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Just add bio balls or ceramic... This way the bubbles remain trapped in. Dissolving smaller bubbles is easier than larger ones. niru Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Hi I use a Dupla reactor similar to aquamedic one. Also tried other ways but realised reactors are best mixers. The decrease in flow is actually advantageous since it ensures a complete dissolution of gas (even air gets totally dissolved in mine). Either you have a very high turnover filter...

My Diplis diandra hated it like venom.... It always does.. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

I dont think shrimps are affected by CO2 at the level we dose in tanks. I have RCS with CO2 running at more than 40 ppm and they all are doing fine, even reproducing like crazy... Usual tank hygiene and good tank-keeping is all that matters.

Hi should be ok, though check this Buyer BeAware: SeaChem Excel take it with a pinch of salt (eating variety though :) ). I know a lot of plants suffer with high concentrations, and could imagine bacteria/fish/inverts also getting adversely affected, though dont have any concrete...

Hi Darrel some of that was a total new info to me.. Many many thanks for sharing. Our tanks are typically only half a meter or so deep, and we are told that its the CO2 and not the light that matters the most in keeping the stems as good leafed stems all the way down to the bottom. The...

Hi Darrel as always, thanks for your insight! I have a question: how do plants with high CO2 needs grow in natural systems? Where do they get their CO2 from? We already know that sunlight almost always delivers much higher PAR values than even our highest lighted tanks, so the CO2 needs for...

Hey guys I too have a 5 kg CO2 FE with a nice ON-OFF valve fitted by a reputed company that deals with industrial gases & fillings. I had to buy the cylinder, and before each refill, those guys check & reconfirm if things are well & correct. Good thing is that there is an insurance coverage...

Re: Anyone used ANS Aqua Nature System Regulator with Soleno Thanks Wazuck! Am seriously contemplating replacing my existing reg with this one.. cheers

Re: Particular reason for Regulator-Solenoid-Needle ordering Thanks Guys! I have 2 reg+solenoid combos: Papillon make (2nd hand) & ANS Aqua Nature Systems (brand new). I plugged in the Papillon one (with the above mentioned config), and have seen that the output pressure fluctuates between 1...

Re: Particular reason for Regulator-Solenoid-Needle ordering Hi Clive thanks & cheers! I too thought this, but almost all forums have it the way i descibed, hence the question. Plus i was thinking that for stuff where needle valve either floats or is unstable in the output, my reasoning was...

Hi All is there any particular technical reason that the solenoid is placed right after the regulator, before the needle valve? i.e. Regulator --> Solenoid --> Needle Valve. I have my solenoid placed after the needle valve: Regulator --> Needle Valve --> Solenoid--> Check Valve --> Bubble...

Re: Anyone used ANS Aqua Nature System Regulator with Soleno Thanks Wazuck! The bar numbers on both gauges are good enough for FE bottles. And its a single stage regulator, with 2 gauges (for cylinder & output pressure sensors); hence the EOTD concern. I cant find *any* info about this maker...

Hi Guys recently got the above regulator while on a trip to Asia. Its a single stage, 2 gauge regulator with Solenoid and needle valve attached. I plan to use it on a 5 kg FE cylinder. Anyone has any idea about this piece of equipment & issues etc?? Worried about end of tank dump, needle...

Mr. Anderson at his usual best :)

Hi with most regs, there is always a way to tamper the pressure using some screwdrivers.... though its (rightly) not advisable. But if you know what you are doing, this should be fine. (I aint taking any responsibilities here..) Else, simply make a reactor for CO2 yourself (or pay for it)...

Hi this is usual issue with atomizer... try increasing the pressure to near 2ish bar... or make a DIY reactor... thats pretty good and much better dissolution. cheers niru

Maybe putting a Koralia exclusively for squirting the dirt from the crevasses might help. Run it occasionally over all plants to remove the dust..

Hi Looking at the tank, I think the big stones are messing with the flow as well.. Before the co2 rich water can go from below the plants (as Ceg mentioned), the stones are lifting it up towards the no-plant volume of the tank. 1 or 2 such rounds and the co2 is gone. So my hunch is that even if...

Hello how many of you have had this problem? Each time I fill my bubble counter 2/3 rd with water, and it keeps on decreasing slowly. I have good valves on EACh side of the counter to ensure that there is no water leak, and havent had issues there. My guess is that water "evaporates" gradually...

I have had best results with inline Dupla Reaktor S. Guess its similar to aqua medic with plastic balls inside to split the bubbles giving higher effective mixing area. Total CO2 dissolution, outside the tank on the cannister output, absolutely no mist. With a proper adapter you can fix, the...

