Ted
Seedling
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2014
- Messages
- 24
Hello – I’m writing my first post on the board in need of some advice from CO2 experts. Additionally, I hope that my story may serve as a cautionary tale to other CO2 amateurs like myself.
The Nightmare
Yesterday, my girlfriend and I experienced the dreaded end of tank dump (EOTD) from my JBL Proflora m602 kit. We found most of our fish (including colonies of beloved panda garras and petricolae synondotis) dead and the rest gasping for air. Now we're faced with a challenge - how do we modify our existing set-up so this will never happen again.
Background + Equipment
We have a 240L densely planted tank with 4 39w T5s, 1000l/h of filtration and another 1250l/h of flow. We’re running the JBL Proflora m602 set-up with a JBL ProFlora m2000 tank. We bought the JBL tank filled in August (5 months ago). We run the CO2 through an Up Inline Atomizer. In order to get the necessary pressure to run the atomizer – I had to override the pressure on the regulator to 2.0.
The Malfunction
The tank was reading about 45 bars (below the 50 indicative of a tank running low) but I thought nothing of it since our LFS that sold us the setup said the 2KG cylinder would last a year. In the early hours of the morning, the tank dumped its remaining CO2 driving the pH down precipitously leaving the CO2 PH Test kit bright yellow. To rescue the remaining fish, my girlfriend (1) turned the powerjets upward to disturb the water and allow in more O2, (2) turned on the lights to allow the plants to photosynthesize more water and (3) did an emergency water change with a python.
Question I: Where did we go wrong?
Where did we go wrong? Sometimes equipment malfunctions but usually human error is at least partly to blame. Was the mistake running the 2KG cylinder on a kit made for a 500g cylinder? Was the mistake turning up the regulator pressure up to support the inline diffuser? Was it just bad luck?
Question 2: What do we do now?
We have a tank full of plants that need CO2 and I’m not comfortable putting the rest of our fish in danger with the existing set-up. What are my options for failsafe modifications that will allow me to pump CO2 while letting me sleep easy at night. JBL has ignored my emails and this is way over the LFS’ head. I’m open to all suggestions and price isn’t really an issue as long as the fix costs <£250.
Some options I’ve read about:
-Online I’ve read about using the JBL Proflora PH Computer Set. The thinking is that a subsequent EOTP would trigger the computer to throttle down the needle valve in time to save my fish. My concern is that the inline atomizer adds delay to the injection of CO2 and that the PH Computer would do too little too late.
-Double stage regulator. I don’t even understand what this is and I think the m602 already has one.
Thanks so much. For newbies or those in the market for a C02 system – I hope you can learn from my experience and avoid your own sad morning.
The Nightmare
Yesterday, my girlfriend and I experienced the dreaded end of tank dump (EOTD) from my JBL Proflora m602 kit. We found most of our fish (including colonies of beloved panda garras and petricolae synondotis) dead and the rest gasping for air. Now we're faced with a challenge - how do we modify our existing set-up so this will never happen again.
Background + Equipment
We have a 240L densely planted tank with 4 39w T5s, 1000l/h of filtration and another 1250l/h of flow. We’re running the JBL Proflora m602 set-up with a JBL ProFlora m2000 tank. We bought the JBL tank filled in August (5 months ago). We run the CO2 through an Up Inline Atomizer. In order to get the necessary pressure to run the atomizer – I had to override the pressure on the regulator to 2.0.
The Malfunction
The tank was reading about 45 bars (below the 50 indicative of a tank running low) but I thought nothing of it since our LFS that sold us the setup said the 2KG cylinder would last a year. In the early hours of the morning, the tank dumped its remaining CO2 driving the pH down precipitously leaving the CO2 PH Test kit bright yellow. To rescue the remaining fish, my girlfriend (1) turned the powerjets upward to disturb the water and allow in more O2, (2) turned on the lights to allow the plants to photosynthesize more water and (3) did an emergency water change with a python.
Question I: Where did we go wrong?
Where did we go wrong? Sometimes equipment malfunctions but usually human error is at least partly to blame. Was the mistake running the 2KG cylinder on a kit made for a 500g cylinder? Was the mistake turning up the regulator pressure up to support the inline diffuser? Was it just bad luck?
Question 2: What do we do now?
We have a tank full of plants that need CO2 and I’m not comfortable putting the rest of our fish in danger with the existing set-up. What are my options for failsafe modifications that will allow me to pump CO2 while letting me sleep easy at night. JBL has ignored my emails and this is way over the LFS’ head. I’m open to all suggestions and price isn’t really an issue as long as the fix costs <£250.
Some options I’ve read about:
-Online I’ve read about using the JBL Proflora PH Computer Set. The thinking is that a subsequent EOTP would trigger the computer to throttle down the needle valve in time to save my fish. My concern is that the inline atomizer adds delay to the injection of CO2 and that the PH Computer would do too little too late.
-Double stage regulator. I don’t even understand what this is and I think the m602 already has one.
Thanks so much. For newbies or those in the market for a C02 system – I hope you can learn from my experience and avoid your own sad morning.
any pics of how your diffuser is set up? Have you cleaned it recently. cheers Kirk. Or reG is playing up.
