New Power head with co2

natemcnutty said:

Are you sure the hose input is on the outflow side and not the inflow side? The usual method here is to cut the propellers in half (bend each half slightly away from each other), and then feed the CO2 into the inflow side. The propellers chop it up and blast it out.

You can modify that method with a DIY reactor (like a plastic syringe or similar) and venturi loop that ensures almost 100% efficiency.

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It is on the outlet. I got this one.

http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/petco-160-gallon-power-head#

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AbbeysDad said:

I'm not sure you need to be hacking up the impeller of your new powerhead. Then again, I'm not convinced you needed the powerhead. CO2 by itself is only part of the puzzle. So just adding CO2 (assuming decent diffusion) won't do much unless there's sufficient/abundant light and nutrients. Perhaps now that you've added CO2, you need to increase ferts, or light, or both some to get the growth your looking for. Also, it goes without saying that plants are only gonna grow so fast and some are downright slow no matter how good the conditions are.

Now if the powerhead has a hookup for an air line, you might hook directly to that (I'm doing some DIY CO2 with a mini Elite filter that has an air port that I hook to for really nice micro-bubbles). Otherwise, you might place your diffuser near the inlet of the powerhead so it pulls bubbles into the impeller.

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There was no way I was hacking up the power head.

I had a glass diffuser with a ceramic disc in it. Very small bubbles. I put the co2 hose on to the power head on the outlet. I'll try that for a little bit. If I don't get the results I want I'll put the diffuser under the inlet.

I haven't been consistent with ferts but when I was running sugar/yeast mix my plants did well. I switched to the pressurized because I almost back siphoned my tank in our new house. My hubby wasn't thrilled even though he didn't blow his lid. That's why he bought me the pressurized unit.

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I have a set of fertilizers that I ordered online from Green Leaf Aquariums. It contains CSM+B, K2SO4, KH2PO4 and KNO3. I am following (or trying to) the EU according to what came with them. I dose 1/8 tsp CSM+B 3x a week and 1/8 tsp each K2SO4 and KH2PO4 with 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x a week. On the 7th day I do a 50% water change. At least I try. I haven't been consistent with that. All of my plants are root plants except for the java moss I tied to some wood. This is why I at least keep the root tablets in the tank.

Yesterday (January 21, 2017) I did a nice cleaning of the tank removing all plants and taking all the leaves that had holes and weren't good looking off.

Today I will be putting more root tablets in and starting with the dry fertilizer dosing schedule.


I had 2x 2 litre bottles and a 20 oz bottle set up prior. The schedule for that was one 2 litre bottle was changed weekly so each bottle had a new mixture bi-weekly. In our apartment the tank had a wall with a cut out behind it. On the other side of the cut out was a counter where the bottles lived. In the house this was not the case. I set it all up and only put 1 2 litre bottle on as that was the first week. I forgot to close the valve on the second hose and while the mixture was not yet producing bubbles and pressurized I would say 10 gallons back siphoned. My husband got me the regulator 2 days later. My intention was never to keep the sugar/yeast method. It's a pain to keep making the mixture. However, when I was doing that and dosing consistently I noticed an increase in plant mass and significant decrease in algae. Then I got lazy with it.

This, I am sure, is the biggest problem. I haven't been on to of it.

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Also, with the bottles I had CO2 running constantly. Since I am pressurized the CO2 turns on at 2PM, lights at 4PM, CO2 off at 10PM and lights off at 12AM.

I try to dose the fertilizer in the morning around 8AM before I leave for work. Mostly when lights are off. I have read that it really doesn't matter but I feel like this gives time for it to circulate through the water column in preparation to be used when lights come on.

I usually mix the fertilizer in a small cup of water the night before to allow them to dissolve. I am not a fan of just dumping them into the tank. I feel like the fish might try to eat them.

If it helps, I am using Flourite Dark as substrate. My lighting is 36 inch T5HO. One 10,000K and one 6500K. Pretty sure they were replaced in January or February of 2016.

Wondering if a T5 daylight bulb from Home Depot or Lowes would suffice.

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It looks like you are covered on the fertilizer front. Most (all ?) aquarium plants are capable of taking up nutrients from the water alone, so if you fertilize the water the root tabs are not needed (although they don’t hurt).
The time for the CO2 injection also sound good. You are right, I have seen no effect of when you dose the fertilizers as long as they are there when needed. The other specifications sound ok.
I feel your pain with the yeast thing. As a child I also had it and the stories that result from it (funny now)… aquarium in yeast, yeast in aquarium, yeast bomb, etc. Thing is yeast bottles can produce quite a lot of CO2 at peak times, enough to gas fish in smaller aquariums. I wonder if you are not injecting less CO2 now. Maybe get a drop checker and see if it turns a light green. You can also estimate the CO2 concentration from the KH and pH if you have the tests at hand.
If you decide to increase your CO2 do so slowly over several days and observe the fish behavior, no need to rush into it.

I have a drop checker. I can't seem to get the liquid a good readable color. I made 4dKh water. At least I think I did. I have a kH test kit and it took 4 drops to turn color. I am using the pH solution from my master test kit in the drop checker. I think I put too much in because it's really dark blue. I put 6 drops. It's not like I don't have enough 4dKH water. I have 2 litres of 400dKh.

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Here's something interesting. I got pH of 6.4 and kH of 3.

According to the chart I have 35.8ppm CO2.


According to the web calculator I have 1.3.

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