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Only if you have 4dKH water in the drop checker. If you're using tank water for it then it will not give you an accurate measure of the CO2 level as other chemicals will affect the pH reading - it needs to be just (bi)carbonate providing the KH and CO2 providing the acidity to be totally accurate.
Both. They are reading the pH in the water in the drop checker. However as you use a known KH water in there (4dKH) it means that the pH solution will turn green when there's 30ppm CO2 in the water. So indirectly they measure CO2 by measuring the pH of a known KH water where the only outside...
I agree with hoggie; a pain to open and the two small suckers aren't as firm a connection as a single larger one IME. However it has some advantages - as someone who is red green colour blind I found it easier to tell the colour change initially (until I got used to the colour and then was ok...
Atmosphere of Earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Air is 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and around 1% of everything else.
Sounds like you just need a small fine air stone.
First of all using an air pump won't give you oxygen bubbles - it will give you air bubbles in the tank that are mainly nitrogen. If you want O2 bubbles, get an O2 cylinder and then you could run it just like a CO2 cylinder using an atomiser.
Second, why do you want such tiny air bubbles...
You can try bioballs in the tube for starters - they will break up the flow and give the bubbles more time to diffuse.
If that doesn't work then you; A. need to fit a bypass so that most of the flow goes past the reactor; B. build another and run two in parallel or C. Build and longer and...
I've used in tank diffusers and out of tank reactors. Personally I love reactors but it was a DIY one and huge. It was much more efficient on CO2 and never needed cleaning whereas the diffuser output talied off if it wasn't cleaned regularly. However the glasswars diffusers do look cool and...
Don't buy a pH controller. Buy a unit with a solenoid to shut the CO2 off at night as Cee Jay said and use a drop checker with 4dKH indicator solution to make sure the CO2 is at 30ppm.
I also wouldn't listen to anyone that says the carbon exists as 'carbon oxide' in the water as this term simply isn't used as it's riddled with inaccuracies. The compounds are Carbon dioxide with 2 oxygen atoms and Carbon monoxide with 1. The fact that Carbon monoxide isn't very stable in a...
The drop checker does take an hour or so to change but if you have any doubt about the CO2 level indicated by it then change the solution. Are you using 4dKH solution in it?
A pH of 6.5 or lower caused by CO2 will have little effect on anything in the tank so I really wouldn't worry. The only...
The pH swing is not causing the stress itself but merely a sign that something else is wrong.
I think your issue is the level of CO2 in the water that stressed the fish and caused them to jump.
Having the airstone on will not directly effect the CO2 uptake by the plants but it will gas off much more CO2 from the water. This will mean that you will have to inject much more CO2 to get sufficient CO2 in the water for your plants indirectly making it harder to keep the CO2 levels stable...
You really need a drop checker filled with 4dKH solution to govern how much CO2 you need. Bubble per second will vary with each bubble counter and is only used as a guide when adjusting the rate of CO2.
It's not that they don't serve any purpose, it's just that they monitor and measure something that isn't important (IMHO) in a planted tank. What you want are stable CO2 levels rather than stable pH levels and unfortunately a pH computer fluctuates CO2 levels to gain a stable pH.
If you have a...
Basically it's the same thing, but that reactor would need mounting upside down IMO with the CO2 in at the bottom or have the CO2 injected into the flow before the reactor. The injection point then could form a venturi loop. This is basically where you have a fitting that is posistioned where...
I've got a JBL Easy kit with disposable bottle and it's been great for me. You can use the high capacity welding bottles that hold 600g of CO2 too so they last longer.
I've never found any benefits to using a reactor where the CO2 dissolves completely as opposed to micro-bubbles but look forward to reading Tom's work on it. The plants pearl really well and grow nicely so I'm happy!
Personally I prefer reactors as they need less CO2 to get to 30ppm, eliminate...
On my cube tank I used both to really good effect. I dosed the EasyCarbo at the lower rate to supplement the CO2 produced by the DIY CO2. However as George and others (I think) have shown you can get good results using just Excel/EasyCarbo then the choice is yours really.
It sounds like your FE has de-pressurised. Did it get very hot in there? In direct light it can be surprising how hot they could get even during this cold period and possibly it may have raised the pressure up so the safety release was triggered, but I thought if that happened you'd have no...
You just run it 24/7 as there's no way to turn it off without removing the tube and replacing it manually and this is easy to forget about. Just make sure it isn't too high at night by using a drop checker and keeping an eye on the fish. Any signs of stress then either remove the CO2 or add an...
If you've got the solenoid fitted I would still turn the CO2 off overnight. With the lights off the plants aren't using the CO2 and it's just wasted. Have it coming on an hour before lights on and the water will be full of CO2 when the lights come on for the plants.
