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Co2 and PH

FishKeeper55

Member
Joined
20 May 2020
Messages
172
Location
UK
I am still trying to get to grips with co2 and got a question regard PH, if I'm right there should be drop in PH when co2 on then it should stabilized when the lights are on? Over the last week I wasn't able to dial the co2 in due to working hours and didn't want to risk so I did run it on very low side, 1bps but noticed that the drop checker was dark green almost blueish, and that was 1h before light, the following day tried 2h and still same colour, not sure if I done right but today, I cranked to 3bps and started the co2 2.5h before lights, I was checking with torch how the drop checker was responding, and was happy with the result, looks to be lime green about 30min before lights come on so I could maybe drop the co2 time down a bit but if you think I should just leave it then I will.

Now on to PH when lights are off with co2 off I get 7.4ph, lights off co2 on after about 1h the ph started to drop calling to API test kit, sorry don't have any kind of pen, I tested every 30 min and it had steady drop until reached 7.0-6.8 colours are just to close for my eyes to give you most accurate reading. Lights on and after nearly 3h now drop checker still lime green and I would say PH is 6.8.

Is this normal for the PH to drop and I guess it will raise again once the co2 is off?
 
I went down this road when I first started with CO2. It can get horrendously complicated to the point where one is spending more time researching than fishkeeping!
Nowadays, I content myself with healthy fish and plants and a nice lime green dropchecker. I DO move the checker around occasionally to identify any dead spots but that's it.
 
I went down this road when I first started with CO2. It can get horrendously complicated to the point where one is spending more time researching than fishkeeping!
Nowadays, I content myself with healthy fish and plants and a nice lime green dropchecker. I DO move the checker around occasionally to identify any dead spots but that's it.
Yeah I can see what you mean, I just wanted to make sure I'm doing right, as longest the drop checker remain lime green then happy days, also can someone please explain to me why the co2 should be off like 1h before lights go out?
 
The reasons why co2 goes off an hour before the lights are:
1) To save wasteage. 8hrs of CO2 per day costs 1/3 of 24/7 usage.
2) To avoid stress to fish.
Plants only use co2 whilst they are photosynthesising (when the lights are on). If we turn off co2 an hour before, the idea is that the plants will use up all the remaining co2 in the last hour so the surplus is gone by lights out. In a similar way, co2 goes on an hour before the lights to make sure there's a ready supply of CO2 when the lights come on.
 
I went down this road when I first started with CO2. It can get horrendously complicated to the point where one is spending more time researching than fishkeeping!
Nowadays, I content myself with healthy fish and plants and a nice lime green dropchecker. I DO move the checker around occasionally to identify any dead spots but that's it.
I also think that the health of fish and planets is your best barometer of tank health. If you have a well-cycled planted tank you should still check your water parameters but the tank should be stable. I only look at the drop checker when the CO2 is running, you will have fluctuations in your water parameters.
 
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