# A few problems with co2.



## Richard (9 Feb 2014)

Hi guys,
I started using pressurised co2 on 23rd January this year,I've never done this before so I was not to sure what to expect.
Well all went well regarding the setting up etc and everything looks very neat and professional in my Rio 125 cabinet.
There are a few things that I'm not too sure about,for starters the diffusor throws out lovely minute bubbles,almost a mist really,and they go into the current of my spraybar which further distributes them to all the corners of the tank,trouble is they seem to stay in suspension for a very long time spoiling the appearance of the tank,is this normal?

Now another thing,my wife has a Betta Splendens,lovely fish,her pride and joy,but once the co2 has been on for an hour or so he starts acting funny,laying on the bottom or behind my spraybar,haven't seen any other fish acting weird yet but life wouldn't be worth living if something happened to her Betta.

The bubble counter is showing 2bps and the drop checker is green,PH 7.6.

So am I worrying unduly or is there something that doesn't sound right,I know the PH is a bit high and the water round here is very hard,even the tap water comes out at 40ppm Nitrate.

Really not sure if I'm going to benefit from co2 supplementation or not.


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## Sacha (9 Feb 2014)

I have the same thing with the bubbles from the diffuser. Trying to find a way to reduce the visible bubbles somehow because they do spoil the look of the tank somewhat... 

Betta are labyrinth fish, so they need to breathe oxygen from the water surface. Is there enough space for the Betta to easily get to the surface of the water...?


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## Richard (9 Feb 2014)

Thanks for your reply Sacha,
Yes there's plenty of free surface area,I know about the labyrinth bit,that's what is worrying me as he doesn't seem to go to the surface at all when it's on.
I'm wondering if an 'inline' diffusor would sort that problem out.


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## Sacha (9 Feb 2014)

I get even more bubbles with my inline atomizer tbh.


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## Richard (10 Feb 2014)

Oh dear,well I'm seriously considering going back to low tech.


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## GHNelson (10 Feb 2014)

Move your spray bar up a tad to get more gas exchange.
hoggie


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## Richard (10 Feb 2014)

hogan53 said:


> Move your spray bar up a tad to get more gas exchange.
> hoggie


 
At the moment the spray bar is set so as it points downward with a slight surface ripple without actually splashing back into the tank,should I have so as it actually breaks the water surface?


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## GHNelson (10 Feb 2014)

Yes  Richard....you want a little agitation if your fish are uncomfortable with current position.
hoggie


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## Richard (10 Feb 2014)

Ok hoggie,I'll give that a try,thank you.


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## Richard (10 Feb 2014)

I have actually lost a few fish over the past few days,1 Harlequin and 3 Cardinal Tetras,all old fish, plus I had to go without a filter for a day a little while ago,none of this would help but I am wondering if this is anything to do with the co2.
I'm going to keep an eye on my stock to avoid losing anymore,but if it carries on then I think my co2 system will be in the classifieds.


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## Richard (11 Feb 2014)

A little update,I turned the spraybar so that it disturbed the surface of the water enough to certainly help with gas exchange,my bubble counter is showing
2 bps,dropchecker isn't exactly showing lime green,more like a very pale greeny blue colour so I suspect that my co2 level is slightly down on the optimum but I'm no expert.Whilst I was feeding the fish I noticed 2 more of my Harlequins showing obvious signs of distress,I have now turned off the co2 and agitated the water surface more in the hope that they recover,if they die that will be 4 Harlequins and 3 Cardinal Tetras I've lost since I started co2 on the 23rd January,seems like I must be doing something wrong although all my tank parameters are fine.

Not sure that co2 supplementation is for me so keep your eyes on the 'for sale' section in the coming days!


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2014)

Hi Richard
What is your tap water PH approximately?
Have these fish been previously in a well aerated tank?
hoggie


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## Richard (11 Feb 2014)

Hello hoggie,
Right,well the tap water is coming out at 7.2 PH,as for the tank conditions,well no,the aerating used to be pretty poor but recently I took out the internal filter and installed an external with a spray bar and now the aeration is much better with better surface agitation.


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2014)

Hi Richard
I would turn the Co2 down and go for a green colour in the drop checker and keep a eye on the fish....for a few hours.
If they are still suffering raise the spray bar up more....see what happens.
hoggie


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## Richard (11 Feb 2014)

Okay hoggie,I'll give that a go,have to be tomorrow now.I suspect in a way that the conditions in the tank are a lot more lively now,what with the extra flow and the surface movement and I wonder if the older inhabitants are finding it a bit hard for their ageing fins etc,and are giving up the ghost so to speak.

Anyway I'll keep the post updated,thanks for your suggestions.


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## Richard (12 Feb 2014)

I have tuned the bubble counter to 1bps and so far today all the fish are ok,drop checker is not green though,more like a very pale blue colour so I suspect that 1bps is not quite enough,I'll leave things as they are for now and increase the bubble count slightly tomorrow and see how things go.


