Pressurized C02 and PH Help???

495 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Robelwilson, Aug 25, 2009

Robelwilson

Discussion Starter · Aug 25, 2009

Ok I can obviously tell I am in way over my head...almost a month ago I decided I was going to set up a 75 gallon planted tank. I dove right in bought a tank and all the works. I have a few fish already living in it...they have been alive for a week now!:wink: No plants yet,but I have ordered a few mats of java fern and a few other plants. They havent arrived yet. Tonight I set up the C02 tank. Its one of those that has the ph monitor that turns it on. I ordered it from greenleafaquariums.com "the ultimate c02 system". Well I calibrated the ph meter, stuck the probe down in the tank. The ph was 6.8, I think thats where its suppose to be. I plugged the co2 regulator into the ph meter. I really wanted to see this thing bubble so I turned the ph dial down just a little. I bubbled for a few secounds then stopped. Will this be enough c02 when I get my plants? What should I set the ph at? Or do I just need to plug the regulator into the plug in the wall and just let it trickle out all the time?

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Darkblade48

· #2 · Aug 25, 2009

Just for starters, you may want to keep an eye out for a possible tank cycle; it doesn't seem as you have cycled your tank.

Depending on how much light you have, you may not even require the CO2. While it is not essential under low light conditions, there is no harm in having it. How much light do you have?

In terms of CO2, in my opinion, the best way is to use a CO2 drop checker, and not a pH monitor. The CO2 drop checker will help determine whether you have ~30 ppm of CO2 in your water column (the optimal concentration). Once this concentration is reached, you can set your pH monitor to keep the pH at the noted value.

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jjp2

· #3 · Aug 25, 2009

A few things...

CO2 is always beneficial at any light level. It is the most critical nutrient and hardest one for plants to get enough of. With low light, plants will use less CO2 than in a high light tank.

You will need a drop checker to help you adjust the bubbles per second of CO2. With high light we like 30 ppm which is what a 4Kh solution is geared to. It will be green when around 30 ppm, yellow if over, blue if under. It is NOT exact and not quick (takes minutes to 1/2 hr to change).

The ph monitor is not a good way of determining the CO2 level. This is because adding CO2 drops the ph. Knowing what to set the stop at depends on your starting ph level. You can set this once you have a drop checker and know what the ph is when the drop checker is green.

You can either run the ph monitor all the time, or have it on a timer as you will only need to add CO2 about a 1/2 hr before your lights come on to about 1/2 before the lights turn off.

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Robelwilson

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 25, 2009

yes, the tank has been cycled. It has been setup over a month, before adding any fish. yes I will need c02, I have a solar t5 ho fixture 4 bulbs. I do have a drop checker. It is bright green now. I had to unplug the the regulator from the ph and just plug it into the wall for it to come on. The initial ph of my tank was 6.8. Now it is at 5.7 What I am really asking is how do I maintain a constant ph and keep c02 levels in the proper range?

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timwag2001

· #5 · Aug 25, 2009

i'm sure that there are a lot of people that have an issue with the way i do it. what i do is add baking soda to raise my ph so that i can have my co2 levels high. i have a ph monitor also. and i just set it so that i have lime green in my drop checker at 7.2ph. i have some snails in my tank so i need to keep a higher ph to keep their shells from dissolving

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Robelwilson

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 25, 2009

timwag2001 said:
what i do is add baking soda to raise my ph so that i can have my co2 levels high. i have a ph monitor also. and i just set it so that i have lime green in my drop checker at 7.2ph. i have some snails in my tank so i need to keep a higher ph to keep their shells from dissolving

How much baking soda should I add? or are there other ways to do it?

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