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What am I doing wrong? Using so much co2

newscaper

newscaper

Member
Joined
29 Nov 2018
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35
Location
Southampton
I’m stumped - again!

So I’ve been injecting co2 for about 2 months into my 130l 80x40x40 cm tank.

I use a drop checker to gauge co2 levels and have closely observed inhabitants for any changes.

Routine is co2 on an hour before lights and off an hour before lights off.

Light on at 7am off 8.30am then on again at 4.30pm and off at 10.30pm.

Running roughly between 8-10 bps (seems a lot).

Drop checker has only be changing colour after I moved it around the tank several times. I also moved the ceramic diffuser several times until I managed to balance out and get the drop checker to go lime green.

Biggest problem by far is the amount of co2 I have to use to get the drop checker to change. So far in 8 weeks I’ve gone through 1.5kg so 2 and a half 500g proflora canisters. This seems a lot? I’ve now run out again.

As advised I’ve thoroughly checked for leaks on the system and found none. I may be injecting more than 8-10 bps but only to get the drop checker to change really.

Oh and I’ve changed the shop purchased co2 checker fluid several times in this period.

The tanks not heavily planted and I’ve have no visible issues with anything so I’m at a complete loss to workout why I’m using so much co2?

What would ‘normal’ or ‘average’ co2 usage for a 130L moderately planted tank? I am aware all tanks are different but I’m just trying to understand roughly where I should be in order to workout if there is an on going problem.

Lfs charges £22 for a co2 refill too so it’s getting expensive.

Any help much appreciated.




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Has to be flow related if you're sure about no leaks

What inlet do you have and how much surface agitation?
 
Kalum said:
Has to be flow related if you're sure about no leaks

What inlet do you have and how much surface agitation?
Click to expand...

I have a combined surface skimmer/inlet and have some movement on the surface. I use a separate power head to create flow in the same direction as the flow from my filter.

I’m on the understanding that the recommendation is approximately 1 bubble per second per litre of water? So having to ramp it up to 8-10 bps and more seems excessive? Of course I’m basing my levels on the drop checker only but as it’s now changing I rekon flow and dose is good but still high.

I’m going to pull the whole lot out again and check everything for leaks although I’m 99.9% sure there aren’t any.




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I would say it’s your split lighting and assuming split co2 period. Co2 not reaching its peak until end of lighting period.

Much easier with 1 lighting period of 8 hours max (7 on your new tank).

Co2 on 3 hours before lights. Off an hour before lights off. Try that then think about flow etc.

Ps. Look at getting an adaptor so your reg will fit a 3kg gas bottle, or changing reg if you can’t.....

Pps. Your current use isn’t too high, just the cost of the small bottles.
 
Siege said:
I would say it’s your split lighting and assuming split co2 period. Co2 not reaching its peak until end of lighting period.

Much easier with 1 lighting period of 8 hours max (7 on your new tank).

Co2 on 3 hours before lights. Off an hour before lights off. Try that then think about flow etc.

Ps. Look at getting an adaptor so your reg will fit a 3kg gas bottle, or changing reg if you can’t.....

Pps. Your current use isn’t too high, just the cost of the small bottles.
Click to expand...

I’ve just set up timers so will see how things go.


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Siege said:
I would say it’s your split lighting and assuming split co2 period. Co2 not reaching its peak until end of lighting period.

Much easier with 1 lighting period of 8 hours max (7 on your new tank).

Co2 on 3 hours before lights. Off an hour before lights off. Try that then think about flow etc.

Ps. Look at getting an adaptor so your reg will fit a 3kg gas bottle, or changing reg if you can’t.....

Pps. Your current use isn’t too high, just the cost of the small bottles.
Click to expand...

So just to follow up I am now using a 5kg fire extinguisher. I didn’t need an adaptor as my reg screwed straight on .




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I use 0.015gr per liter per hour CO2 on my 180l tank, about 20gr a day for a green/yellow drop checker. A 2Kg FE lasts 100 days.

Your tank is 130litre, 8 weeks -> 56 days, at 8 hours per day and 1.5Kg of CO2 is 1500/56/130/8 -> 0.026 gr / litre / hour. Probably not bad usage for an in tank diffuser. An inline diffuser (& reactor !!) will reduce this.

Also stop wasting CO2 in the morning, normally takes about 2 hours to get optimum CO2 in a tank, so plants will be suffering in the morning with insufficient CO2. So have just one lighting period of say 5 hours (initially) with CO2 coming on 2 hours before light and off one hour before lights off.
 
newscaper said:
now using a 5kg fire extinguisher
Click to expand...
As your regulator fits a fire extinguisher it should fit a brewery bottle. Might work out cheaper in the long run. Depends on what you pay for FE, some out of date deals are OK and some will refill in date cylinders.
Circulation is a key thing. I use a few fish food granules to try and map out water movement.
 
I use 3 kg CO2 in less than a month , usually 3 weeks and is gone. I have 850L heavy planted tank and I inject 20-30 bps. I can't even count them, . I use and rely on JBL CO2 indicator and so far it serve me very good for over a year, making sure I am on around 30mg/l amd also monitoring the fish time to time. I change the fluid every month. I am using CO2 reactor which a build myself and works very well. previously I have used different reactors and none of them worked good and more, it reduces the water flow. The problem I think you have can be one or few of the following:
How do you defuse the CO2? do you use reactor or some cheap glass diffuser. If your diffuser is not adequate the CO2 just escape strait up without getting distributed evenly in the aquarium.
If you have air stones the air bubbles wrap the CO2 and escape out and all your CO2 and money are wasted.
You need to take on consideration the flow in the tank as well. Your tank is not big but if the inlet flow does not move the water this is not in great help. Maybe you should consider wave pump for water agitation, one fixed near the surface and one fixed somewhere in the mid dept of the aquarium facing the length , so the water rotate around and you get good mixing effect with CO2 and other fertilizers. The flow shouldn't be too aggressive but gentle and enough to mix the water.
 
There are many references here to more efficient diffusers. Although I use a CO2 Art Bazooka in-tank diffuser and plenty of water circulation, I am concerned about loss of CO2 at the water surface. I have no wish to hijack this thread but it seems that the OP and I would welcome recommendations for an in-line diffuser/atomizer/reactor. I see that CO2 Art have https://www.co2art.eu/collections/c...quarium-atomizer-diffuser-system-16-22mm-hose. Is it good?

Edit: just seen https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/anyone-used-new-co2art-inline-diffuser-qanvee.56123/#post-545014 so time to do some reading.
 
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