# Algae v Ph?



## sjb123 (15 Dec 2008)

Hi,
had Staghorn algae appear about 7 days ago which i think was caused by increase in light & no increase in Co2?
 Changed from 4 x 38w Trocals to 4 x 54w Trocals which on my Rio 400 gives me 2.45w per gal!
Have done water changes, increased flow & increased Co2. Yesterday Ph was reading 6.4 which is a drop from my normal ph of 6.6, today it has gone up to 6.8 is this the reaction of algae causing this?
Also, does Co2 have a shelf life as i've had my cylinder for about 4 years (content 7.2kg)
I wish i hadn't changed lights, tanks been running since 2004 with no problems but, had one of Juwel units go so thought i would upgrade!!
Any Help would be appreciated,
Regards Steve B


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## ceg4048 (15 Dec 2008)

Yes, increasing light causes an increased demand for CO2. If the increased demand is not met the plants suffer and are susceptible to algae such as staghorn or hair. Increasing the CO2 will generate more carbonic acid which will be reflected in a lower pH so there is no need to worry about pH. Umm...the shelf life of CO2 is at least 4,300,000,000 years...  

just remove as much of the staghorn as you can and continue the higher CO2 level. It should go away after a few weeks.

Cheers,


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## sjb123 (16 Dec 2008)

Thanks for that Clive,
would you know where, or if i can get some sort of T piece connector for my Co2?
 At the moment i am running a Dennerle CO.C.400 Bio-Filterstation which has 2 x built in reactors and have added my old CO.C.200 with 1 x reactor to increase the flow however, i would like supply Co2 to the 200 aswell using the one supply if possible! (might give better spread of Co2)
 I think there is some kind of control block available for running 2 x tanks from the same supply but is rather expensive around Â£100 mark.
Any thoughts, Cheers Steve B


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## LondonDragon (16 Dec 2008)

sjb123 said:
			
		

> would you know where, or if i can get some sort of T piece connector for my Co2?



There is this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-way-Brass-Co2-s ... .m63.l1177

and this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 26_fvi%3D1

They have two needle valves which you can control the flow to each individually.

Or you can use one of these cheap ones: http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ji715j6vh3  but then you have no control over flow


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