Drop checker not green?

[EllieRosea]

Hi there
I've recently set up a pressurised system on my tank, and added some lovely plants etc etc,
however i can't seem to get my drop checker to go green! i read somewhere that my size tank (40gal) should only need 1 bubble every two seconds, and I currently having it running at one bubble per second and my drop checker is blue.
I have two different flows around my diffuser, one my external filter outlet and one from an extra powerhead, to blow the bubbles around the tank. Surface agitation is minimal and everything seems to be working fine, but aparantly there isn't enough CO2 in there!!
Any ideas?

 

[Superman]

What did you put in your drop checker?

If you put pH reagent with 4 dkh water then it's telling you that you've not got enough co2 in the water. It could suggest that the bubbles aren't diffusing well and are reaching the surface to pop, wasting co2.

 

[Garuf]

I've ran 3 bubbles a second on a 4gallon tank when I was running nuke lights so you could be under injecting still.

Just do a check list, did you use bromo blue and 4dkh water? How much light do you have, t5/t8/halide? Volume of the tank, Filter and powerhead size?

 

[EllieRosea]

Hi

Yeah, i used 4dkh water.. im guessing im wasting CO2 then? But i have no idea what more I can do to get them blowing round rather than reaching the surface..
I have about 2.5 wpg (of t5's), soon to be increased to 3.5wpg(with extra t8's). The powerhead that is installed near the diffuser is a 600lph pump, my old jewel one. I also have 2 external filters running on the tank, one 700, one 400. the 700 outlet being a spray bar.
I hoped this would all be fine and dandy, but clearly not :/
Shall I up my Co2 then?

 

[Dolly Sprint 16v]

Ellie

Try moving your powerhead further down the tank or if you can point the flow from the powerhead towards the middle regions of the tank or place your diffuser underneath the water intake filter pipe and allow the filter unit to mix the gas you will get better dispersion of the Co2 gas within the water column.

Have a look at the attached thread cut for ideas.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=8351

Regards
paul.