larger tanks use a lot of co2
what is the ph of your degassed tank water
what is the ph of your degassed tank water
CO2 and Drop Checker
When does a drop checker turn green?
I have very little plant's in my 110g tank , my co2 is getting 100% diffusion , My ph controller reads 6.3 ph my kh is at 4 .
I get no pearling from the few little plants I do have but they are growing . I only have 6 small SAE . Should I keep turning up the co2 , { I have 2 drop checkers one on each end that read Blue all the time } until I see the fish going for the surface and watch my controller go below 6.0 ph. {I only use the controller for visual readings}
I have very little plant's in my 110g tank , my co2 is getting 100% diffusion , My ph controller reads 6.3 ph my kh is at 4 .
I get no pearling from the few little plants I do have but they are growing . I only have 6 small SAE . Should I keep turning up the co2 , { I have 2 drop checkers one on each end that read Blue all the time } until I see the fish going for the surface and watch my controller go below 6.0 ph. {I only use the controller for visual readings}
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Assuming you have 4 dKH water, made with distilled water and baking soda, and have pH test reagent in it, a drop checker is fool proof. If it is blue you don't have nearly enough CO2 in the water. You can safely keep increasing the CO2 bubble rate until the drop checker is green, without harming the fish. It is when you keep raising the bubble rate that you have to be much more careful, and do it much slower.
It takes awhile to figure out how much CO2 to put in the tank. Just keep dosing more and more until you finally get it to the level you want. When the drop checker turns yellow/green, then make small changes and watch the fish for a few hours (I wait overnight) to make sure you haven't gone too high. If you do get too high, just drop it down a notch and do a water change for the fish.
Now that you remind me I will have to put aside some water over nightlarger tanks use a lot of co2
what is the ph of your degassed tank water
and check the next day. Thanks
So keep turning up the co2 until I get green and don't worry about the controller reading anything under 6.0 ph? will do
Just be careful when increasing your CO2 rate; increase the rate slowly over a period of days - sudden pH changes really stress the fish. It'll also take a bit of time for the drop checker to adjust and lag behind the actual CO2 level in your tank.
Many people have their CO2 supplied through a solenoid valve which shuts off the CO2 when the lights go off, and turns it on when the lights go on. This is a "sudden pH change", and does no harm to the fish at all.Just be careful when increasing your CO2 rate; increase the rate slowly over a period of days - sudden pH changes really stress the fish. It'll also take a bit of time for the drop checker to adjust and lag behind the actual CO2 level in your tank.
You can adjust the CO2 pretty rapidly until the drop checker is green. However, as BigBadBurrow said, it does take about 2 hours for most drop checkers to show the right color after a bubble rate change, so that does force you to go slow unless you already know about what bubble rate you will need.
I thought I had mention that I use my co2 controller only for visual readings , My co2 runs on a timer with the light's
Yahoo!!
I just check the drop checkers on both ends of the tank and both are greenish/yellow!!
In the couple of years that I had drop checkers in my tank "I never saw any color but Blue" I believe my new 20" house filter co2 reactor was what I needed for my tank and high flow pumps I've use 900gph - 1100gph.
One thing thou do I back off just a tad so to keep a solid green?
Yahoo!!
I just check the drop checkers on both ends of the tank and both are greenish/yellow!!
In the couple of years that I had drop checkers in my tank "I never saw any color but Blue" I believe my new 20" house filter co2 reactor was what I needed for my tank and high flow pumps I've use 900gph - 1100gph.
One thing thou do I back off just a tad so to keep a solid green?
But there would be no "sudden pH change" in that situation because the pH shouldn't change because you've taken steps to prevent it from changing; that's the whole reason people turn the CO2 off overnight; to stop more CO2 going in and dropping the pH due to the plants not absorbing the CO2. When my lights go out, so does the CO2, and the pH stays pretty much constant through the night and then turn the CO2 on when the lights do and the plants photosynthesise and the pH stays at that level during the day too because I've found a good equilibrium. But, if you suddenly increase CO2 when trying to find you optimal CO2 level then it will drop the pH and it will stress the fish, so it's worthwhile doing it slowly - there's no rush after-all.Many people have their CO2 supplied through a solenoid valve which shuts off the CO2 when the lights go off, and turns it on when the lights go on. This is a "sudden pH change", and does no harm to the fish at all.
When your solenoid shuts off the CO2 at night the pH definitely rises. It should rise about 0.5 or so, as the CO2 in the water leaves the tank at the water surface. Then when the solenoid opens in the morning as the light comes on, or before the light comes on, the pH has to drop, or you aren't putting enough CO2 in the water. Believe me, these changes have zero effect on the fish. It is sudden changes in KH that can cause problems for the fish, not pH.But there would be no "sudden pH change" in that situation because the pH shouldn't change because you've taken steps to prevent it from changing; that's the whole reason people turn the CO2 off overnight; to stop more CO2 going in and dropping the pH due to the plants not absorbing the CO2. When my lights go out, so does the CO2, and the pH stays pretty much constant through the night and then turn the CO2 on when the lights do and the plants photosynthesise and the pH stays at that level during the day too because I've found a good equilibrium. But, if you suddenly increase CO2 when trying to find you optimal CO2 level then it will drop the pH and it will stress the fish, so it's worthwhile doing it slowly - there's no rush after-all.
How long does it take for the color to change from greenish/yellow back to green when cutting back a tad on the co2?
or is that good enough .
or is that good enough .
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
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