CO2 gone by morning

[Mark Allen]

On my 60ltr my drop checker can be light green by the end of the day, then by morning it's blue.
I turn it on 2 hours before lights and off 1 before. But it's still green when the lights go out.
My filter ripples the surface but doesn't bubble it.
It takes almost I'll lunch to get my drop checker to turn green again, then it goes really light green.
It seems really hard to get a steady level.

On my larger tank 180ltr, with lots of plants and fish, it's pretty much a stable green. That comes on and goes off prior to lights.

Same CO2 system on both tanks. But the 180 has an inline diffuser and the 60 just a normal atomiser that goes up into the filter outlet flow.

 

[DavidW]

Is your inline diffuser one that can be taken apart and cleaned? If it is it may be worth giving it a clean

 

[Mark Allen]

Inline diffuser is on the 180ltr tank which keeps a good level.

Its the 60ltr tank and the atomiser. Its pretty new and clean and bubbles easily.

I have just been reading up on blue lights, as that tank has blue LED's, which are on for a couple of hours with no CO2. Am I right in saying the plants still grow under blue light, this could be why its being used up?

 

[naz]

Not shore if blue light grow plants I would keep all lights off till co2 has been running for 2 hours,I would not focus on the drop checker to much,its degassing faster then the bigger tank because its smaller in size,just set the co2 at a good rate and leave it,the trick is to get the co2 stable,it will take a few weeks for the plants to adapt to the co2 level then just leave it,I used to keep messing about with the co2 every few weeks thinking I would get better results by upping the co2 ,the plants have to adapt to the new co2 level every time you mess with it,set the co2 to a good rate then if you see algea rejuice the light by raising it up a bit or turning 1 bulb of till you hit the sweet spot where your getting minimum algea,then leave it,stability is the key...

 

[Daveslaney]

Cracking tank naz.
The reaction time on your drop checker will be upto 4 hours behind real time for a colour change to happen.So if your co2 comes on 2 hour before your lights as long as your drop checker hits green in the first 2 hour of your light coming on i wouldnt worry about it to much. Your co2 level is correct.

 

[Mark Allen]

Today it seemed to work well, going green soon after lights come on.
Might need a little tweak tomorrow just so it's a little greener to start with.

 

[rebel]

Tank looks schmick. Don't change your co2.

 

[Mark Allen]

Thats not my tank, wish it was, lol

 

[Manuel Arias]

Hi Mark,

The problem can be related to many factors, but one of the key points is the carbonate hardness in the aquarium, which will explain a slower response of the system to CO2 injection. Drop checkers are very good tool to monitor CO2 (thing that is important, besides some people despite it). As pointed out by Lee, stability is the key...but it takes some time until you reach it. During the first stages is rather difficult because the water parameters are constantly changing, and besides, the plants are making a progressive use of the CO2 that is available, increasing the consume rate within the time. Meanwhile plants grow, more photosynthetic biomass accumulates in the tank, and the demands of CO2 also grow. Once you start trimming, this demands start to be more stable, as trimming control the biomass growth and well-settled plants also help to control the water parameters.

The expected daily cycle of color in the drop checker is as follows:

-Blue before CO2 injection starts.
-Green around 2 hours after the lights are on.
-Light green (but not yellow) just before the lights are switched off.

Note that plants actually breath during the full day, but they do not consume CO2 during the night. This means that CO2 levels will be closer to optimal ones when you have a tank planted in a dense way than in one with less plants. Additionally, differences of hardness in water of both tanks will have also impact in the reaction times. In general, tanks with more carbonates take longer to reach the right levels of CO2 due to the buffer effect of the carbonates and bicarbonates in water.

Hope this help.

Cheers,

Manuel

 

[HiNtZ]

My CO2 comes on at 5am, then lights on at 11am, then off at 630pm and lights off at 8pm. My drop checker is a turquoise color by about 4am (so around 7ph). In the day it is pea green, 6.6ph with a 5Kh.

The reason I have CO2 come on so early is because I am sumped with an overflow, tank temp is higher than normal, and KH is relatively low making it hard to saturate the water column.

I run about 8-10bps

As for plants growing under blue light - yes they will to a degree. IIRC they will stay short and bushy with blue light. I've got a neglected tank with just plants in here where it spends 5 days a week in the dark, let alone blue light. The plants are in a sort of stasis where they do nothing, but they are sustaining.

 

[Mark Allen]

I have been tweaking the CO2 to come on earlier, its hust going green by the time the lights are going off. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have it sorted. Then can let it be for a bit and let the tank settle.