# Drop Checker



## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

Hi guys currently got my CO2 running through inline diffuser in fluval 125 litre tank, distributed through spray bar full length of rear of tank.

Drop checker in tank, but i cannot change the colour of the bromo in drop checker for trying ? co2 is on quite high and surely a 125 litre tank doesnt require tht much co2 its low/med planted ?

Any suggestions i have tried moving the co2 around tank too ???


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

How long is your CO2 on for before your lights come on?

Can you see the Co2 bubbles being blown around the tank?


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

it comes on 1 hour before lights, and yes im using in line diffuser so u can see very small bubble almost a little misty


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## Iain Sutherland (16 Jul 2012)

Also surface movement plays a large part in off gassing. 
you sure the solution in the drop checker is ok?  4dkh solution?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (16 Jul 2012)

What is the surface agitation like? Do you have the spraybar or lily pipe moving the surface of the water quite alot? 

This may be your problem causing Co2 gas off.


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

yes 4dkh bromo blue, does it effect it if u fiil it to top of small ball on glass drop checker ?

there is surface movement but not to the extent where its causing ripples or bubbles, just rotation ?


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

If you are using bubble counter what is the rate?

One hour before light might not be enough. My 65l has minimal surface agitation, runs at around about 3bps but I need the gas on 3 hours before light to get a lime green DC.


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

no bubble counter installed


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## Iain Sutherland (16 Jul 2012)

Bubble counters are worth having for a visual guide, cheap on ebay.

Any fish in the tank yet?


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## John S (16 Jul 2012)

You need to either up the injection rate or increase the time the Co2 is on before lights on. Personally I'd set the Co2 for 1.5 hours and see what happens. You can then increase the time if you need to. If it's still nowhere near lime green at 2.5 hours before lights then do very small increments to the injection rate. This is the most fiddly bit of co2 in my opinion.

Also, as Iain asked, do you have any fish?


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

no no fish yet pal, wanted to get the injection correct of co2 before adding fish, i will try putting it up to 2 hours before the lights, just checked before co2 went off and no change


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## Iain Sutherland (16 Jul 2012)

So you haven't said if you have micro bubbles in the tank? 

If not the you need to check your co2 regulator goes up to at least 2 bar otherwise you aren't injecting anything as it can't get past the atomiser.


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

yes i have micro bubbles, they almost creat a sort of white mist, the bar is at 2 .


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## Iain Sutherland (16 Jul 2012)

on for longer and more of it, once dc is yellow then start to wind it back a little over the course of a week or so.  
Any adjustment to co2 should be small otherwise co2 related algae will kick your a$$.

Your quids in with no fish as you can turn it right up with no risk, just dont fluctuate the levels too much, make adjustment and wait a day to see the difference... slowly slowly catchy monkey!


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## belly259 (16 Jul 2012)

ok i try that guys and report back my findings, thxs so far


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## Ady34 (16 Jul 2012)

belly259 said:
			
		

> yes 4dkh bromo blue, does it effect it if u fiil it to top of small ball on glass drop checker ?
> 
> there is surface movement but not to the extent where its causing ripples or bubbles, just rotation ?


Only half fill the 'ball' to give a larger surface area within the drop checker for better gas exchange to alter the reagents ph. If its full this will take much longer due to the smaller contact area and a larger volume of fluid to react with.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

thanks ady was going to ask tht, as i put on for longer today and cant change still, will try this


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

hope it does as i have been trying for weeks to alter the colour, not seeing the best plant growth either


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## Matt Warner (17 Jul 2012)

I agree with Ady, whenever I fill my drop checker to the top, it changes colour really slowly than if it's only half full. It probably takes 2 hours longer to change when full!


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

lol, mines not changed in weeks, im out of ideas, doesnt change when using normal diffuser or when running through inline diffuser arrrrrrr


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## Matt Warner (17 Jul 2012)

It could be that your regulator can't produce enough pressure to give any more than 1bps. What regulator are you using, can you adjust the working pressure at all? Some of the up atomisers need more than 2 bar to work properly.