I'd turn up the bubble...
There's a check valve built into the bottom of the bubble counter on this one where you can see the hosetail inside the bubble counter. If you've got a long length of CO2 tubing above it before the tank I've found another check valve nearer the tank can help reduce water tracking back.
The inlet doesn't seem to be tangential so I wonder what the fittings are like inside? To create the swirl pattern you'd need either a tangential inlet to get the swirl circulation or a knuckle bend at the end of the inlet to get the required flow pattern. I'll be interested to see what the...
You can make your KH test kits more accurate by altering the way you do the test.
Most are designed so that 1 drop of reagent = 1dKH when using 5ml of water. If you double the volume of tank water then 1 drop = 0.5dKH. Double it again (20ml) the 1 drop = 0.25dKH. Use 50ml and 1 drop would...
You've set it up correctly. The bubble counter needs to be upright like that. I have one of these with two bubble counters on it and really like them, however some people have found the bubble counter leaks and don't like them. I put some PTFE tape on the threads of the top and bottom of the...
It seems like a circulation problem Aeropars to me too. I'll second Andy's suggestion of a Koralia too. Mine does an excellent job and I don't find it very cumbersome in the tank at all. You can see my positioning in this photo,
This is the left hand side of my tank. To be honest I find...
It looks to that a lot of the blurb on this product is pseudoscientific at best! To talk about having 'Krebs' included in it seems a bit like the person writing the packaging wasn't up to speed with the Citric Acid cycle! Or why you'd use that rather than the photosynthesis intermediates the...
The needle valve on this set up is the bit under the bubble counter with the dial you tighten or loosen to control the bubble rate. BTW I have two of these fed from one reg and they haven't leaked yet! All I did was seal the threads on them with PTFE tape and tighten them up fully. I like the...
What do you mean by CO2 system? Are you after a type of pressurised system or whether to use Yeast produced CO2 or Pressurised?
IMO always go for pressurised if you can afford it - it's far better and not costly in the long run.
As to what type well you can either buy a ready made set up or...
As the Spiro-type diffusers have the spiral sealed into the diffuser the water is locked in and it will soon become saturated with CO2. Once this happens as the staurated water can't easily exchange with the tank water no more CO2 can then dissolve so all the spiral does is give you a 'beetle...
Ladder diffusers are very efficient. They don't need as regular cleaning and according to the calculations someone did on APC they are well over 95% efficient assuming the bubbles left at the end is CO2 (Which a lot of it won't be as other gasses will come out of solution into the bubble as it...
4dKH water gives a green colour (pH of 6.5) with 30ppm CO2.
3dKH water gives a green colour with 22.5ppm CO2.
2dKH water gives a green colour with 15ppm CO2.
When I used DIY CO2 on my nano tank I used a 2dKH drop checker solution and would change the yeast mix when it changed from yellow or...
Brownian motion is just the random erratic movement of molecules and particles such as dust and smoke. I don't see how it applies to drop checkers at all.
Some water (and other things in the tank water) will of course end up in the drop checker solution, but only tiny amounts and this is one...
For a 240l tank I'd think of getting a koralia 2 at least, maybe a 3. I have a 1 on my 180 tank and the flow's fine and I could probably get away with more even! IMO they are far superior for moving large volumes of water than an ordinary powerhead. They are very efficient and move large...
The internal on the Rio 180 is a 600lph pump so you're at about 1,550lph.
Personally the cheapest way to solve all your flow problems would be to fit a hydor koralia, but it means more stuff in the tank! I have just a Koralia 1 and the internal filter in my 180 and it does a great job. The...
No worries, glad to help. One thing to bear in mind is that if you can afford to get it then pressurised CO2 is way better for you tank in lots of ways. Stable and high enough CO2 is one of the key factors in vibrant plant growth and reducing algae. Pressurised CO2 allows you pretty much...
pH changes from CO2 don't seem to effect fish at all. It's the TDS and make up of the water that seems to be the key. I have moved fish from water of similar TDS, one with CO2 and one without, with a 5 minute acclimatization, and they have never had a problem. The pH change doesn't even need...
I don't think the pH controller is necessary at all though. I only use a solenoid on a timer on three tanks and I've never had a CO2 dump yet. I'd only use it if you already have it and then use a drop checker with 4dKH water in to make sure your CO2 stays at 30ppm.
Bear in mind that you pH drifts around in any tank as other parameters change. Your biological filter for starters is constantly acidifying the water. As this changes your CO2 levels will change too.
To use a CO2 controller as a safety device you need to work out the bubble rate with the...