Guys I too have had good share of CO2 issues. But funnily other than BBA, and occasional GDA, other algae have been off limit in my tank! BBA is a real bane.. I use CO2 cylinder with 4-5 bps, 2hrs ON before and 3 hrs OFF before lights. I have a inline diffuser (Dupla Reaktor S) with 9/12...

Hi Clive! does this means that once the tank conditions have been improved and stabilized, then manually removing all the BBA muck is the only way forward? Even if it means destroying your garden, and then perhaps re-planting it later with newer plants? No austerity measures possible in this...

An update I checked the valves and tubes, all OK. The reason I had a valve between bubble counter & atomizer is because once the CO2 was OFF, water used to push back from the atomizer into the bubble counter. Over the weekend I changed back to the reactor from the atomizer, and also changed...

Mine is 180, and when I set bps > 8 (or so) then I do see the mist. If there was a leak then it would be more pronouned at high bps?? Also since its an atomizer, once the CO2 is OFF, the gas chamber gets filled with water, and also into the CO2 tube. So a leak would lead to water spilling. That...

An update... after waiting a few days, now the bps rate has stabilized and I have it at 3 bps, running last few days. Beforehand, I used to get quite heavy pearling within 3 hours of light ON. However due to the UP atomizer change & fluctuating CO2 for about a week or so, now the plants arent...

Yes! Point taken. Will do the change and report back... Many thanks once again!

Thanks Alastair! Unfortunately this tank has a Dennerle Space regulator which allows for only 1 tweak (output needle valve side) with no pressure indicators! I admit in retrospect it was a bad choice. But I have another spare reg with pressure indicators. Do you think I ought to replace the...

Hi All 2 weeks back I changed my CO2 reactor to a UP atomizer because I was loosing a lot of flow on my Tetra Ex1200. What I have noticed is now the bubble rate is unstable even during the day! Unlike the other post where the rate changes overnight when CO2 is shut off, I see that the rate...

I have resisted from doing so till now.. did think abt this though. Not sure if its a good idea... any inputs?

Hi All recently I changed an empty 2 kg CO2 cylinder with a new one. For a first few days, I had good (normal) CO2 coming out 4 bps. Then suddenly there is none coming out! I thought it might be needle valve problem, so cleaned it and screwed it a bit to the higher side (more CO2 coming out)...

The plants start using CO2 only when lights are ON, but by then they are pretty hungry already and would love to have a real good amount of CO2 in water. Thats the reason why its advised to start CO2 early enough so that given all the flow/circulation issues, plant-configurations etc, the tank...

You could also try tampering with the needle valve of the regulator to increase the rate to more than 140 bpm..

Hi Tom I used this one sometime back. It works bothways, but if you are doing it on the inlet side then watch that not all bubbles are dissolved, so they go to the canister impeller, causing blurps there & gas loss. So it need canisters which take the input flow tube from the bottom and most...

Hi Shaun yes valve is the non-return valve to prevent water from getting in the backward direction.. The Dennerle Space regulator has an inbuilt solenoid & a safety valve for pressure release. So it acts as a pressure reducer, regulator AND electrically controlled solenoid. The bad side is...

Hi Shaun I use the same Dennerle bubble counter. My config is: Cylinder->Dennerle Space Reg -> Valve -> Dennerle Bubble Counter -> Valve -> Dupla External Reactor. -niru

Hi Shaun I also use the Dennerle Space regulator since it has an inbuilt solenoid. This one has no pressure gauge whatsoever! And like you mention, I too faced the issue with the internal needle pre-set valve. What you can do is use a 2 mm screwdriver to change this setting so as to get higher...

Hi hotweldfire I guess you could continue using the DC so long as its only an indicative measure of the CO2in the tank. All the caution etc is for mainly to realise that the actual colour you see in the DC need not accurately reflect the CO2 in the tank in the ppm sense. But surely blue isnt 30...

Why arent there any titration based hobbist test-kits for CO2 that will measure the carbonic acid and/or carbonate/bicarbonate levels thereby yielding the total CO2 content for the given pH, kH levels in the tank? One could get water samples from different areas of the tank and test the...

Hi Charlieh, of course it was over indulgence! But I loved doing all of it, if not for anything else, simply to glimpse how the pioneers must have thought through all the minute steps.... :geek: Cheers Niru

Hi Ceg given all the shortfalls of CO2 DC, is there a topic discussing how much (bromo-blue + 4dKH water) reagent needs to be added for the DIY guys? Your excellent article on this topic mentions the JBL bottle, but people doing DIY and not realising the details might endup with differing color...

