a square of rubber from an old cycle innertube about 2 inch square.
3)Fold the square over once top to bottom once left to right.
4)Cut a very small amount off the corner. When unfolded there should be a
small hole in the center.
The best hole size I found was about a quarter of the airline diameter.
5)Super glue this to the cap with the small hole inline with the hole in the
centre of the hole in the cap.
Make sure the glue make a continuous ring around the cap about 1/8"
wide.
6)Cut end of airline at 45 degrees with sharp knife and push through the
hole in the rubber.

This works for me and might for others who are have problems using silicone.

Ivor Cave