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Co2 really need help

jonesy

Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
88
Location
Liverpool
I have read loads of guides and been using co2 for the past 2 months or so but been reading afew different posts which bring up points that arnt mentioned in guides and i need help as i nearly overdosed my fish with co2 yesterday, not very good at writing posts so please bare with me ;)

setup is rio 125, koralia 2 power head, tetratex ex700 filter,rhinox 5000 diffuser right onder powerhead, dd co2 set with timer comes on 2 hours before lights on and finishes 2 hours before lights out, lights are on for 9 hours a day using arcadia luminaire 3 x 24w t5's, using 2 drop checkers at the minute in different heights in the tank first one is in the middle left hand side of the tank opposite side of the rhinox 500 diffuser, the second is redsea drop checker mounted 3 inches below the other.

Basically started off with the koralia make loads of surface ripple as it was mounted near the surface and the spray bar pointing down and found i was using loads of co2, at lights out the drop checker would be lime green and in the morning it would be blue but i was getting loads of algea problems probably due to the co2 changing so much, so read another post that said that surface ripple made the gasses escape so i moved the powerhead down the glass so it made very little surface movement if any at all and restared the co2 set from the begining and left my airpump on from 10 at night till 10 in the morning. For the next few days i slowly adjusted the co2 till the point i thought it was lime green at night but noticed in the morning's it was getting a lighter shade of green the more the days went on ( also found i was not using amuch co2 as before) until one night it was yellow at lights out ( other one higher up was still green) so went to bed and put the airpump on abit power more the normal but came down in the morning and found it was still yellow and the fish gasping for breath ( all survived by being removed ) which brings me to my first post on here, so questions are whats the best place to position the drop checker as i was getting 2 different colours the lower down it went, what shall i do about surface ripple how much should the be if any at all, should i be aiming for lime green at night and blue before co2 is switched on in the morning or just a steady lime green colour all day and night inluding before lights/co2 on. any other suggestion are welcome and really sorry for the long post just trying to get as much info in here as possible as im probably not far off getting it right. cheers steve
 
jonesy said:
which brings me to my first post on here, so questions are whats the best place to position the drop checker as i was getting 2 different colours the lower down it went, what shall i do about surface ripple how much should the be if any at all, should i be aiming for lime green at night and blue before co2 is switched on in the morning or just a steady lime green colour all day and night inluding before lights/co2 on. any other suggestion are welcome and really sorry for the long post just trying to get as much info in here as possible as im probably not far off getting it right. cheers steve

Jonsey

You would be better of placing your Dc's at either end of the tank - this will prove equal distribution of Co2 at either end of the tank. The diffrence in colouration you were seeing is down to distributions - if the lower DC is a darker colour than the one above the Co2 is not getting to the lower reaches of the tank, twist the HK pump downwards so it distrubute the gas to the lower reaches of the tank, as for surface ripple - aim for a very light shimmer, you should be aim for green @ the point of the lighting coming on and lime green / green when the lights go off. If there is too much surface ripple the residual co2 gas within the water column will be lost and the DC will change colour going pale blue / dark blue during the night / morning.

Any good check is to remove your DC's from the tank to check the colour - as what looks like lime green in the tank will be yellow when held against a piece of white paper. Hope this helps
Regards
Paul.
 
The DC only checks the co2 concentration at that point, so it's best to move it around, as the tank will have different concentrations all over the tank.

My DC is lime green at lights out and greenish when lights come on. I don't think a co2 shift when lights are off are too bad, what you are aiming for is good co2 in the tank throughout the photoperiod.

For a surface ripple, I have a small movement and you'll just have to play around to get the balance.
 
