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[oswoldy]

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[Superman]

In my experience the bottle pressure drops rather quickly over a few days.
In addition, I found that over time the injection rate increased with a quick co2 dump at the end of the life of the bottle.

 

[Dolly Sprint 16v]

Hi,
I have got my new co2 kit all setup and working (all be it very slowly) seems to turn the drop checker yellow really easily which is good because im using less gas!

Anyway, my question to you all is... When the co2 bottle gets low, how will I know, does the high pressure gauge drop and if it does, does it drop slowly (over a few weeks) or quickly (over a few days).

Many Thanks
Mike

Mike

if you drop checker is turning yellow - that too much gas if its turns blue - not enough gas which is bad for the plants but good for the fish . As Clark stated when the bottle become low on pressure the Bps rate increases and I have heard the the remaining gas dumps its self - touch wood mine have never dumped the gas into the water column - I use JBL regs / solenoid valves.


Regards
paul.

 

[oswoldy]

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[Dolly Sprint 16v]

Hi,
if you drop checker is turning yellow - that too much gas if its turns blue - not enough gas which is bad for the plants but good for the fish . As Clark stated when the bottle become low on pressure the Bps rate increases and I have heard the the remaining gas dumps its self - touch wood mine have never dumped the gas into the water column - I use JBL regs / solenoid valves.


Regards
paul.

Sorry I should have been a little clearer, the DC is not Yellow at the moment, what I ment was that it turned yellow with very little gas which is good yes your gas should last longer - but if your DC is turning yellow quickly - that bad turn your bps rate down, then you won't injected the gas as quick. Switch your gas on 2 hours before light come on, at the point of light up, DC should be lime / grass green and remain that colour until the lights go out - switch gas of 1 hour to lights going out. During the night / morning some residual gas will be lost dependant on how surface disturbance you have - don't worry about that. The main thing is that when the lights come on the DC is at green and remains green until the light go off .

Thank you for the replys guys, much appreciated.

Mike

Mike

Comments are in red text.

Regards
paul.

 

[JamesM]

If the fish can tolerate it, there's no problem with a yellow or near yellow DC.

DC's aren't perfect, so watch your livestock...

 

[CeeJay]

Hi Mike

If the fish can tolerate it, there's no problem with a yellow or near yellow DC.

I'll agree with that, mine's virtually yellow all the time now during lights on after finally sorting out my CO2 delivery. Of course the plus side of this for the fish is, my tank looks like a jacuzzi just before lights out so plenty of O2 for the fish .
You'll end up just using the drop checker as a rough guide, and let's be fair, your looking at a moment in time some 2-3 hours ago anyway but it's the best we've got for now.
Like yourself I was ultra cautious at the beginning with the injection rates (boy did I pay for that with the dreaded BBA, but that's all sorted now ). I was quite surprised at just how much my injection rate has gone up since I started, although the extra plant mass has got a lot to do with that.
As JamesM says, watch your livestock, it's the quickest guide you'll ever have.

With regards to your opening post, I have found that when the high pressure side starts to drop, it starts dropping very quickly (within a day on my 180l), and I then get erratic bubble rates, so I change it then. Fortunately I've never had this mysterious 'CO2 dump' that I've read so much about .
Good luck.

Chris

 

[squiggley]

If your dc is changing to yellow with very little gas I would check your 4dKh solution. I had a faulty batch which changed to yellow very quickly.

 

[oswoldy]

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[CeeJay]

Hi Mike

I only use 1.5ml of 4dkh and 2 drops of the test solution. I think that's what my instructions said when I started. :? Works for me .

Chris