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CO2 In the planted Aquarium

For the 1 millionth time, the only way to get more CO2 in a tank is to add more CO2. You cannot add CO2 by changing the KH. It's impossible

Unless there are tiny CO2 cylinders hidden in the gravel, no gravel can increase CO2 and it's a waste of time to even consider it.

In low tech tanks soil/organic substrate is often used which is not only high in nutrition and harbors bacteria which excrete CO2 as a natural byproduct of their respiration.

Cheers,
 
thanks for coming back ceg.i appology again if missed something what has been said already.

i got not enough co2 in the tank. get more co2 in it seems like an easy task. although i have been told and now i would like to ask if thats correct. if ph7.5 all dosed gass co2 goes straigh out of the tank without affecting anything in the tank? if thats correct without getting PH down i have no co2. how to get PH down if CO doesnt stay to affect anything? lowering Gh or Kh or both? if thats the case and my gravel is increesing my Gh&Kh would that make sense to change it?

i would appreciated if you find some energy and time for an advice as u did kindly before indeed.

also if nothing from above make sense im using fermentation canister and dosing max possible liquid carbon. how to increese co2 then? more yeast,suger or avoiding bicarbonate in the mix?

many thanks
petr
 
Petr,
CO2 is not easy, and the most difficult form of CO2 addition is the fermentation method. It's a very irregular delivery mechanism. I'm not sure where you live, but if you are in the UK it is not very difficult to find gas cylinders.

Nothing that you have been told is correct.

Adding CO2 causes the pH to fall, but making the pH fall does not add CO2.

Cheers,
 
Good to have u on the line ceg, thanks.
I stay in Scotland. Cylinder is coming once the budget allows it for sure. any chance to get co2 up till then?

-is lowering the hardness in general going to help with getting more co2 in the water?
-more yeast, sugar or different mix in the canister at all?

many thanks for sharing your knowledge man.

Petr
 
have read ur tuttorial ceg,its very helpful.thanks. now i think i dont need to worry about that buffer in my tank (gravel) concerning co2 as it doesnt affect the amount of co2 at all.it keeps my PH higher for the same amount of CO2 than when my KH would be lower but for the same amount of CO2 in the tank, correct?that obviously doesnt mean i got enough co2 in the gank at the moment. as i see my plants i have not enough. good to know changing the gravel avoiding the buffer in the tank wont help. it would help to get PH lower for the same co2 level disolved if understand correct but thats it.
well great to have u here as said. still any idea how to get more co2 in with my nutrafin kit? perhaps two of them for my 60l tank? thanks once again, great stuff here!! Petr
 
Yes adding a second nutrifin unit will be the way to go. However, if you are just waiting for funds to get a gas cylinder, it might be better to simply reduce your lighting, which also reduces your demand for CO2. You can also add carbonated mineral water at lights on if you have cheap access to plenty of it.

now i think i dont need to worry about that buffer in my tank (gravel) concerning co2 as it doesnt affect the amount of co2 at all.it keeps my PH higher for the same amount of CO2 than when my KH would be lower but for the same amount of CO2 in the tank, correct?
Yes, that's correct.

Cheers,
 
Hello cam anyone tell me what size CO2 kit I will need for a 200L tank. I have a diy set up at the moment but im having trouble getting the drop checker to turn green , so I think a proper setup is needed now.
Any answers or suggestions will be welcomed, Thanks in advance.
 
Min 2kg cylinder and the rest from co2 art. Agree with big clown. If u can fit 5kg even better, may last about four months. I couldn't, will have to get second 2kg as refilling once a month for about 300l. Depends on how much co2 u l need. The less light, less co2 necessary. Diy is ok when nothing else available but really not good enough if you want to get things under control. Those post above r mine (p.n.) thanks ukaps for all support, things ok now.il try and post some picture of my co2 setup for you later on. Good luck!

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Hope it works for u. Co2 art regulator,solenoid,splitter for four tanks, bubble counters,tubing. Connected straight to pumps for effective distribution within the tank.in one of my tanks I'm using the plastic diffuser from DIY nutrifin kit :) hope that's helpful.Good luck!

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Hi,

This is just a matter of curosity and I am in noway concerned about it. I know the flow and distribution is about spot on (All plant all locations sway in the breeze) and my drop checker is very light green sometimes yellow (no livestock) But I am just wondering what is going on within the tank during the CO2 Injection period.

My CO2 goes on at 10am and my lights go on at 12 noon. The CO2 is shut of at 17:00 and the lights go off at 18:00. I use an inline diffuser.

I have noticed of late that during the first 6 hours of the CO2 cycle, the water is crystal clear no sign at of any CO2 bubbles. But without fail during the last hour of the CO2 period the water turns misty with what I am presume is CO2 bubbles. After about 15 mins of the CO2 shutting off the water returns to being crystal clear.

I just find it strange how the first 6 hours the CO2 doesn't produce this mist and it is only in the last hour it happens. Is this because the water has reached maxium CO2 saturation? Is that possible? I am just curious to know why this happens! I don't personally like the mist but it is only there for about an hour or so, so I can live with it.

Thanks.
 
Nice work, cheers for that.

I'll mention here that the disadvantage of pH/KH/CO2 tables are that other acids caused by bogwood and decomposition can effect the results. The tables referred to assume carbonic acid is the only acid present. That's why drop checkers are increasing popular as the use of 4dKH water is more accurate. They can also be mis-interpreted by people summising that if they change their pH or KH it can effect how much CO2 is in the water.

Can you please elaborate?
 
Hi,

This is just a matter of curosity and I am in noway concerned about it. I know the flow and distribution is about spot on (All plant all locations sway in the breeze) and my drop checker is very light green sometimes yellow (no livestock) But I am just wondering what is going on within the tank during the CO2 Injection period.

My CO2 goes on at 10am and my lights go on at 12 noon. The CO2 is shut of at 17:00 and the lights go off at 18:00. I use an inline diffuser.

I have noticed of late that during the first 6 hours of the CO2 cycle, the water is crystal clear no sign at of any CO2 bubbles. But without fail during the last hour of the CO2 period the water turns misty with what I am presume is CO2 bubbles. After about 15 mins of the CO2 shutting off the water returns to being crystal clear.

I just find it strange how the first 6 hours the CO2 doesn't produce this mist and it is only in the last hour it happens. Is this because the water has reached maxium CO2 saturation? Is that possible? I am just curious to know why this happens! I don't personally like the mist but it is only there for about an hour or so, so I can live with it.

Thanks.


Jason I think that is oxygen saturation based o2 bubbling and not co2

I think it occurs end of light cycle for a reason, saturation above 105% but not before photosynthesis has had a chance to run for hours and spike up the dissolved o2 to the point later production emits as insoluble bubbles.
 
How effective would the nutrafin method be as opposed to liquid carbon for a 64l tank with high lighting?
 
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