Fun with CO₂

Well today just for fun I thought "what would be a good way of delivering CO₂ to my plants so that they can get a bit of a boost whilst growing them on?"... (the kind of random drivvle that falls out of my noggin every so often). So I had a look into CO₂ generation and found the easiest method is to use vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

CO₂ is dangerous and heavier than air, too much in a confined space can cause difficulty breathing. Do this in a safe well ventilated space and make sure you get it right.

DO NOT USE GLASS BOTTLES OR JARS IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF!!! IF YOU GET IT WRONG YOU WILL JUST CREATE A GLASS BOMB AND COULD SERIOUSLY INJURE YOURSELF. The plastic of these bottles is soft and will stretch or burst with heightened pressure but glass will smash and can hurt bad... do your research before you set this up.

The ruraljungle accepts no responsibility for any injury or damage caused by using this method of CO₂ generation.

I started with an empty 5ltr water bottle and drilled a hole ever so slightly smaller than that of the type of airline tube you can get from a decent aquarium shop:

 I then took a smaller cola bottle and made two similar holes:

I taped the smaller cola bottle to the large bottle and connected the first piece of airline to the large bottle. I cut the end of the airline to a point which made it easier to get the tube through the smaller hole:

The first piece of tube is long enough to have about an inch worth of pipe in the large bottle and to reach the bottom of the second smaller bottle. The smaller bottle is used as an overflow should any foam created by the chemical reaction within the chamber reach it. 

The second tube leading from the smaller bottle takes the CO₂ to your plant chamber or in my case a large loosely sealed fish tank (you need air holes for the oxygen that is being forced upwards by the CO₂ to escape from, but not enough so that oxygen creeps back in too quickly to blow the CO₂ out):

Here I have my bicarb 'bombs' each one has around a level tablespoon of bicarb wrapped up in a single sheet of toilet paper, this gives ample time to drop in a bomb and seal the lid so the CO₂ goes in the right place =). I had 9 of these which was about the right amount :

And here it is ready to go... I'll get a CO₂ meter to read how much has been produced using this method at a later date but according to calculations done by some chemistry boffins it should make around 10 US gallons of CO₂ for 2ltrs of vinegar and around 9 tablespoons of bicarb