Almost had a catastrophe

[cah925]

I got home this afternoon and as I'm walking past my tank, I notice 4 rasboras sitting on the bottom gasping for oxygen. My inline CO2 reator was going nuts with tons of gas in it. Luckily the solenoid was on a timer and shut off the gas, but the damage was done. I quickly installed my DIY skimmer (upside down powerhead) and started pumping fresh air into the tank. During all this, my loaches came out of hiding and were also gasping, one looked dead (no gill movement). After an hour I came back to check and 2 of the rasboras were up swimming. After 2 hours everyone was back to normal even the (assumed) dead loach.

[Sponsors]

[Sandman333]

Oh wow, did you have an end-of-tank dump on your CO2? Awesome thinking on the powerhead, it sounds like another couple minutes and the loach would've been a goner.

[dekstr]

I notice my fish gasping for air right before lights are on in the morning. CO2 is fed through a powerhead based on the light timer, so I suspect there is not enough oxygen at night time when the plants start taking up oxygen.

A quick water change (basically getting water with good oxygen content) immediately helped, as well as increased agitation with a powerhead right at the surface.

[stagius]

you might want to get a pH controller to prevent CO2 being pumped too much.
That way you dont need to worry about the reactor being broken.

[cah925]

I have 4 lines hooked up to the regulator. I turned the needle valve on the first one off before I went to work. Orlando thinks that I may have needed to adjust the working pressure to compensate. I lost about 350 lbs before the solenoid shut off. This afternoon I plan on digging through the jungle to see if I have any casualties.

[Wö£fëñxXx]

Folks, I have listed in the dosing sticky about 02
issues if yous would read it, a very simple solution
is on a daily basis after or just before lights off
raise the spray bar or lily pipe to break the waters
surface for the entire night will solve all you're 02 issues.

Make it a habit.

[DaveS]

Or perhaps even easier would be to have an air pump kick on when the lights go out.

Dave

[bsmith782]

Originally Posted by DaveS

Or perhaps even easier would be to have an air pump kick on when the lights go out.

Dave

Why hook up extra equipment, and have more chords hanging.... just turn the spraybar up and let it eat.

[DaveS]

Originally Posted by bsmith782

Why hook up extra equipment, and have more chords hanging.... just turn the spraybar up and let it eat.

In my case:

(1) It is a pain to have to move the spraybar twice a day, especially when we are talking multiple tanks and

(2) You have to be around every day to do it. If you have a job that requires you to be away from your tanks often, this option doesn't work very well.

Personally, I don't do either, just throwing out the suggestion.

Dave

[Wö£fëñxXx]

I usually add the air stone option also when reference
to someones 02 issues, but I didn't this time just for the
sake of not having to type it out.

[DaveS]

I basically do what you suggested all the time. I make sure the sparybar ripples the surface, if not a little more. I am willing to sacrifice a little CO2 for the sake of better surface exchange, so I would say we are on the same page anyhow

Dave

[cah925]

I appreciate the suggestions being offered, however this issue had to do with too much gas going into the reactor during the day when I'm not home. I have the CO2 on a timer which used to shut off the gas at 6pm just after I get home and 2 hours before lights out. I now set the gas to shut off at 4pm (4 hours before lights out). Having an air stone on a timer after lights out would not have helped this situation during the day.

[Wö£fëñxXx]

Sounds as though you just needed to adjust/tweak
the C02 a little.