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Another user with CO2 Issues

sonicninja

sonicninja

Member
Joined
15 Dec 2013
Messages
307
Hi everyone,
So another CO2 distribution thread from me as I'm clearly still not quite understanding what's causing lack of growth in my tank.

To summarise Ive had pretty much the same set-up for a while now and over time have fiddled with various power-heads, CO2 bps & on/off time, lights,etc, etc, etc.
At each stage I've had varying degrees of success but never got the balance completely right and gone through a lot of plants in the process. I started with some more demanding plants and am now working on 'beginner' plants such as Hygrophilia to get me going.

Anyway, my main issue is that some plants just don't seem to settle in and take off. They drop leaves (particularly the stauro repens) and eventually loose all of them just leaving a rotting stem and no root structure. The same occurs with my Hygrophilia lancea which sits not exactly dying but doesn't root for months until it also looses leaves.

I have increased CO2 BPS and on time to gain a lime green drop checker by lights on but this doesn't seem to have made any discernible difference. The repens still sits there unhappily and eventually rots, irritating since it once did well but I haven't been able to replicate the conditions which it grew well under.

I've listed my set-up and parameters below. I'd really love some feedback on how to improve my direction of flow or anything you think I might have missed. I very nearly gave this all up last month but decided to plod on as im determined to get it all to work in harmony.

Schedule-
CO2 On/Off 13:00/22:30
Lights On/Off 17:00/00:00 @ 27% Intensity
CO2 Approx 3-4bps
Dosing EI Mon-Sat
1ml Easy Carbo Daily
50% Water Change Sunday


Equipment-
2KG FE running to an in-tank atomizer. Hydor Pico 200 lies approx 6 inches above the atomizer
Eheim 250T filter cleaned every 2 weeks minimum filled with purigen & Bio media
1 x Hyor 650lph powerhead running 24/7 giving a slight surface ripple
1 x Hydor 200lph powerhead on with CO2 between 13:00-22:30
 
2ydunuru.jpg
 
The current lily pipe I have is supposed to help with surface movement but it really doesn't cause any. It's naturally positioned too far down in the tank. I do have another one which wins down more which I could try.

Thanks parotet. Perhaps this is worth me doing again. Last time I attempted this was before I changed my lights and CO2 schedule and I never could get a pH point drop before lights on.
 
I second the pH readings idea! Also have you got any livestock? If not all the more reason to pump in loads of CO2!

Unless you have really really hard water, keep increasing the bubble count each day until you have a 1pH unit drop before lights on.
 
I do have it lightly stocked. 2xotos (+2 fry), 4 x pygmy Corys. I intend to get 10 cardinals this week too but perhaps since I'll be upping gas I should wait for the time being. I'll up the gas very slightly and see how it goes.
 
I use this chart.
Basically I take a KH reading and then a PH reading before I add co2 and the monitor the ph every hour to see how it is!

ne6aqy6u.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I see you keep your filter nice and clean. I've just found out how important this is as I've had an outbreak of BBA. I think I'd just forgotten how fast the flow used to be until I cleaned my filter the other day for the first time in more than a few months!

On the same note, if your filter is 'filled' with biomedia, what about throwing half of it away? This will increase the flow rate of your filter at no extra cost.

Also, I dunno if you get any surface scum but the Eheim Skim 350 (instead of your Hydors) can sort it out and as a side effect, really helps with gas exchange.[DOUBLEPOST=1405890339][/DOUBLEPOST]
sonicninja said:
I do have it lightly stocked. 2xotos (+2 fry), 4 x pygmy Corys. I intend to get 10 cardinals this week too but perhaps since I'll be upping gas I should wait for the time being. I'll up the gas very slightly and see how it goes.
Click to expand...

The best advice I've ignored to my cost, is getting fish before I'd sorted CO2 out.
 
I really feel like flow isn't my issue. I can physically see all the plants moving in the flow, I am though unsure if the flow is directed appropriately. All the flow is in one direction-from right to left. The filter is filled but since I clean it so regularly the flow remains high but I will bear this in mind.
I did get surface scum but the hydor pico at the surface sorts this out subtly. Would a surface skimmer do this better? I'm a little unsure if I want surface agitation or not...?
Thanks everyone
 
Wow, I've skimmed it but I'll have a good read of that tomorrow. Many thanks.
 
sonicninja said:
I really feel like flow isn't my issue. I can physically see all the plants moving in the flow, I am though unsure if the flow is directed appropriately. All the flow is in one direction-from right to left. The filter is filled but since I clean it so regularly the flow remains high but I will bear this in mind.
I did get surface scum but the hydor pico at the surface sorts this out subtly. Would a surface skimmer do this better? I'm a little unsure if I want surface agitation or not...?
Thanks everyone
Click to expand...
surface agitation is a good thing and you can turn up co2 a little bit more if you have livestock
 
If you don't reach a pH drop that means that something is not doing well... You are not dissolving co2 for any reason!
Have a look to the co2, spraybars, pH profiles threads... Plenty of good information and nice review of all the things to be taken into account to adjust co2 in a planted tank

Jordi
 
So I read the thread about usign a spray bar to create a more efficient CO2 distribution and flow. Its worth mentioning that do have a fair amount of decor such as wood and rock so is investing in a spray bar and in-line atmoizer a worthwhile test?
 
before spending more money could you take the livestock out and try cranking up the co2?
 
Sadly it's my only tank so I have nowhere to put the fish.
 
sonicninja said:
So I read the thread about usign a spray bar to create a more efficient CO2 distribution and flow. Its worth mentioning that do have a fair amount of decor such as wood and rock so is investing in a spray bar and in-line atmoizer a worthwhile test?
Click to expand...
Yes, but only if the flow through the filter is sufficient, otherwise the energy will peter out. According to the brochures, the pump output of the Eheim 250T is an anemic 700LPH, which means a filter stuffed with media will only get you around 300-350LPH. Removing the biomedia and using just cheap foam will improve the throughput significantly.

This scheme can be further augmented by dividing the tank length by 3 and placing each of the powerheads at 1/3 the distance from either end wall just above or just below the spraybar. You do not need to spend a lot of money on spraybars. Fluval and Eheim both make simple plastic spraybars, or you can DIY using cheap and readily available PVC piping.

An inline diffuser will be better than an in tank device, however, again just port the gas directly into the filter inlet tube and allow the filter to be your diffuser.

This will all look ugly but aesthetics is not the goal at this time. After the problems with plant health are resolved you can then look for more elegant hardware that accomplishes the same as the rough and tumble hardware.

As always, dropping the lights to no more than about 15%-20% will help the plants to recover, and increasing the liquid carbon dosages will also help in the short term.

pH profile checks should be accomplished in order to ascertain the benefit of any changes made.

Cheers,
 
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