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

its at 2bar, can see small bubbles coming from spray bar, bit misty.

The colour didnt change even when i wasnt using inline diffuser, its getting to make or break time, im out of ideas, just doesnt seem to change watever i do,


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## John S (17 Jul 2012)

belly259 said:
			
		

> its at 2bar, can see small bubbles coming from spray bar, bit misty.
> 
> The colour didnt change even when i wasnt using inline diffuser, its getting to make or break time, im out of ideas, just doesnt seem to change watever i do,



Does the mist / bubbles increase if you open the needle valve more?


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

yes it seems to yes, opened it quite a bit, dont wanna go ecessively open or i will end up emptying cos bottle in no time, takes only 125 litres so shouldnt need tht much co2 surely


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## Nutbeam (17 Jul 2012)

move the drop checker around the tank...

actually where is it positioned now compared to the outlets and flow?


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## belly259 (17 Jul 2012)

positioned to the left not in direct flow, have tried tht. the 4kdh bromo blue, does it need a reactor aswell?

i may be being dum, but im new to the co2 aquarium world


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## san-ho-zay (17 Jul 2012)

belly259 said:
			
		

> dont wanna go ecessively open or i will end up emptying cos bottle in no time


I've failed with CO2 in the past and it's been because of this sort of logic. If the cost per bubble is worrying you, you should get a bigger bottle or find cheaper ways of getting it refilled. Honestly mate, you can't have a mental block that stops you getting the tank to the optimum levels for your plants. Been there, done that.

I don't think I could manage without a bubble counter. It sounds like you are pushing gas through the diffuser but you'll find it difficult to adjust up and down without the reference point that the bubble counter gives.

I'm not sure what you mean by a reactor for the drop checker. There are two ways to fill those. Either you buy a 4dKH solution (clear) and add some bromo blue pH reagent to it (dark blue). Or you use a premixed solution of 4dKH water with the pH reagent already in it (blue tinge).

It doesn't need to be in the flow. Anywhere that's convenient to see will do really. If the flow around the tank is good, the CO2 gets distributed. They do take a couple of hours to change colour though.

You'll get it all. I know it's often discussed on here like it's no more difficult than buttering toast but I remember it was all quite intimidating and tricky to get the hang of at first.


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## John S (18 Jul 2012)

san-ho-zay said:
			
		

> I'm not sure what you mean by a reactor for the drop checker. There are two ways to fill those. Either you buy a 4dKH solution (clear) and add some bromo blue pH reagent to it (dark blue). Or you use a premixed solution of 4dKH water with the pH reagent already in it (blue tinge).
> 
> It doesn't need to be in the flow. Anywhere that's convenient to see will do really. If the flow around the tank is good, the CO2 gets distributed. They do take a couple of hours to change colour though.



After you have done the above if the drop checker fluid is OK then do the following. Turn up the CO2 with the lights out for 2 hours after two hours your drop checker should at least be dark green.


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## spyder (18 Jul 2012)

davem said:
			
		

> After you have done the above if the drop checker fluid is OK then do the following. Turn up the CO2 with the lights out for 2 hours after two hours your drop checker should at least be dark green.



Try this!

Clean out and refill dropchecker with fresh solution when you have a day to yourself. Start early, fire up co2 leave light's off. Check DC colour hourly. This will help you find an injection rate that will saturate your water column in a given time. If it takes more than 3-4 hours then you need to turn up the gas. 

Using an inline you should be able to clearly see the mist. If flow is good you should see it rolling down the front glass and bouncing back along the substrate. Don't be fooled here, My Rio 125 gets very, very misty.

Flow/distribution maybe an issue as I don't think you have mentioned what filter you are using. Flow from spray bar is best not breaking the surface. Ripples are good though.

Grab a bubble counter, it will give you a reference point for your adjustments. I avoid the inline glass ones now as they constantly lose water for me. When gas first comes on I get a jet of water fired up the tubing through the counter. The small plastic ones (TMC) with in and out connectors on the top don't lose water.

