I'm using a permanent ph controller connected to the co2 solenoid. Out of curiousity i also do have a drop checker to play with. I did put al kinds of stuff in there just to see what it does.
Actualy, for my self with all the things i've tryed i came to the conclusion it doesn't realy matter what you put in there. I've used aquarium water and it turns green when i'm somewhat in the correct range. I did put tap water in there and the results where somewhat the same. My tap water is DKH 5 i mixed some tap water with demi water to get a +/- DKH 4 solution (as far as the dk drop test can tell) made it 8 PH and didn't realy see a difference. If i do nothing with the PH of that mix it probably will be around PH7 or 7,5.. It still doens't give a recognizable difference. It turns green yellow and blue.. Maybe a different shade of the color but it still turns to the correct color..
Like when you blow some breath in it with a sthrow you saturate the solution with Co2 and it becomes yellow, if you put that again in a jar at a warm spot and stir it long enough, the co2 escapes and it turns from green to blue. Al solution i tried did the same.
Now poeple tested that stuff in a lab and came to the conclusion that a drop checker filled with a DKH4 solution with a PH 8 and a few drops of Bromityl Blue will turn green when it''s in contact with a watersurface where the Co2 contents is about 30ppm depending on the shade of green.. That's about the optimal number and our theoretical goal. Any other solution will color the same but will do at a other PPM value. god maybe knows which we don't we are just green.
The lighter the green to more co2 is in there. Then the color of green in the DC also depend on the amount of bromityl blue you did put in there, 5 drops give a lighter color than 8 drops. Most poeple put an amount of drops in there regarding their own perseption of color, there is no given defenition in how much drops you need to put in there. Just a few is enough, you deside..
With all this fidlling and dripping around with drop checker and comparing it to what the numbers of my PH meter and what my aquarium tells me. And what ever i did put in there the darn thing just turned green in the correct range.. I came to the humble opinion.. Don't spend to much money on a about figur where you never know what is realy going on.
Now for your question does that stuff work.. I can't even tell what working means in this context, it probably will turn as green as all other stuff does when you somewhat in the correct range. You still have to watch your aquarium and see your plants etc. to come to an better conclusion than the green of your DC tells you.
I guess the DC is made for 1 purpose only. when you sit in the living room watching TV then during the commercial brake you can quickly throw an eye on the DC and say to your wife.. It's green 2 hours ago it stil was ok!! Lets see again when the movie is finished.
If you see an other color you need to run to your tank and look at other things to find out what's going on.
If you realy like to spend money on stuff like that.. I would go for the DKH4 solution.. And still even if this is tested with numbers it still cant give a correct number.
Or read the Co2 tutorials in the Co2 section of this forum and make your own DKH4 solution buy the stuff needed and your good to go for the next 10 years with it.
