Let me start this off by saying, I am no expert at this but this has worked so far. And if anything doesn't make sense, please ask questions. Also, please ignore all my random aquarium crap lol
You will want to do 1 setup for every 30 gallons. So I did 2 for my 55.
Materials you will need:
1. 2 liter bottle
2. Small bottle or jar
3. Airline tubing.
4. Silicone
5. Check valve
6. Airstone
7. Drill
First, find the drill bit that is just a little bit smaller than your airline tubing. If you pick one that is too small, that is fine. You can always make the hole bigger but not smaller
Drill 2 holes in the bottle cap to the smaller bottle or jar. Drill 1 hole in the bottle cap of the two liter bottle.
I made the holes too small and had to make them bigger.
Cut 2 pieces of airline tubing. You will need 1 long piece (long enought to go from your jar into the tank) and one short piece about 1 foot long. My long piece is about 4 feet long because the airstones are near the bottom of the tank and the bottles sit on a shelf under the tank.
I found that the least messy way to silicone the tubing to the cap was to place a gob of silicone where you want the cap to be and push the cap into that spot. And then use something to smooth it into the cracks. Also, cutting the tubing into an angle makes it easier to push through the hole.
In your cap with two holes: You will want to make one of the tubes is at least 3 inches or more throuh the bottle cap. One needs to be much shorter and only long enough to be siliconed securely.
In your cap with one hole: You are siliconing this to the other end of the short piece. This piece only needs to be push in far enough to silicone it.
This is what it will look like:
Cut the short piece and add in a check valve. You want the arrow to go from your 2 liter bottle into the small bottle or jar.
Let the silicone sit for at least 24 hours before you mess with it.
Then put your airstone on other end of the long piece. You can put it where ever you want in your tank but I read that it is best to try and get it into the filter. Some people put the airstone directly into the intake.
Next, the recipe and preparing the bottles.
Ingredients:
1. Regular sugar
2. Brown sugar
3. Yeast (don't use fast rising but the regular stuff)
4. Baking soda
You can use just brown or regular sugar if you don't want to use both. You also don't have to use baking soda.
I used: 2 cups of sugar total. I wanted it to be 2/3 brown sugar and 1/3 regular sugar. So I did 1 1/3 cups brown sugar and 2/3 cup regular sugar. Then add in 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon yeast. The brown sugar is a pain to get through the funnel but is easier when mixed with the regular sugar beforehand.
Add warm water. Don't use hot water. Add until the water reaches the curve in the top of the bottle or 2/3rd full. As you can see, I added too much but didn't want to pour it out. Give it a good shake to mix everything up.
Screw on the top with only one tube to the 2 liter bottle.
Fill your small bottle or jar 2/3rd of the way. Screw on the top with 2 tubes.
My second setup.
The longer tube should be in the water. This is your bubble counter. You want 1 bubble per second. It also stops the mixture from the 2 liter bottle from going into your tank.
I started the bottles and they were making some bubbles 1.5 hrs later. I will post a video of them in action tomorrow.
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