That is a bargain but I'd try and get the Easy 2 version if you can with the solenoid (or add a solenoid bought from elsewhere) as you only need to add CO2 an hour or so before the lights come on and turn it off an hour before they go out. This allows you to use a higher rate during the light...
If you haven't bought the kit then you'll probably be best just to get a disposable set. The 600g high capacity welding cylinders are good replacements for the branded cylinders and pretty cheap to buy.
Cheers for catalogueing this in such detail Andy. Think it kinda proves what I think we all thought. I bet you'd get an even faster change on the classicly shaped one if the bulb was only half filled too to maximise the surface area of the solution.
I don't really understand your response either Hoskins. Dan was simply suggesting that a pH controller is unecessary so save your money. If you already have one then to be honest the only use I would put it to is as a safety cut off set at a very low pH in case something went wrong with the...
You want stable CO2 levels in the tank while plants are photosynthesising and that means pumping in a stable bubble rate of CO2 just before and during the light is on at least. A pH controller uses fluctuating CO2 levels to manipulate the pH levels to keep that stable. pH in the planted tank...
As far as I understand it the rate of reaction of your drop checker will be a function of the following:
The size of the air/water interface between the tank's water and the air gap in the drop checker (this is because the larger this area is the more CO2 will be able to come out of solution...
I toyed with the idea of running CO2 into the filter on my Rio tank. I thought the best way would be to put a small airstone in the base of the pipe leading up towards the pump. All you'd have to do is make a hole in the plastic pump seat that fits onto the pipe and thread the CO2 line through...
No such thing as pH crashes. People have wipeouts or various other problems, pick up a pH test kit as it's the easiest one they have, see there's been a drop in pH and blame the pH drop as the cause and say they've had a pH crash. pH is a symptom of things not a cause IMHO. I run tanks with...
I believe that the gluteraldehyde only persists for around 24 hours in the water so you would have nothing left after 24 hours! I think it has to be a daily dose if you're using it as your sole carbon source.
I agree with Egmel completely. Got to have a NRV ahead of any liquids.
On the issue of water loss I have two of the brass bubble counters that are alleged to leak a lot and they have been fine, but they do lose water! Not into the reg, or leaking out but evaporating as the bubbles go through...
I've always found it worse when I clean the DC! Just blow off the bacterial film for a few days and it then goes away for me! If that doesn't work then try the sterilisation and see what happens - it won't do any harm.
I get it forming whenever I clean a drop checker out or use a new one. I find that after I remove it a couple of times it doesn't form again. Your drop checker's going yellow as the bacterial film (and I'm pretty sure it is a bacterial film that forms) respires CO2 so increases the CO2...
Why would tippex change the water chemistry? It's a cyanoacrylate and, as far as I am aware, that shouldn't alter the carbonate hardness of the water once dried which is the key factor. However painting it inside neatly will be completely impossible! I'd go with the outside if you really want...
Personally I use these convertors rather than shavers adaptors as they fit much more securely and safely on a permanent basis. You can also get ones to fit plugs with transformers too.
I've got the Easy 2 kit with the solenoid and have had no problems with them at all. These regs will fit any disposable cyclinders, not just JBL's. I get mine from Welders Warehouse at 3 for £30. They're High capacity ones too that hold 600g.
I've got the AquaticMagic reg with a splitter and two of the integral bubble counters and I love it! No problems with the reg and it runs two tanks brilliantly!
You can get the disposable bottles cheaper from Welders Warehouse. These hold more CO2 than the standard ones and cost £30 for 3. I use them as they fit in the new Juwel cabinets nicely IMO.
Agree completely with Andy. Turn it off earlier. Do bear in mind that a drop checker has a delay in the colour change of an hour or so so, in theory, if your DC starts turning darker an hour after lights out then it's just timed right! Personally I'd use the fish's responses as a guide in...
CO2 reaches an equilibrium level according to how much you are adding, how efficient your diffusion and circulation is against how much is being lost through CO2 coming out of solution at the water's surface (as function of the surface area, flow and surface disturbance among other things) and...
Erratic swimming or other movements, sluggish behaviour, hanging around near the top and rapid respiration. Bascially if you see your fish acting in any way strangely then I'd err on the side of caution and reduce the CO2. You can then slowly increase it once the signs of stress are gone...
I can't remember the details of how large your tank is or how you're diffusing the CO2 but I'd always start lower and build up the CO2 concentration. Personally I'd start with 1 bps and work up. The thing is that bps is so subjective as a bubble is not a fixed volume and unless you're really...
You need to use 4dKH water as the indicator solution will be green when 30ppm of CO2 are dissolved in the solution. If you use water of 2dKH for example it will mean that it is green with only 15ppm of CO2. This is because the indicator solution is simply a pH indicator and we need to know...