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## Vazkez (13 Feb 2014)

Hi Richard,

I might be wrong but how much light you got??
I am asking as I have Rio 125 as well and my fish got gassed often before I upgrade the light. 
Now even with high CO2 all are happy.

Do not take me wrong I do not want you to spend more money It's just suggestion.

Hope I helped a bit.

Vaz


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## Vazkez (14 Feb 2014)

Sorry I should make myself more clear... 

What I mean by that is that you do not need so much CO2 with the original Rio light as uptake is much lower.
So maybe the level of CO2 which you have now is enough.

Vaz


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## Richard (14 Feb 2014)

Hi Vaz,
I have just renewed my lighting and changed from the original Juwel lighting to Arcadia pro tubes,they don't seem as bright as the originals but the tank looks better.
Today I looked in the tank and my wifes Betta was lying on the bottom dead and my last surviving Harlequin was lying behind my bogwood also dead.I hate losing fish and I have now decided that pressurised co2 is not for me so I'm going to put the complete system on Gumtree and start dosing liquid carbon.

Thanks for trying to help,and all you other guys for your suggestions.


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## EnderUK (14 Feb 2014)

sad news, I too am having a little trouble with co2 with about the same size tank, roma 125 with the same 2x28w t5 tubes. I think my problem is the heavy stocking levels. It really seems to be a fine line but I've only had the co2 one when I've been sat next to the tank to monitor it. My fish get stressed within about an hour of the co2 going on. They get stressed if I turn the airstone off for more than 12 hours without the co2 running. I think the trick will to be go into it slowly. I'll start by putting the air stone on a timer and increasing the surface ripple from the spray bar.

Sorry to here about your fish losses but I'm glad I'm not the only one having some issues.


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## Vazkez (14 Feb 2014)

Hi Richard....

I am sorry to hear that mate 

I know this might sounds stupid but I might be interest about the CO2 regulator if you willing to sell/trade.

Vaz


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## Richard (14 Feb 2014)

Hi,
Thanks for your sympathy,I know it sounds funny but I've always been a very careful and loving fishkeeper,I have kept fancy goldfish,marines,Koi and always looked after their wellbeing to the best of my ability,my fish usually die of old age.I introduced co2 because I wanted to improve the growth of my plants and cut back on algae,well I don't know if this was going to happen but since adding co2 I have lost 1 Betta,4 Cardinals and 6 Harlequins.Now I find that quite hard to take on board and I have since decided that I would rather have a tank with some hair algae and plants that sometimes struggle to grow than seeing my fish dying.

Thank you for trying to help but I'm quite looking forward to going back to my uncomplicated,low tech,algae infested happy tank.


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## Richard (14 Feb 2014)

Vaz,
I am going to put the lot on Gumtree as a full system,hoping to get £65,it's only about 3 weeks old so I'm hoping to get half my money back.


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## Vazkez (14 Feb 2014)

Richard said:


> Hi,
> Thanks for your sympathy,I know it sounds funny but I've always been a very careful and loving fishkeeper,I have kept fancy goldfish,marines,Koi and always looked after their wellbeing to the best of my ability,my fish usually die of old age.I introduced co2 because I wanted to improve the growth of my plants and cut back on algae,well I don't know if this was going to happen but since adding co2 I have lost 1 Betta,4 Cardinals and 6 Harlequins.Now I find that quite hard to take on board and I have since decided that I would rather have a tank with some hair algae and plants that sometimes struggle to grow than seeing my fish dying.
> 
> Thank you for trying to help but I'm quite looking forward to going back to my uncomplicated,low tech,algae infested happy tank.


 
Sometimes I thinking about to go back to low tech as well... Not so hig bills for electricity, no deficiency, yeast CO2 and so on  It has some magic in it I can tell that 

However It is very nice that you know fish are more important as plants  Like my barbs... I love them but I can tell you when they nipping my plants or I come back from work and see plants flowting on surface I wan to flush them down the toilet 

Hope you will have more luck in future mate 

Vaz


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## EnderUK (14 Feb 2014)

Richard said:


> Thank you for trying to help but I'm quite looking forward to going back to my uncomplicated,low tech,algae infested happy tank.


 
*ceg4048*

ceg4048 explains it in this thread help-fish-being-gassed 

Plants are nice but I'm only doing this to make the fish happy, Why just do the weekly EI dosing low light low tech method suggested by Tom Barr.


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## Richard (15 Feb 2014)

Vazkez said:


> Hope you will have more luck in future mate


Thanks Vaz.


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## Richard (15 Feb 2014)

EnderUK,
Thanks for your suggestions,I'm going to give the EI dosing a try as a lot of people swear by it,I'll try anything to get my tank looking as good as yours mate!


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