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Chasing the lime green dragon

EnderUK

EnderUK

Member
Joined
26 Jan 2014
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1,028
I know, I know, it's another co2 thread.

Okay so I've been using an FE co2 unit for over a month now and still not hit the lime green colour.

I have a 125l tank so you would think I'd need around 1-2 bps but I'm probably over 4-5 a second, I can't count that fast so I'm guessing that because I have a precision bubble counter that it is more for smaller tanks? Makes it difficult to work out how much I'm increasing co2 by now.

Flow is good, very little media in the filter, which is a 1200l/hr with the spray bar going across and over the surface of the tank causing a lot of ripple. I can see the tiny bubbles from the inline atomizer swirling around the tank and they go everywhere.

I turn on the co2 three hours before lights on and off three ours before lights off. Fish seem happy with it now, plants are doing okay but there is some stunted growth and the carpeting plants are not doing great.

The only other thing is my water is around KH 2-3 with about TDS 375.

So I don't know if it is the low KH that's the problem with absorbing the co2 (Not a chemist so maybe someone with the experience can answer that one.

Or the simple fact I'm adding less co2 than I think I am due to the nature of the bubble counter I have. If so can anyone recommend a bubble counter suitable for a 125l tank, I'd prefer I can attach it to the solenoid.

Thanks
 
tim said:
Your adding less co2 than you think you are, or less than your plants need but don't add too much because your livestock won't tolerate it.
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That was my feeling. I'll slowly increase the co2 over the next couple of days. Still some visual indicator on the flow rate would be nice. I currently have the Easy Aqua Bubble Counter - Professional, any other suggestions?
 
The fluval bubble counters are good IMO work fine with 3 bar pressure on my reg, seemed a lot of bubbles when I switched from the jbl reg but bigger hole size etc etc, with co2 you have to hold your nerve longer than you think you need to and make sure your around to aid livestock when you increase the rate up, livestock can take a day or two to adjust to small changes, small adjustments and monitor is the way forward, if possible it's better to back the lighting off and leave co2 the same see how fish react, 9 times out of ten this will benefit plants and livestock ime.
 
Edvet said:
Having troubles counting bubbles can be resolved by adding oil in stead of water in the bubble counter.
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Don't know how much I like that idea Edvet, slim but possible of a small quanity getting into the tank. I've ordered an ebay bubble counter which looks to have larger bubbles, I'll try that, for now I'll slowly turn up the co2 every couple of days. Cheers folks.
 
Bps can't be decided by the size of your tank. My 30cm cube needed 2-3 bps
 
Edvet said:
It's been done before. With those one way flow security thingies (don't know the english term atm) there should be no risk. And if oil gets to a tank it floats.
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Don't they actually make an oil solution for this purpose?
 
I'm guessing it would be a viscous water base solution rather than oil, so it would break down in the tank, i could be wrong.

Groomer the bubbles per second should give a rough guide to your tank. I will need to put more co2 into my 125 than my 28l, however as state if different size bubbles are being counted then that changes the volume of co2 counted.

Sent from my Radar C110e using Tapatalk
 
I suspect you may have a leak...

This is over 1bps in 180litre tank ONCE I had located all the CO2 leaks :mad:. When leaking would go slightly green, but never this green (yellow...whoops).
WP_20140306_18_15_07_Pro_zpsa44848f1.jpg


I had leaks from bubble counter (JBL pro-flora) and even one way valve. Once all sorted drop checker was immediately green/yellow the next day.:)
 
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I can see glycerin being perfect actually as it is water based meaning the sugar and alcohol dissolve in the water if it does get into the tank.

I turned the regulator about an 1/8th of a turn and the drop checkers finally gone lime green, co2 bubbles just flowing rapidly, fish are all happy. When I get the new bubble counter I'll slam some glycerin in it. Cheers.
 
The JBL bubble counter is quite large, holds a large volume of water and in the 8 months I have had mine only filled once, water at 2/3rd level at the moment. Comes apart to allow easy filling with water and has a little magnifying "bump" at the bottom so you can study the bubbles in detail, if required.:rolleyes:

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