Any photo's you can provide may also help.


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## belly259 (18 Jul 2012)

ok thxs guys, get some photos tonight, my filter is external fluval 305


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## belly259 (18 Jul 2012)

well guys upped the co2 injection quite alot, still no bloody change, new pre mixed 4kdh solution in around 2 hours ago. is it possible the solution isnt mixed rite? i have some other stuff which is the clear stuff, am i rite in saying i can put a couple of drops of ph checker in the drop checker with the clear solution ?


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## John S (18 Jul 2012)

I'm confused with what is going in your drop checker. Do you have a premixed solution or are you adding bromo blue to 4kdh solution?


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## belly259 (18 Jul 2012)

i have 4kdh wi bromo in pre mixed. im confused too as i aint got a clue why it aint changing, i have upped co2 injection to vry high level. 

No one had this issue before ??? arrrr


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## John S (18 Jul 2012)

And there are now lots of bubbbles flying around the tank since you upped the injection?

Where did the 'clear stuff' come from?


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## belly259 (18 Jul 2012)

yes lots of small bubbles, clear came from buyonline24


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## John S (18 Jul 2012)

Where did you get the premixed stuff and who makes it?


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## belly259 (18 Jul 2012)

Cant remeber, was a site advertised on here so i presume its gd, doesnt say who makes it


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## ian_m (19 Jul 2012)

I tested my drop checker by placing it directly over my glass diffuser and after a short while indicator was yellow.  

Moved drop checker away from diffuser and eventually it went green.

However I moved to in-line diffuser, as I was able to position the drop checker, when using in tank glass diffuser, in places (at bottom of tank) where it stayed blue despite all the supposed flow in the tank.


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## belly259 (19 Jul 2012)

yes and im using an inline diffuser as mentioned earlier, turned co2 rite up and no change, really p-----g me off now


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## belly259 (20 Jul 2012)

Me again, Will nitrite and nitrate levels effect Co2 drop checker ??

Also should the drop checker attract co2 bubbles ?


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## Iain Sutherland (20 Jul 2012)

hey, if you have followed all the instruction given so far my bet would be one of 3 things...
either the 4dkh with bromo was bad (i believe aquaessentials had an issue with theirs 6 months back or so)
or
you havent said what sort of DC it is?  If it isnt a glass one then there is a possibility that the permeable membrane that some of the drop checks have may not be working or is blocked somehow
or
you arent injecting anywhere near as much co2 as you think.

If the solution is no good then yes use the 4dkh liquid you have, 2ml of 4dkh to 2 drops ph reactor.  This should be enough to half fill most standard drop checkers.  The solution with go blue when added or ive had some before that just go very very dark bluey green.

You really need to sort a bubble counter out, if your stuck i have one you can have if you pm your address but id advise getting one sooner.  If the inline diffuser is working correctly it will fill the tank with mist that looks like an awful lot of gas but that is how it should be. Many people have the atomiser before the filter so it will diffuse into the water as it goes through the canister to reduce the misting.

Nothing else in the tank will react with the drop checker aside the air within the DC mate.


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## greenink (20 Jul 2012)

You're not putting in enough co2. Easy way to test the bromo solution is to put a drop of vinegar in to a teaspoon I the solution - should go bright yellow.


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## belly259 (20 Jul 2012)

thxs guys, tht is a good amount of info. im using the glass drop checker, ordered bubble count hoping it will be here tomorrow or monday. may bump the co2 up as well. will report bck my findings. over and out lol


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## belly259 (20 Jul 2012)

check solution, turned yellow, so least thts 1 thing eliminated. Co2 turned up, extra 30 mins before light comes on too. see what results tht gives me. Was reading a journal earlier where some was putting around 10-12 bps into tank, so guess i will know more when bubble counter arrives.


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## nbaker (8 Sep 2012)

Did you get to the bottom of this, as I am having the same issue?


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