# Drop checker is always lime green?!



## Daneland (1 Jun 2015)

Hello,I tried different bromothymol blue solutions,they are all blue as it should be with 4 kH solution but even CO2 (FE +Solenoid) is off  for 12 hours it is same all times?
Any ideas ?


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## Julian (1 Jun 2015)

Whats your surface agitation like? How old is the substrate and what kind?


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## Daneland (1 Jun 2015)

Well agitated,it must be really old,as it is a second hand tank I can't tell. It is dark small pebbles,no soil or etc underneath it


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## Martin in Holland (2 Jun 2015)

What are your plants saying?....
Personally, I never liked a DC, rather test KH and pH (pH with a meter).


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## Henry (2 Jun 2015)

Substrate and water parameters will make no difference, as drop checkers work from the exchange of gases in a pocket of air between the water and the solution. What colour is the fresh bromo blue when added to the 4dKH solution? If it is a deep blue, then it is working fine.

 If the drop checker turns green and stays green once inside the tank, the level of CO2 in the water isn't dropping quickly enough for the DC solution to react before you start injecting CO2 the next day.


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## Daneland (2 Jun 2015)

It is dark blue when added the broom blue and once it gets green it is always the same colour.


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## Julian (2 Jun 2015)

Henry said:


> Substrate and water parameters will make no difference, as drop checkers work from the exchange of gases in a pocket of air between the water and the solution. What colour is the fresh bromo blue when added to the 4dKH solution? If it is a deep blue, then it is working fine.
> 
> If the drop checker turns green and stays green once inside the tank, the level of CO2 in the water isn't dropping quickly enough for the DC solution to react before you start injecting CO2 the next day.


FYI decomposing organics in new substrate can cause the release of CO2 and mess with your DC. I've experienced this first hand, my DC was always yellow. It seemed to stop after a few weeks.


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## Andy Thurston (2 Jun 2015)

mines always green in the morning and yellow when lights are on. if plants are healthy and fish arnt gasping at any point, I wouldn't worry about it. as already mentioned use a ph pen/meter and make a ph profile this should tell you all you need to know


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## Daneland (3 Jun 2015)

Big clown said:


> mines always green in the morning and yellow when lights are on. if plants are healthy and fish arnt gasping at any point, I wouldn't worry about it. as already mentioned use a ph pen/meter and make a ph profile this should tell you all you need to know


I am a bit confused about pH dkH tables.It is the pH of actual tank water,isn't it?
And lets say my dkH is 18 and pH is 7.6 CO2 will be 14 mmol which is safe.
Another point there are several pH meters on Amazon/ ebay  like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008713E...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0VXARRP7AGPKQX4BZ5Z4 are they any good ?


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## Andy Thurston (3 Jun 2015)

I'm not a big fan of those particular meters. I had one for about 3 months before I chucked it in the bin because I lost faith in it.
I wouldn't get hung up on the numbers too much because other things in the tank will affect the readings you take and the values on the chart will underestimate the co2 level.
When I set my co2 up I inject co2 until the fish start gasping and then check the ph (about ph 5.2 in my tank) this gives a rough maximum co2 level.
Then I aim for a stable reading around ph 5.3/5.4 from lights on to lights off (a little bit of trial and error will be needed to get this right) flow, surface agitation, injection rate, and pre light injection time will all need to be adjusted to get your co2 just right.
*If you have any livestock in the tank please make sure your around to observe their behaviour when making adjustments to your co2, it is very easy to kill critters with co2.*
I couldn't tell you how much co2 there is in my tank other than "as much as possible without distressing my critters"


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## Henry (5 Jun 2015)

Julian said:


> FYI decomposing organics in new substrate can cause the release of CO2 and mess with your DC. I've experienced this first hand, my DC was always yellow. It seemed to stop after a few weeks.


The drop checker is providing an indication of CO2 levels in the water, regardless of where it is coming from. I responded the way I did because I assumed you were referring to the potential buffering or softening capacity of certain substrates.


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## Shadow (5 Jun 2015)

Try take out the drop checker from the tank, the color should change. If not change color, maybe your indicator solution is expired.


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## Henry (5 Jun 2015)

Bromthymol blue has an indefinite shelf life. If he's using the same stuff I gave him, it's less than a year old.


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## jagillham (5 Jun 2015)

Mine is always green except when the co2 runs out. Maybe not enough surface agitation to de-gas? Or maybe it goes blue during the night, not sure!


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## Daneland (6 Jun 2015)

Henry I used the stuff you gave me and some other stuff as well,it is all same.There is a very good surface agitation and checked it several times when CO2 off including 3:00 am it i sall same colour.It is dark blue when solution is mixed and it gets gradually paler and becomes light green and stays there.Fishes are all fine ,I assume there is no excess of CO2 ,besides atomizer is small for my 125 lt tank anyway; plants are growing well.Therefore I will leave it until I get a proper size reactor and try to figure out maximum dosage by observing fishes and pH.
Thanks for all replies..


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## zozo (6 Jun 2015)

The drop checker is actualy your PH meter  look up the PH color chart and hold it next to your drop checker. And check the real PH with a PH meter and compare, lime green should be between 6.2 and 7.0. But my eyes say 7.0 is darker than lime. But what you see is what you get. Everybody could see an other color tone hence the color blindness was discovered.

So a permanent PH meter will tell you much more with a static number than a fancy DC with a color wich always will be in a range of certain numbers as your eye persieves it. As the PH was 2 hours before you are watching.

My DC is also always lime green and i use it because i like the fancy look and people asking "whats that, funny thing?"  I just love that..
My permanent PH controller tells me my PH is 24/7 between 6.4 in high lights and 6.9 in darknes which are very acceptable numbers whit a KH 5.


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## Henry (6 Jun 2015)

Kadir, if your plants are healthy and fish are happy, you've nothing to worry about


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## Andy Thurston (6 Jun 2015)

drop checkers would be ok if they didn't have a 1-3hour delay. its also another piece of equipment that I've removed from my tank


Henry said:


> Kadir, if your plants are healthy and fish are happy, you've nothing to worry about


the best advice at the moment


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## Daneland (10 Aug 2015)

Hello ,just an update and some new questions As the fishes and the plants were fine I did not really change anything.Later I have read using an airstone and leaving the hood open wilI make the colour to return to blue. So,I used an air stone and left the hood's flaps open overnight and it went to blue.I dont use it all times.At least I know nothing wrong with the CO2 setup.
Can we say CO2 concentration in the tank is retained longer?
Is there any ill affects of this?
Should I increase surface agitation although it looks very fine to me?


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## Henry (11 Aug 2015)

I refer back to my previous comment. If everything is fine, be happy! It takes some people months of stuggling to find the right balance, but you've landed on your feet from the get-go!


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## Daneland (11 Aug 2015)

Henry said:


> I refer back to my previous comment. If everything is fine, be happy! It takes some people months of stuggling to find the right balance, but you've landed on your feet from the get-go!



 Yeah I got it from the right source I guess...


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