# Co2 FE Question



## kellyboy47 (14 Oct 2013)

I have a 2kg FE running on a 54 litre tank at 1bps for approx 6 hours. Does anybody know roughly how long this will last ?...and should I have it on for a longer period and increase the bps ?
Cheers
Trev


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## foxfish (15 Oct 2013)

Imposable to answer with any accuracy with the given information!
Maybe 15 weeks maybe 52 weeks!
If you have a big bubble going in or a small bubble that could make 50% difference, bubble counters produce different size bubbles from make to make.
Are your plants growing nicely? if yes then don't turn up the gas, if no then give us all the info you can about the tank... with a few pictures


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## Lee Sweeting (15 Oct 2013)

Hi Trev! You could check your pH profile out. This is a link to a thread i started a while ago Melting Marsilea hirsuta & Staurogyne repens? | UK Aquatic Plant Society. This is a sure fire way to check if you are injecting enough co2. Have a good read through the thread, this should tell you pretty much everything you need to know. I had lots of co2 related problems, which are all resolved now, thanks to Clive.

Hope this helps!?


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

foxfish said:


> If you have a big bubble going in or a small bubble that could make 50% difference, bubble counters produce different size bubbles from make to make. Are your plants growing nicely? if yes then don't turn up the gas, if no then give us all the info you can about the tank... with a few pictures


 
I am using a Fluval Bubble Counter so am not sure if its a large or small bubble...its just a bubble 





With regards to the growth of the plants...well personally I do not think they are growing that well considering some of the pics I've seen on the forum of other folks tanks 

CO2 comes on at 16.15 and goes off at 22.15...lights go at 17:15 and off at 23.00

I am using a JBL CrystalProfi 700 external filter (no spray bar at present)...just normal outlet plus an APS 450lph corner filter


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

Lee Sweeting said:


> You could check your pH profile out


 
Hi Lee,

What did you use to test your PH...a strip test kit or electronic tester ?

Trev


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## foxfish (15 Oct 2013)

A PH pen is normally the chosen weapon.
Do you have any fish or shrimps? How are you injecting the gas?


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## Lee Sweeting (15 Oct 2013)

kellyboy47 said:


> Hi Lee,
> 
> What did you use to test your PH...a strip test kit or electronic tester ?
> 
> Trev



Hi trev! I just used a liquid test solution. Like the test strips there not very accurate, but it done the job for me. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## ian_m (15 Oct 2013)

Easy to work out how long CO2 will last.

1. Get a small plastic cup, put in tank, fill with water, invert and capture the CO2 from your diffuser. If you are using an inline diffuser, remove and dunk in jug of water and capture the gas.
2. Time how long it takes to fill the cup.
3. 2KG gives about 1m3 (1000litres) of gas.
4. Work it out.....

Mine worked out about 12cm3/minute (I think) -> 720cm3/hour -> 7200cm3/day (10hours) -> 1000litres/7.2l -> 138 days -> about 4.5 months.

I did this when I first started my setup, to get an idea of how long it would last. In practice didn't work out as long as calculated with leaks etc this has been as short at 23days !!!


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## foxfish (15 Oct 2013)

I read Toms post about that method & immediately tried it out but I thought to get a reasonable result I need to set up a better method than single handily trying to fill a small measuring cup as half the bubbles missed the cup & I kept looking at my watch even more missed LOL 
Great idea but I need a bit better method.....


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

I have about 7 Corydoras, 2 x Danios and a Penguin Tetra...No shrimps...Using a 2KG Fe, with dual guage Dennerle regulator and solenoid for nightime shutoff


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## foxfish (15 Oct 2013)

OK but how are you dissolving the C02... in tank diffuser or external reactor or UP anatomiser?
Anyway your plant look pretty healthy... what about algae?


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

Really ...you think my tank looks healthy ! 

I use an ceramic in-tank diffusor bought from Aqua Essentials...Do get a bit of brown algae on flass...have Assassin snails as well to get rid of the Ramshorns which blight my tank


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

foxfish said:


> A PH pen is normally the chosen weapon.


 
What like this one ?

 Electric Pocket Digital Ph Meter Tester Hydroponics Pen Aquarium Pool Water Test | eBay


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## foxfish (15 Oct 2013)

I said your plants look healthy ... not your tank

Generally speaking in a small tank it is pretty easy to get good C02 & flow. That equals good algae free growth but if you want exceptional growth then you need to pay extra extension to getting in as much C02 as possible in the tank without harming your fish, lots & lots of water changes, keep the substrate surface clean & the filter regally cleaned too.
Excess snails is normally due to access food!
If you find you have reasonable growth & no algae then you can consider this a very good point to be at.
By paying attention to the other aspects of keeping things clean you will be on to a winner.


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## kellyboy47 (15 Oct 2013)

foxfish said:


> I said your plants look healthy ... not your tank


 
Oh right...so tank not so good 

The ramshorns must have come in on plants and they breed like b******y...I have 8 Assassins in there trying to clean them up
I do a 40% water change every week and dose not only with Easycarbo but with Micro / Macro nutrients on alternate days
Personally I don't think I overfeed and to be honest I am more interested in my fish than the plants as they never give me any grief !...but..I will
persevere for a while and see if things improve...otherwise I will probably end up selling all my CO2 stuff !


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## kellyboy47 (28 Oct 2013)

Further to my original post I am still having issues with my CO2 usage. I am currently injecting CO2 at approx. 2-3 bps and connected a full CO2 FE just 3 (yes three weeks ago). The bottle pressure is showing about 8-10 bar and the
working pressure shows 1.75 bar....Surely to high heaven I should get more mileage than this  Trev at confusedaquarist.com lol

Could someone please shed some light on this extremely frustrating issue of mine


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## Andy Thurston (28 Oct 2013)

Check for leaks


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## ian_m (28 Oct 2013)

On my 180 litre tank, after finally getting rid of all the CO2 leaks I get through 100gr a week at about 1-2bps on for 10hours a day, so looking like 5 months for 2Kg FE, which roughly matches my quick calculation earlier. Nice. 

Oh, drop checker is green, heading yellow, must turn CO2 down, but fish are happy.

As Big Clown says, check for leaks. I kept ignoring this advice and found 2Kg lasting 23days !!!!


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## kellyboy47 (28 Oct 2013)

Big clown said:


> Check for leaks


 
I've done a soapy water test and to be honest cannot find any leaks at all....*would it be quite noticeable if there was a leak*. I checked where the regulator fits onto the FE the union where the 2 dials meet, the pressure release valve and the CO2 tubing up to the bubble counter


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## Andy Thurston (28 Oct 2013)

It sounds like a lot of co2 for a tank that size both of these tanks are fed from 1x5kg pub bottle. Both tanks have uncountable bps and its just run out. Also it was not full when we started adding co2 3 months ago.

Rio 125 wood and moss | UK Aquatic Plant Society
Juwel 180 first planted tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society

So i would say you have a leak somewhere. Are you using co2 safe tubing and have you checked the tube for leaks, not just the connections. Also have you checked the fe valve for leaks and have you checked all the connections on the reg/solenoid and seals/seams on the bubble counter. Our glass diffuser gets full of water which bubbles when gas is on so i just use that, rather than having extra bubble counter and joints in the system that can potentially leak


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (28 Oct 2013)

What about the joint between co2 hose and reg? (The solenoid if its joint to the regulator area) Did you use PTFE tape one the joints?


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