# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories > DIY Projects >  I'm thinking of setting up diy co2 in my 3 litre tank

## Peable

Please forgive me for being noob. I'm new at planted tank . All mainly mosses with 16w eco lighting. 
Reason of doing is saw a few hobbyist grew them beautifully in co2 condition compares to non-co2.
Secondly, i would like the experience. 
So i've an extra small tank. Been searching for diy co2 info online for awhile now but i can't find certain information that i need. 
Hopefully someone can enlighten me.

1) Gonna use water in my 2feet tank into this small tank. Since it's only 3 ltr tank with 2 guppies, can i do 100 wc?
2) If i were to diy co2 using 1.5 ltr bottle, what is the reason of having the 2nd bubble counter bottle before the tubing goes into the tank?
3) Does adding a pinch of baking soda into the mixture stabilize the PH from fluctuate much?

Thanks for reading.

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## felix_fx2

1, can use water from existing tank. but water change don't do 100%. the beneficial bacteria might all die. if your going to direct from tap... worse... 

2, will have a lot of guck caused by day co2. if you read the thread and saw people using a bubble counter the reason should also have been there

3, don't understand what you saying

Sent from GT-N7105 powered by Beanstalk 4.4

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## thebaldingaquarist

> Please forgive me for being noob. I'm new at planted tank . All mainly mosses with 16w eco lighting. 
> Reason of doing is saw a few hobbyist grew them beautifully in co2 condition compares to non-co2.
> Secondly, i would like the experience. 
> So i've an extra small tank. Been searching for diy co2 info online for awhile now but i can't find certain information that i need. 
> Hopefully someone can enlighten me.
> 
> 1) Gonna use water in my 2feet tank into this small tank. Since it's only 3 ltr tank with 2 guppies, can i do 100 wc?
> 2) If i were to diy co2 using 1.5 ltr bottle, what is the reason of having the 2nd bubble counter bottle before the tubing goes into the tank?
> 3) Does adding a pinch of baking soda into the mixture stabilize the PH from fluctuate much?
> ...


Hi,
1) if you mean you want to take water from an existing 2ft aquarium that's established and change out the water in the 3 lt tank, I am not sure if it will defeat the purpose of water change in the first place.. That's like taking old water and putting old water in. 
2) it's like what Felix said.
3) adding baking soda will inhibit the solution from going acidic too quickly. The yeast that produces the co2 decreases the amount of co2 as the ph lowers.

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## Peable

Thank you both sifus for your input. Then i think i should:

1) Either 50% new wc. But if the tank only has mosses without fishes , should there be problem if i change to RO water 100%? Will the dramactically change of water chemistry doing harm to the plants?

2) Understood. Thank you Felix.

3) Thank you Eric.

Another important question. Is it ok to not have filter in there? The tank is already very small, i can't find any filter to fit in. Only can add air tube for aeration. In other words can the co2 be able to distribute itself througout the whole tank without water movement?

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## limz_777

if its fishless only moss , dont have a need for filter

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## Urban Aquaria

Pumpng DIY Co2 into a tiny 3 litre tank with fishes is quite risky as the variable Co2 supply can accumulate too high very quickly and kill the fishes (unless you monitor it constantly), so it'll be best to remove the fishes and just grow the moss on its own.


Water circulation shouldn't be an issue in a tank that small... and moss have very slow nutrient and uptake so it probably wouldn't make much of a difference. Though some surface water movement would still be good anyways, to promote gas exchange and reduce chances of mosquitoes breeding.  :Smile:

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## bennyc

You are very lucky, all heavy weight helping you. Haha. 
Anyway, just my less than two cents view. Having co2 will not turn your moss more beautiful. Having co2 will make it grow faster, colder temperature makes it greener.
If you use RO water, a lot of minerals will be remove so unless you plan to control the nutrient via dosing, i do not understand the need to do so. I may be wrong but that is what i observe from my experience.

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## Peable

Thank you limz_777 I just use the air pump now.

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## Peable

Thank you Urban Aquaria,
Here's an update, i've set it up with only 1 guppy yesterday and the co2 was going well at 1bps after 3 hours the guppy was hovering over the top for air so i just unplug the co2 tubing and let the oxygen tube continue running over night. When i checked the PH it went down to 6 so i changed 50% water and leave it at that. I haven't check the PH for today though but the guppy is happy swimming around. You were right about co2 in tiny tank i just hope that by pumping 3 hours co2 + lighting is enough for moss daily at the moment. About the mosquitoes breeding, it was one of the reason i put guppy inside.

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## Peable

Hi bennyc,
Thanks for sharing. I too believe it will grow faster but about the "beautiful part" i need to convince myself by compares it with my mosses in 2ft tank w/out co2, will only know in 6 months time i suppose. By that time maybe i kinda bored with diy co2 already lol. Anyway this is one good experience that i've been looking into.

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## Peable

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/11704477806/

Here's the video. PH today about 6.8. As you can see those co2 bubble distribute itself all around. The back roll is oxygen bubble.
Sorry for the unclear video, my camera lauyah one. Will observe the mosses growth from now onwards.

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