I use a plastic pipette. You can push the end into the bulb. Otherwise simply trickle the water on the side of the neck so it runs into the bulb while letting the air out. With a bit of tilting the water goes in fine.
Going along with what James says I always half fill the bulb on my DC so that it has the greatest surface area in the bulb. In my JBL Permanent CO2 kit I fill it, per instructions, to the top of the air gap (4ml I think).
As to the indicator solution; within reason, you can just add enough...
If you want a more permanent and professional looking adaptor then you can buy them for all foreign plugs, including those with transformers (like European JBL solenoids) from Euronetwork. I've bought them from them a few times and they deliver very quickly too. Personally I'd go with one of...
You will need a fitting to connect the industrial regulator to the tubing though and a check valve as I don't think the welding regs usually have them as water back-flow isn't an issue.
I've got one of the Aquatic Magic regs with a splitter, two needle valves and two bubble counters and simply...
Any type of counter should work fine. The only problem I found using a small glass bubble counter with that system was that the bubbles were produced intermittently becuase of the increased back pressure. The water would also syphon back down the tubing into the yeast chamber.
If you're...
What you also have to remember is that the gas produced by DIY CO2 may also contain tiny amounts some other substances (certainly some water vapour) and, as the CO2 in the bubbles is going into solution as the bubbles shrink, there will also be some other gases coming out of solution into the...
An external reactor is something like this that goes on the return pipe from your external filter. The co2 is bubbled into here and it mixes with the water and dissolves into the water. When working correctly they are very efficient, don't need regular cleaning like glass diffusers and get...
I just wasn't sure as he just said 500g bottles and JBL make sets with both refillable and disposable 500g bottles! Thought I'd give him the link and he could see if they looked like those!
Disposable are much smaller threads than refillable, but I think some people found that some regs don't...
I use the disposable bottles on my Rio 180 and they last for about 3 months! If it's the disposable ones you're using then you can get them from here and these are high capcity bottles that contain 600g. If it's a refillable bottle then can you use a Fire Extinguisher?
I bought Fluval ones at first for my old filter to save money and to be honest switched them for Ehiem ones after a few months! They're expensive for a reason! :wink:
I'd fit a couple of double taps either side of it if you want to remove it quickly. Then you can stop the flow, uncouple the taps and remove it without draining the pipes. Not that most attractive solution if your diffuser is on show though.
It's just an O-ring, I don't think there are special CO2-proof rubberised O-rings like that. Use a normal one and coat it in a little bit of vaseline to help keep the CO2 from it if you want to be extra-safe. You can also use plastic washers that will compress down and that's what I use on my...
I've got two of the brass threaded bubble counters and simply unscrewed them before use and put PTFE tape on the thread before resealing. Now leaks at all. As to the Rhinox, I've got one of the large ones on my Rio and to be honest it's way bigger thn it needs to be. I'm thinking of replcing...
If you put huge amounts of CO2 into a filter then there is a possibility that it could cause problems. The manufacturers will tell you not to do it I am sure (I know Ehiem do). If you are putting them in as microbubbles then I would have thought it won't go into solution before they even...
IMO 1 bubble per second isn't really a lot of CO2. I think no matter how much you reorganise you're going to find that you will need to turn it up a bit.
To improve your distribution you might want to try positioning the diffuser right under the intake. This will then suck most of the bubbles...
The pH of your drop checker is totally independant of the pH of your tank. That's why they are so useful at measuring the CO2 concentration as that and the KH are all that effect the colour of the pH test solution.
If you're injecting 30ppm CO2 it should drop your pH by about 1 degree from...
I think Will may be getting Bubbles Per Second (bps) and Parts Per Million (ppm) confused. Will most people here run their CO2 at 30ppm during the daylight hours. This high CO2 helps with lots of things such as reducing some nuisance algae such as BBA as well as making the plants grow very...
Seeing as it's simply a change from blue to yellow then pretty accurately. You're very correct about reading the balance more accurately but Sodium Bicarbonate absorbs water once opened so you don't know quite what concentration of it you're adding with your scales!
You can use a KH testing kit to get a much more accurate reading by testing larger volumes. My Tetra kit will give a reading accurate to 1dKH when testing 5ml of water. If you double the volume it is accurate to 0.5dKH. I therefore doubled it again to give me a reading accurate to 0.25dKH. I...
The PTFE isn't on the seat onto the FE. As you said the seal is in the washer, not the threads. I use it on the threaded fittings in the bubble counters where the seal is around the edge of the joints.
PTFE is a very stable plastic and is fine with CO2 as far as I am aware. The issues come...
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