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MURDERED all of my shrimp :(

phil n abbie

Seedling
Joined
5 Aug 2010
Messages
4
:wave:
How have I managed this, This morning i set up my cheap pressurised co2 system, I had no bubble counter so I went below what I though was a reasonable amount to inject. I set the valves to push out the tinyest amount of co2 without the tank being turned off and headed off to work.

Eight hours later I came back to discover over 60 dwarf shrimp dead, including my crystal reds and black which where only purchased 2 weeks ago, I could not belive my eyes, :woot: The black crystals heads where also bright red? what was this about and everying was upside down, I managed to save 3 Cherry shrimp :bored: this is because I notcied them twitching.
Even my large pleco was upside down which looked like its organs where coming out and had a hugely swollen belly.

Could anyone explain what had gone on here i am put in such a small amount, also when i came back the co2 tank wasn't actully pushing out any bubbles which was a strange one as though the pressure had gone down :/ :crazy:

After messing around with it for a hour after this tragedy I still havent worked out whats wrong with this setup. I also tested the PH before heading to work and when got back and it didnt seem to be any differnt what so ever.

I currently have it pumping out a bit of co2 in my planted tank with a Sh*t load of corpses soon to remove,

Has anyone else done anything like this?

Tank size is 30 L and the co2 settup is the cheap pressurised one from this website on its main co2 page.
 
Wow I'm really sorry this has happened to you, when making such a positive step for your tank :(

I can only imagine that there was too much CO2 - do you have a drop checker? Although you will probably realise this by now, when you are setting up the CO2 it's best to do it on a Saturday or Sunday. Or at least a day when you can change a setting, keep an eye on the tank. Maybe make an adjustment in an hours time when the drop checker goes yellow or the fish hover near the top of the tank or start gasping a little.

To be perfectly honest I could never get my D&D set to get to a stable level but I had a solenoid so it was turning on and off every day. For some reason I think the reg was faulty or the solenoid was just a cheap one, so I got the shop to replace it. Just as I turned to marine tanks actually! So I can't say I ever got the problem resolved.

Once again I feel really sorry for you :( It's really gutting when you loose fish and it's something you did.
 
Phil

I am sorry to hear about your loss, instinct tells me that you have experience a Co2 dump.

When the pressure within the co2 bottle or F.E is low a cheap regulator cannot recognise the low pressure and dumps the remaining gas within the bottle or F.E into the water column – this is what you have experienced.

If you want to continue with the Co2 injection buy yourself a decent regulator like a JBL (Green gauges) type – these one does not dump Co2 when the pressure within the bottle get low.

Here are a few regulators:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquamedic-Co2-Reg ... plies_Fish

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AZOO-CO2-Pressure ... plies_Fish

and purchase yourself a drop checker

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Drop-Checker-CO2- ... plies_Fish

this will give some indication of Co2 levels within the water column – Drop Checker is for guidance use only, don’t treat the colouration as gospels, to review the colour removed the DC from the tank and place in front of a piece of white paper.

Regards
Paul.
 
Sorry to hear about you losses. Thought that I'd add, that I've never experienced a CO2 dump, even with my cheap 600g disposable system and I've let the bottle on that system run to empty.

On a 30lt it is always going to be difficult get the co2 spot on as the difference between enough and too much is going to only be a few millimeters turn on the needle valve, if that.

Sam
 
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