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CO2 in low tech?

GlenD

Member
Joined
26 Jun 2019
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161
Location
London
Hi, so my tank is ordered 90x45x45cm. I was planning on a low/medium tech dirted tank with low dosing and no CO2. However, I'm now thinking that perhaps some CO2 at the start to get the tank established and then a low maintenance dosing to keep things going (but not to much to keep maintenance down) may be an option?

Anybody do this?

Thoughts?
 
Nice tank size :) I have one to setup too.

Gotta weigh up what you want really. If it’s to keep maintenance very low then no CO2 is not always the best option as it can help keep algae down and plant health up meaning less problems. Light intensity and fertilisers will really allow you to throttle the growth more precisely than just the CO2 would. With a large 2/5kg hidden extinguisher on low you can have a minor CO2 supply for a very decent length of time.

That doesn’t mean no CO2 won’t work as many grow plants in lower light just fine but must keep on top of cleaning and water changes. Just gotta work out what works for you and buy lower light darker plants and less stems too and they need trimming more, but also help remove pollutants faster too.

Good luck and hope that helps a bit


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The benefits of CO2 you stated above are the reasons I'm leaning towards CO2 now. I read an article by George, that talks about lower energy system diluting the drop checker fluid with 50% RO water which will allow you to keep the aquarium CO2 levels at 15ppm. This apparently is enough for moderate plant growth / health and completely safe for livestock.

Are there any calculators to work out how long a 3kg CO2 bottle would last depending on dosing?
 
None that I’m aware of but I’m sure if you could somehow work out what amount was being dispensed it would be doable. Trouble is people use different drop checker and solenoids like myself overnight too so that would only apply if it was on all the time and dispensing a precise amount.

Saying that I would have thought you could have a good estimation based on the pressure and gas loss.

Yeah you could probably dilute the drop checker with 4dkh water that is an option - RO with tiny amount of bicarb. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/4dkh-water.27690/

Maybe George thinks if the solution is already mixed though then diluting with our RO is better but I’m not sure about that.

Easier still just make sure the DC is a dark green and not a blue, so you know the co2 is in there but not as high as 30ppm.


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The color change in the drop chekker relates to the dKH value in the drop checker fluid. 4 dKH solution (turns green at 30ppm CO²). Deluting this 50% with demiralized water gives 2 dKH and colors accordingly earlier green at a lower CO² saturation as shown in the chart bellow.

2ChamberDCChart.jpg
 
Are there any calculators to work out how long a 3kg CO2 bottle would last depending on dosing?

Not realy at least not 100% accurately and overcomplicating it a bit.. But it can easily be done with a weight scale. Weigh the bottle, add CO² for a cycle and weigh the bottle again. The difference in weight is obviously what you use per cycle. Devide this over the total contents and you get the number of days/cycles the bottle approximately will last. Depending on the stability of injection.
 
The color change in the drop chekker relates to the dKH value in the drop checker fluid. 4 dKH solution (turns green at 30ppm CO²). Deluting this 50% with demiralized water gives 2 dKH and colors accordingly earlier green at a lower CO² saturation as shown in the chart bellow.

2ChamberDCChart.jpg

Makes sense zozo nice input


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Are there any calculators to work out how long a 3kg CO2 bottle would last depending on dosing?

CO2 used Database -needs your data hard to do as so many variables OFC, but at the 15ppm your aiming for it will last longer than twice than if you was aiming for 30ppm as the higher the [CO2] the greater the losses
 
The color change in the drop chekker relates to the dKH value in the drop checker fluid. 4 dKH solution (turns green at 30ppm CO²). Deluting this 50% with demiralized water gives 2 dKH and colors accordingly earlier green at a lower CO² saturation as shown in the chart bellow.

2ChamberDCChart.jpg
This is my method.
 
Lower CO2 won't cause algae problems, lots of great tanks only have 3-4ppm, from the atmosphere. :)
As you suspect, inconsistent CO2 is a common cause of problems.
 
hi.
I'm currently running a tank with low co2,and moderate light.
Still early days..but so far,looking good.
 
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