Wow thats a BIG tank!! I recon that since your shrimps are breeding, its a soft water tank. Plants also seem to enjoy life in the tank. So even with 3-4 bps, you are not adding too much CO2. Flora and fauna are doing fine, thats the ultimate test. Talk about drop checker, guess you need more...

Hi I currently use an inline at the output side of my canister. The inline is large enough and the gas dissolves completely and is put in the tank using spraybars. Before I tried with ceramic diffusers (too much mist) and also chopping the bubbles using a small pump. In both cases, there seems...

Hi All anyone on this??

Hi All I am thinking of autodosing Easy Carbo in my tank. I currently auto-dose EI macros and micros, and to avoid fungal issues in these stock-solutions, I put EasyCarbo in them. I was wondering if this gets utilised as a liquid carbon source for the tank, or it disintegrates in the EI...

Hi Scifficus take a look at this topic: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=824&start=0&hilit=Advice+on+a+ph+controller Clearly pH controller is not the way to ensure a proper CO2 in the tank. -niru

Hi Clive thanks! I currently have the Dennerle stuff which is indeed sold as Long term CO2 indicator, but its in small ampules which are way too expensive. I would like to have a bottle from which a few drops can be taken when doing a WC... till I am damn sure that CO2 is doing good all over...

Hi All any idea where one can buy 4dkh bromo blue solution in mainland Europe? I am in Switzerland and the lfs here sell only the plastic Dennerle ampules which are pretty much expensive. I was thinking of a small bottle of bromo blue with or without 4dkh water (which I can make at home)...

Just to add that this is slightly different than my original question. Then I was planning to divide the CO2 just before it enters the tank.. here the CO2 o/p from the cylinder is divided at source, so no issues about pressure differentials etc..

Ok Guys I have been reading with a lot of interest a few other topics on UKAPS, particularly good EI discussions and a very prominent role of CO2 and flow/turnover to maintain a good EI magic etc.. In light of that, and in continuation of my question regarding the T-joint splitting of CO2, I...

Ok People, update of what I did yesterday: I kept the flipper ladder way down in the tank next to the Juwel internal filter, but moved the output of this filter to shoot water over the ladder. Then put a sponge on the input of the powerhead and kept it directly over the ladder top lid. This...

:D Thats why it was a wild guess!! So I guess I will remove the mesh-cap from boyu, and seal a tube there. This will go in the outlet side of my canister.. and then spray bar it at a small depressed angle from the top to achieve a circular flow in the tank. And put the o/p of internal...

Thanks Tom! I was checking if someone has already done this & with what results. I will try this, plus check if I can get the UP atomiser around. Swissland is uselessly expensive in these matters and pretty difficult to hunt for stuff. Imagine ebay isnt operating here!! Oops!! Who would have...

Hello LondonDragon I kept my diffuser on the output of the canister, but the output of this Dennerle micro-perler is a meshed cap since its intended use is at the canister input-side (& without a possibility to attach it to the spray bar), there was too many bubbles coming out. Perhaps I have...

I guess there is a little (negligible??) back pressue even in ladder case. After all its a tube through which a bubble is trying to come out . The cross section of the tube faces the pressure from the water column (deeper the tube in the tank, more this pressure). Perhaps one ought to compare...

My diffuser is Boyu type. As I recall from school physics, if there is a water flow from within a tube, the internal pressure acting against the tube wall decreases. Since the ceramic diffuser forms "this" wall, there is less opposition to the CO2 wanting to come out.. Perhaps I am clearer now...

Even if the canister flow reduces the pressure inside the inline ceramic tube through which CO2 is diffusing out of the concealed tube? I guessed that the diffusion within the ceramic inline tube is helped (increased) because of the water flowing through it, so that there is less pressure to...

Thanks guys! I was thinking of putting 1 via a ladder and the other side going to the output of the canister via ceramic diffuser (inline). So not much pressure issues I hope. I have a 180 ltr Juwel Rio more-than-moderately heavily planted tank (I intend to plant heavily with time, since here...

I was wondering the same, hence the question. If the bps is sufficient then would it help to have 2 CO2 input feeds in the tank, particularly if its reasonably heavily planted with leaves obstructing the full-tank flow..

Hello Everyone I was wondering if someone has divided the output froma pressurised CO2 into two (say using a T joint) so that we have two feeds on each side of the tank. Many thanks -niru