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Why my tank need so much co2 ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
Messages
784
Location
France
Hello, I use an aluminum ceramic diffuser in a 15 gallon aquarium (actual water volume: 35 liters) if i want my co2 drop checker to becomes light green, I have to inject two bubbles per second of co2. In my father's aquarium which has a volume of 60 gallons, I inject a little more to have the same result (exactly the same co2 setup, same fire extinguisher etc) how is this possible? Here are the water parameters of the 15 gallon aquarium:

PH: 7 ( 6.7 end of the day)
°KH: 5

the co2 diffuser is in the opposite of my internal filter outlet so that the flow make the co2 go down and come back to the filter ( some bubbles goes into circular motions around the tank)

it seems really a lot of co2 for such a little tank, is that normal ? thx
 
BPS is very PSI dependant, even the same make of diffuser they may some variance in the working PSI, Ignore the BPs and just use it as a gauge, you Dads my be at 2/3 BPS and your may be a 5-6BPS as long as you have a Stable pH and the DC the colour your after all is good
 
BPS is very PSI dependant, even the same make of diffuser they may some variance in the working PSI, Ignore the BPs and just use it as a gauge, you Dads my be at 2/3 BPS and your may be a 5-6BPS as long as you have a Stable pH and the DC the colour your after all is good
Should the drop checker be at the desired color at light start or is it okay that is may take few hours to get to it ?
 
As above, BPS is not a good measurement and even tanks of the same size will have different rates.

I inject at a rate of around 3 bps for a 27l (probably 20l actual volume) but i have good surface movement and a surface skimmer which find off-gasses a lot of co2

Flow is also a big factor
 
Should the drop checker be at the desired color at light start or is it okay that is may take few hours to get to it ?

Can take 2 hrs or longer to change colour so its is always telling you what the [CO2] was in the past, so doing a pH profile is a great help. Take pH every 30mins from pre CO2 on till CO2 off and at lights on. Make graph and pH should ideally stable from lights on till CO2 off. One it is stable the colour change of the DC is the [CO2] at that pH.
Often is is easlier to set for given BPS start about 2hrs before lights on and see what colour change you get hours later, if happy with DC colour do not adjust injection rate again and make note of target pH.
Next day start CO2 at previous days BPs and just time how long it takes to reach target pH and accept that time as its the time it takes to hit target pH in your tank.

Getting the CO2 injection right it tricky and most folk get it wrong at first, can take weeks to nail the right injection rate.
 
As above, BPS is not a good measurement and even tanks of the same size will have different rates.

I inject at a rate of around 3 bps for a 27l (probably 20l actual volume) but i have good surface movement and a surface skimmer which find off-gasses a lot of co2

Flow is also a big factor
damn people told me really bad tips, seller even worst like "you need 20 bubbles per minutes for 15 gallons tank"..

Can take 2 hrs or longer to change colour so its is always telling you what the [CO2] was in the past, so doing a pH profile is a great help. Take pH every 30mins from pre CO2 on till CO2 off and at lights on. Make graph and pH should ideally stable from lights on till CO2 off. One it is stable the colour change of the DC is the [CO2] at that pH.
Often is is easlier to set for given BPS start about 2hrs before lights on and see what colour change you get hours later, if happy with DC colour do not adjust injection rate again and make note of target pH.
Next day start CO2 at previous days BPs and just time how long it takes to reach target pH and accept that time as its the time it takes to hit target pH in your tank.

Getting the CO2 injection right it tricky and most folk get it wrong at first, can take weeks to nail the right injection rate.

thank you !! i also saw that co2 really really go off so quick, if it's not stable for few minutes i get green algae or even worst, i just had a second green water attack, what's the best things to do if the cylinder get empty when not at home ?

srry for my english ? thx
 
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