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Jacob Coleman

Member
Joined
27 Jul 2019
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31
Location
Leicester
I have a TMC 60x45x30 cm tank which is around 80 litres it’s is planted with a mixture of slow and fast growing plants.

I am currently running 1bps through a soda stream system
I was wondering weather I should increase dosage
 

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It's impossible to say, each tank has it's own requirements. All you can do is observe closely livestock and plant response. Personally I think drop checkers are a waste of time, if it's green but your plants are showing co2 deficiency then you have to increase co2/flow anyway. Nice tank, I like the open area.
 
Are you running the CO2 24/7 ?
What's you photo and CO2 periods?
What colour does your DC change ?
Have you done a pH profile
The BPS doesn't really tell us much as bubble size can/does vary!
Filter output helpful too, as flow is important.
I find a DC very useful.
 
Are you running the CO2 24/7 ?
What's you photo and CO2 periods?
What colour does your DC change ?
Have you done a pH profile
The BPS doesn't really tell us much as bubble size can/does vary!
Filter output helpful too, as flow is important.
I find a DC very useful.

My co2 turns on at 2:30 and shuts off at 8:30.
My lights turn on at 3:15 and turn off at 9:30.

I am not sure weather my drop checker works I will send photos

My filter output is 1050 litres on a 80 litre tank

I will send results of api test strip for ph.
 
Can the indicator go bad or should I put some new indicator in?
Also I don’t know what TDS is but mine is 315 can someone tell me if that’s good?
Also the test strip gives a overall view of my water (is there anything concerning?)

I also have a lot of surface scum but am going to try to get hold of an lily pipe surface skimmer

Thanks for the help Jacob:)
 

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My co2 turns on at 2:30 and shuts off at 8:30.
My lights turn on at 3:15 and turn off at 9:30.

So 45mins to get pH drop, very unlikely unless you have duel CO2 injection and timers to suit or pH controller and even then it can be tricky (not recommended). It normally takes 2-3hours to get the 1.0pH drop if your tank doesnt get the full drop by lights on the pH keeps dropping which results in fluctuating [CO2] during the main photo period - which is bad for plants see Ceg quote below

We have a fairly well grounded, basic understanding of the photosynthetic processes.
A. We understand that Rubisco's job is to capture CO2 molecules and to deliver the molecules to the Calvin Cycle reaction centers. We know that Rubisco is hugely expensive and consumes a lot of resources to produce and to maintain. In low tech tanks, where the CO2 concentration is low there is a much higher density of Rubisco in the leaf because you need more of the protein to capture the small amounts of CO2. In gas injected tanks, the Rubisco density in the leaf is lower.

B. We also know that during Calvin Cycle, the fixing of Carbon involves some intermediate carbohydrate products until the final product is a type of glucose.

So, for item A. we know that when the plant senses that high concentrations of CO2 is available, it responds by reducing the production of expensive Rubisco. When it senses a lower CO2 concentration it must increase Rubisco production, however because this protein is so complicated and heavy, the increased production requires 2-3 weeks in order to change the density in the leaf to match the new gas concentration level. So it is much easier to reduce production than it is to increase production. When increasing gas injection therefore, it hardly takes any time to see an improvement in health. When lowering the concentration, the plant will suffer because it must now ramp up Rubisco production to account for the loss of CO2 availability.

I am not sure weather my drop checker works I will send photos

doesnt look good to me, heres pic of mine 2hrs after lights on
upload_2019-7-30_18-44-57.png

it stays like that till CO2 off.

clean it out rinse it in distilled/RO water and half fill the bulb part, its normally blue when you first fill it or if you leave it hanging on an empty glass and air gets in it.

My filter output is 1050 litres on a 80 litre tank

Sounds good :thumbup:

Can the indicator go bad or should I put some new indicator in?

Yes or get contaminated with tank/tap water, clean as above and refreash - some say regular I dont change mine often.

Also I don’t know what TDS is but mine is 315 can someone tell me if that’s good?

My TDS is more and plants grow fine ;)

Also the test strip gives a overall view of my water (is there anything concerning?)

What about Test Kits ? So dunno - I dont test water parameters Just pH via decent pH pen and occasionally see what the TDS is out of interest. EI dosing is dose in excess weekly 50% WC and dont test water.

I also have a lot of surface scum but am going to try to get hold of an lily pipe surface skimmer

Not good as it blocks the surface of the tank and gasous exchange is reduced and plants need O2 at night plus CO2 needs to escape

D Wong nails it in his Vid IMO



 
Not good as it blocks the surface of the tank and gasous exchange is reduced and plants need O2 at night plus CO2 needs to escape

It will definitely be worth it to get a surface skimmer then.

Thanks for your advice I have a lot to learn ;)
 
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