Flyfisherman said:
jonesy said:
which brings me to my first post on here, so questions are whats the best place to position the drop checker as i was getting 2 different colours the lower down it went, what shall i do about surface ripple how much should the be if any at all, should i be aiming for lime green at night and blue before co2 is switched on in the morning or just a steady lime green colour all day and night inluding before lights/co2 on. any other suggestion are welcome and really sorry for the long post just trying to get as much info in here as possible as im probably not far off getting it right. cheers steve

Jonsey

You would be better of placing your Dc's at either end of the tank - this will prove equal distribution of Co2 at either end of the tank. The diffrence in colouration you were seeing is down to distributions - if the lower DC is a darker colour than the one above the Co2 is not getting to the lower reaches of the tank, twist the HK pump downwards so it distrubute the gas to the lower reaches of the tank, as for surface ripple - aim for a very light shimmer, you should be aim for green @ the point of the lighting coming on and lime green / green when the lights go off. If there is too much surface ripple the residual co2 gas within the water column will be lost and the DC will change colour going pale blue / dark blue during the night / morning.

Any good check is to remove your DC's from the tank to check the colour - as what looks like lime green in the tank will be yellow when held against a piece of white paper. Hope this helps
Regards
Paul.

thanks for the reply, the bottom drop checker was always lighter in colour but they are both different makes which might make a difference and the power head is always pointing towards the bottom opposite corner so thats ok, i will move one of the dc's to the other side of the tank also but what height should i be placing the drop checker at high/mid or low tank ?

so i take it even before the co2 switches on in the morning it still should be some sort of green and not blue and if it is blue i still have to much gassing of in the night. cheers steve
 
jonesy said:
Flyfisherman said:
jonesy said:
which brings me to my first post on here, so questions are whats the best place to position the drop checker as i was getting 2 different colours the lower down it went, what shall i do about surface ripple how much should the be if any at all, should i be aiming for lime green at night and blue before co2 is switched on in the morning or just a steady lime green colour all day and night inluding before lights/co2 on. any other suggestion are welcome and really sorry for the long post just trying to get as much info in here as possible as im probably not far off getting it right. cheers steve

Jonsey

You would be better of placing your Dc's at either end of the tank - this will prove equal distribution of Co2 at either end of the tank. The diffrence in colouration you were seeing is down to distributions - if the lower DC is a darker colour than the one above the Co2 is not getting to the lower reaches of the tank, twist the HK pump downwards so it distrubute the gas to the lower reaches of the tank, as for surface ripple - aim for a very light shimmer, you should be aim for green @ the point of the lighting coming on and lime green / green when the lights go off. If there is too much surface ripple the residual co2 gas within the water column will be lost and the DC will change colour going pale blue / dark blue during the night / morning.

Any good check is to remove your DC's from the tank to check the colour - as what looks like lime green in the tank will be yellow when held against a piece of white paper. Hope this helps
Regards
Paul.

thanks for the reply, the bottom drop checker was always lighter in colour but they are both different makes which might make a difference and the power head is always pointing towards the bottom opposite corner so thats ok, i will move one of the dc's to the other side of the tank also but what height should i be placing the drop checker at high/mid or low tank ?

so i take it even before the co2 switches on in the morning it still should be some sort of green and not blue and if it is blue i still have to much gassing of in the night. cheers steve

Steve
I have three within the tank 2 of them are 2" of the bottom of the substrate and I have one 3" below the surface on the back wall of the tank. As for you other remark - yes they should be some sort of green not blue in the morning, if they are blue you are loosing residual gas over night - too much ripple. Your plants will consume some residual co2 gas, but not enough to turn the dc blue.
Regards
paul
 
thanks for everyones advice will give it another shot :thumbup:

superman just reading your nano project as i am starting mine in the next few weeks really interesting read and really love the scape good job :thumbup:
 
Superman said:
jonesy said:
superman just reading your nano project as i am starting mine in the next few weeks really interesting read and really love the scape good job :thumbup:
Thanks jonesy, if you have any questions then just ask.

thanks for that, read the whole 19 pages and learned alot in the process saved it to my favorites so i can re-read it again when i start my nano tank, cant wait :thumbup:
 
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