[paulhrone]

Ok im setting up my new tank and need to know about co2 ive never really used it before so what are the pro.s and con.s how dose it effect the water do i use it all the time what is the a bubble rate and what should it be how is it going to effect my fish ok there you have it cheers paul

 

[attack11]

less buffer will allow you to swing the ph easier but if the co2 isn't a constant feed, that swing could be very bad.

diy is cheap and can be a little messy. buy a quality bread or beer yeast.

o2 tubing will leak co2.

 

[paulhrone]

im goint to get a pressurised bottle type so it should be preety constant

 

[attack11]

cool. well then it's basically buffering that you need to learn about. a ph controller like an aquacontroller jr or sms122 is very useful.

 

[Tourney]

Well it should lower the pH of the water by about 1, which both the fish and plants will love. You only need to run it while the lights are on, as the plants don't use or need it after dark, you know the whole light and photosynthesis thing. You need to have about 1-2 bubbles per second in the bubble counter, and make sure you test the water regularly, to make sure you are not overdosing with Co2. Check out this link for a good guide to get you started. How to setup a Pressurized CO2 system....

 

[paulhrone]

ok so does the bubble rate change with the size of tank mine is 150gal

 

[attack11]

bubble rate is a non-issue when using pressurized co2. i used to run mine at well, wide open but i cut back to lets say 80bpm so my ph drop took another 1-2 minutes.

with that much water volume you should look into a reactor designed for the job and plumb it inline with your filter.

 

[cbennett]

the size of the tank doesn't affect the rate as there is a needle valve on the regulator that you turn to adjust the flow (say, 2 bubbles per second). You want to have the canister/regulator/bubble counter go to CO2 tubing (other kinds will leak CO2), to a check valve, then to either an inline reactor or a diffusor or in-tank reactor. The CO2 will lower the pH and also gradually eat away at the KH (buffering capacity). Most people however, have enough KH that it's not a problem, just check it every once in a while to make sure it's at a safe level. The CO2 should lower your pH by one full point (i.e. 7.2 to 6.2) if you have about 30 ppm of CO2 in the water (which is what you want). You will also notice a normal variation between first thing in the morning and late at night by a couple of tenths of a point. I don't use a controller (I don't like depending on pH probes that go out of calibration fairly quickly and there's an extra expense), so I leave my CO2 on 24/7. I make sure there is some slight surface turbulence so there is enough oxygen in the water at night when the plants are not photosynthesizing. Pretty much set it and forget it until the tank gets low 5 months later. Use the chart on Rex Grigg's website to measure your CO2 level using a pH and a KH test.

 

[steve5520]

"bubble rate is a non-issue when using pressurized co2."

This is ONLY true IF you are using a controller, I believe.

 

[edacsac]

ok so does the bubble rate change with the size of tank mine is 150gal

"bubble rate is a non-issue when using pressurized co2."

This is ONLY true IF you are using a controller, I believe.

Without a controller, bubble rate will be dependant on your tank size, testing parameters, diffusion efficiency, probably even the amount of plant mass in your tank (and size of bubbles from your bubble counter/tubing from what I read). I'm at about 6 seconds every bubble for my 10gal, my buddy is 2 bubbles a second with his 50gal to reach around 30-40ppm of co2.

bubble rate is a non-issue when using pressurized co2. i used to run mine at well, wide open but i cut back to lets say 80bpm so my ph drop took another 1-2 minutes.

Through a reactor?

 

[paulhrone]

ok so from what i can see it might be better to switch off the co2 at night im going to have to find out how to measure the co2 content and i think i will have a play with it before i intruce the fish

 

[edacsac]

These are pretty popular lately to make things easier:

eBay: Co2 Drop Checker-monitoring proper dosage of CO2 (item 250074857544 end time Jan-25-07 06:38:43 PST)

...and a couple of DIY incarnations:

DIY Drop Checker - Aquatic Plant Central

I'm going to build one from the above article as soon as I can score some acrylic tubing and sheet.

 

[distrbd]

It is wiser to rely on a solenoid to shut off the co2 at night ,I highly recommend investing money on a good quality solenoid.
For 150 g tank ,heavily planted you will need at least 6-9 bubbles per second to get to 30 ppm.
If there's no solenoid then I would leave the co2 running 24/7,and run a water pump at night to bring the co2 level lower.

 

[paulhrone]

ok im starting to get to the bottom of it now firstly im going to have to go buy some co2 and a solenoid and see how it goes as the tank is ready to go and im get nagged to death i better do somethink but the weekend is coming cheers for all your help:smile:

 

[attack11]

Without a controller, bubble rate will be dependant on your tank size, testing parameters, diffusion efficiency, probably even the amount of plant mass in your tank (and size of bubbles from your bubble counter/tubing from what I read). I'm at about 6 seconds every bubble for my 10gal, my buddy is 2 bubbles a second with his 50gal to reach around 30-40ppm of co2.



Through a reactor?

thru an am reactor1000. i meant with a controller up there, to me running pressurized without a controller is just stupid. it's a key peice of the overall setup/automation.

i forgot to turn my co2 on last week when i switched light fixtures (had to change power setup), anyways the next night i notice it's off and my ph is at 8.3; a little high

turned on the controller and the ph was back where i wanted it in a few minutes. my water has almost no buffer; works great.