Hi every body, Joey here again and welcome back.
You know, one of my favourite things to do for you guys is show you how you can turn
common house hold items and other easy to find supplies into useful aquarium projects.
For example, we have often taken water bottles and turn them into filters, skimmers, auto
top offs and many other things.
Or the time we took an old smoke alarm and turned it into a water detector.
That was definitely fun project… and loud!
A couple of times we even created different ways to make our own Co2.
Once using sugar and yeast and another using citric acid and baking soda.
There was even a time where we made our own emergency heater using calcium chloride and
a water bottle, which actually doubled as a dehumidifier.
In today’s video, I’m going to show you how to create pure oxygen for your aquarium…
a bit of a back-story first though so you fully understand it.
When I was a kid, and even now.
If I got a cut or scrap, one of the first things I would do is pour peroxide on it to
disinfect the wound.
I used to always wonder why the peroxide would foam when it came in contact with it.
It turns out there is an enzyme within our cells called catalase.
This catalase is a catalyst.
(Catalyst = A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself
undergoing any permanent chemical change.)
So when this comes in contact with the hydrogen peroxide, it helps break down the peroxide
into water and pure oxygen.
So that foam is actually oxygen gassing off.
This is actually a process that takes place in our bodies all the time, so its nothing
out of the ordinary.
To put this all into layman’s terms, I will start with an example.
When you purchase hydrogen peroxide, you will notice it has an expiry date.
A big reason for this is that when opened, it starts to go through decomposition.
Turning into water and air.
Eventually, just being a bottle of water.
If you look at the ingredients you can see that it is just water and peroxide to begin
with.
If we add a catalase to the peroxide, it simply speeds up the process at a much more extreme
rate.
Now this Catalase enzyme is found in many organic things…
like a potato for example.
So if we drop this potatoe into some peroxide, it will decompose the peroxide into pure oxygen
and water.
So fast in fact that we can capture that pure oxygen and use it.
So what does any of this mean for an aquarist?
In an emergency situation, you might lose power to your aquarium.
You might not have a back up plan or equipment to deal with a power outage and before you
know it your fish are gasping at the surface.
Now there are many ways to deal with this, but at the end of the day…
they just need more oxygen in the water that they can quickly deplete.
However, if we inject pure oxygen into the aquarium, even at a slow rate… this can
make all the difference in your fish’s survival.
Why add pure oxygen?
Well, for example, when we use an air stone and pump for our aquariums, we are actually
pumping in air.
Not oxygen.
These are not the same thing.
In fact, the air we breathe is really only about 21% oxygen.
The rest is nitrogen and other small traces of gases.
So i guess it makes more sense why one is called air and the other is called oxygen.
What I want to show you is an true emergency situation, where you can grab a potato and
some peroxide and use it knowing what will happen if you combine the two that will lead
to saving your fish’s life.
You will need some hydrogen peroxide 3%.
A liter costs me $2.
It will be anywhere you can find Band-Aids, medicine and that sort of thing.
I got this at Wal-Mart.
The 3% simply means that the mixture is 3% peroxide and the rest is water.
You will also need a potato.
Skin the potato to expose the enzymes and cut it into cubes.
Studies have shown that by increasing the surface area of the potato, you will speed
the rate of decomposition.
I use half a potato to a cup of peroxide in a 500ml water bottle.
Drill a small hole in the water bottle cap.
5mm is the best fit, as this will create a tight seal around your 6mm airline hose that
you will insert into it.
Run the hose about an inch into the bottle.
Attach an air stone to the other end and put it in your tank.
Immediately the decomposition of turning the peroxide into water and oxygen will begin.
Within a few minutes, oxygen will fill the bottle up and pressure will begin to build.
Forcing the oxygen out of the bottle and into your aquarium.
This will continue on for at least 4 hours at the same rate.
It can take up to a full day for the peroxide to finish decomposing, at which time you will
be left with a bottle of potatoes flavoured water with a handful of potatoes at the bottom.
If your worried about the foam getting into the aquarium, or even the peroxide itself
which is not really possible of happening, but if it makes you feel better, grab an extra
water bottle and create a gas separator like you would for the Co2 projects I have shown
in the past.
Also, adding on a diffuser like on a co2 system would also be a valuable asset.
So this is truly a very simple yet valuable project that will come in handy for many of
you.
However, if you didn’t notice, I spent most of the time here helping you understand how
it truly works.
Which is essentially exactly how my book was written the ultimate DIY handbook, for the
DIY aquarist.
You can pick your copy up at thekingofdiy.com and even get a signed copy.
Your purchase directly supports this channel and everything that I do for you guys.
So it’s certainly appreciated and even needed.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed todays video, I also wanted to thank you for watching and
I will see you next week for a new do it yourself project.