# How much Co2?



## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

I am going to be using 76 watts of T8 lighting over a 65 gallon shallow tank. 

I have a drop checker which will help also, and the co2 is going to be diffused by an atomiser. 

It is probably going to begin as moderately planted.

How much Co2 should I inject to start off with?


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## ceg4048 (8 Feb 2014)

Infinity.

Cheers,


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## Michael W (8 Feb 2014)

Pretty much what Clive has said. Use the plants' health as an indicator to your CO2 availability for the plants and the flow. I believe the drop checker is a poor way to measure CO2, its more a guideline for the fish's safety.


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## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

nah dude seriously i'm new to this and don't know what to do or what details i need to give, what should i start with?


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## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

Oh i see thanks michael, i just need to know how many bps i should start with? 1bps?


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## Michael W (8 Feb 2014)

I'm not familiar with CO2 on the practical side as I have never used it in my tanks so I really can't give you much advice a part from the above . Do you have fish in the tank right now? If not you can try out the amount of bubbles you want per sec and the flow. Then you can try to low the levels gradually keeping an eye out for plant health until you have a good flow/CO2 level which will be agreeable with livestock.

That is probably the best advise I can give, someone with more practical experience may correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

Nah i dont have fish in the tank right now, i'm starting a new one, been gathering and researching for around 4 months now lol, hopefully be able to get it done by the end of february.

So i should start with a bps that is something that may be a little more than required, and then lowering it gradually until i reach an equilibrium, carefully watching the health of plants, fish, and algae?  

Cheers mate


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## Michael W (8 Feb 2014)

Pretty much, at the stage you are free to just blast CO2, just gradually reduce it to a level which fish will manage in your aquarium while watching the plant's health. Then once you found the CO2 to be adequate for the plants and fish's healthy you can then add the fish.


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## John S (8 Feb 2014)

If you've no fish you can crank it up high to help your plants get established. You can then start to back it off while keeping an eye on your plants health. Don't forget you will be looking for a lime green drop checker when your lights come on as a rough guide.


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## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

alright thank you guys! if i have no fish in there at the moment how would i know whether the levels are okay for fish? Drop checker?


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## parotet (8 Feb 2014)

Lately I have read in two or three places something that makes a lot of sense... Especially if you don't have fish in the tank. 
When setting up a tank, use plenty (or at least enough) of CO2 during the so-called cycling period... You will have one month to use as much as you like. Then go backwards if you notice any problem when you will put your fish in the tank.
At least during that period it is more or less what you do with ferts and the estimative index, you won't have problems with an excess of CO2 but with a lack of it.

Nevertheless this doesn't mean that you just have to inject tones of Co2, use the search engine and look for key words such as co2, flow, light levels, pH readings, etc. There's plenty of excellent information here!


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## foxfish (8 Feb 2014)

Try 6 bps & then start taking PH readings throughout the photo period, there are to many variables to give a accurate answer.
I recently changed my bubble count from uncountable fast to 6-7 just but drilling out the inlet hole in my bc... so it is very difficult question


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## Dominic (8 Feb 2014)

Is the problem that i may experience lack of co2 because plants are normally grown emersed when they are bought? 

And are you telling me to add the fish first, and then decrease accordingly to how the fish behave? 

Alright i'll check all the information out  

And i think i may try that foxfish


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## foxfish (9 Feb 2014)

No don't add any live stock until you understand the effects of injecting CO2.
Without fsh you can safely experiment until you find your feet.
Your plants would like you to inject as much as possible, you can't inject too much for the plants but you can easily kill fish shrimp! 
Buy a PH pen as that makes it easy to test the water, inject plenty of gas & see what happens, you want to see some plant growth like new shoots or leaves appearing almost straight away.


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## parotet (9 Feb 2014)

Dominic said:


> Is the problem that i may experience lack of co2 because plants are normally grown emersed when they are bought?
> 
> And are you telling me to add the fish first, and then decrease accordingly to how the fish behave?
> 
> ...


No, I am not saying this... Your plants need CO2 because they need it to grow and if you don't have enough CO2 when the lights are on your plants will starve and your algae will be happy. Most of the problems we have are due to the lack of CO2, bad distribution in the water column, etc. in a situation in which you cannot asphyxiate fish or shrimps use co2 without fear as nobody will be damaged. In addition the levels of ammonia and nitrites during the first month won't let you have animals in your tank... So use as much as you want, and once you will be introducing the fish adjust, if needed, to avoid problems of asphyxiation. 
In my case, what I thought were going to be very high levels of CO2 that I would need to adjust we're finally not that high... Fish behave normally and have bright colours.


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## Dominic (9 Feb 2014)

Should i turn down the co2 before I introduce fish? Or introduce first and see how they react? 

How gradually should i turn down the co2 if needed? one bubble per week?

Also, i apologise if this is a stupid question, but could someone please, in simple terms, define the aim? - Achieve an equilibrium where fish and plants both thrive under co2?


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## Vazkez (9 Feb 2014)

Dominic said:


> Should i turn down the co2 before I introduce fish? Or introduce first and see how they react?
> 
> How gradually should i turn down the co2 if needed? one bubble per week?
> 
> Also, i apologise if this is a stupid question, but could someone please, in simple terms, define the aim? - Achieve an equilibrium where fish and plants both thrive under co2?



Ohh yes at least for 24 hours... I did this once without turning down CO2 and there was so high concentration of it that my fish went down to bottom like stones.... Almost lost them all but was lucky I had few air pumps and did fast water change. I saved them all.

About the CO2 is really hard to say. It's depends on your water, light, and stock of plants and how many you got. Do not worry too much everyone do mistakes you will learn in process.

Vaz


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## Dominic (9 Feb 2014)

ok thank you vaz- i might use my drop checker to help me- I'll only put fish in when the concentration is a little above the 'safe' range, but not ridiculously high, and see how that goes, and if needed, i'll adjust the co2 rate.

Can sudden co2 level changes harm the plants? i.e going from a very high rate (more than enough for plants) to a sufficient rate (adequate for plant growth)?


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## Vazkez (10 Feb 2014)

Hello,

I am far from to be a CO2 expert, but I think as long as there will be enough CO2 for plants they will be ok. I think they will suffer only if you set it up too low and there will by not enough CO2 in water.

The easiest way to do it is to take a cup of water from your tank and leave it for 24 hours (to have clear water without any CO2 in it). Then measure the PH. Now you should know what is the PH in aquarium without any CO2. 
You should have drop of PH by 0.7 - 1.0 (in your tank) when lights come on. How big drop you should have is depends on your water soft/hard.
You can also use drop check (not really accurate).
I advise you to buy one of the PH digital pens as you will have to measure your PH in tank often (before you will know how much you need).
Also you will probably need more CO2 as the plants will grow as there will be more outcome.

Hope you get it as my EN is not perfect.

Vaz


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## Dominic (10 Feb 2014)

okay thank you mate, what do you think of this? Would it be okay?  Ph Pen | eBay


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## Vazkez (10 Feb 2014)

Dominic said:


> okay thank you mate, what do you think of this? Would it be okay? Ph Pen | eBay


 
yeah it should be ok  I think I have the same one over a year


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## Dominic (11 Feb 2014)

Thank you very much mate, is the reason you are telling me to get one rather than a drop checker is due to the fact it is a more accurate reading?


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## Vazkez (11 Feb 2014)

Yes that's why  Also It's take a while to change the color on DC where the pen is few seconds. 
However please mind that both are only to guide you do not take them as a Bible.
You should watch what is going on in your tank how fish and plants react and so on. 

Vaz


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## Dominic (11 Feb 2014)

thank you very much mate!


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