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Few newbie co2 questions

Deano3

Member
Joined
8 Feb 2012
Messages
2,503
Hi all i am still awaiting my regulator to arrive and i now have my FE and drop cheacker + solution and diffuser and some one way valves, i have a small ADA 60 f currently dry starting with hair grass carpet and the light unit is hagen glo 2 x 24 w, i have a few questions
1.how often do you need to replace the solution in drop checker ?
2.approxinately if i put lights on at 11.00am what time should i start co2 running and when do i switch off?
3.should lights be on around 8 hours ?
4.should i start with 1 bubble per second then see hpw it goes or were do i start?

any help would be great been reading but hard to find exact awnsers i need

Thanks Dean
 
Hello,
Are you seriously planning to run the tank with 48W T5 over a 8 Gallon tank for 8 hours a day? If so there's a high probability that things will go straight downhill. You might need to start at about 48 bubbles per second.

Cheers,
 
i have a small ADA 60 f currently dry starting with hair grass carpet and the light unit is hagen glo 2 x 24 w,
Thanks Dean

Dean

Could you advise whether the tubes within your unit are T5 or T8 - with this info we can answer your questions.

Regards
Paul
 
Hi Dean, yeah a little more info is needed for accurate answers.
I know from remembering your journal that your light unit is a Hagen glo twin t5 unit but its hung very high above the tank so although it seems a lot of light at first glance, par at the substrate will be much reduced due to the distance it's travelling so it will be ok over this tank.....presuming the unit has remained high! When you flood, your plants no longer have unlimited access to co2 so find things much harder, especially co2 uptake and availability, so to counteract this we use less light which reduces the rate at which the plant tries to grow, and subsequently the demand for co2 :)
As for lighting duration, what is your current photoperiod? Most start with a short photoperiod, say 5 hours and build it up slowly over several weeks depending on how the plants are responding. I'm unsure about this after using a dry start method, you may be able to start with a longer one. What is imperative though is that your co2 is good.
Id suggest if your putting your lights on at 11am, to start co2 injection at 9am and I'd go for at least 2bps or more initially whilst you have no livestock, running until about 1 hour before lights off. You need to ensure a lime green dc for lights on so base your initial adjustments around this. You have the perfect opportunity to run a yellow dc whilst there is no fauna and this way your plants will have the best possible start after the flood. The root structures and substrate should hopefully be mature and strong from the dry start, and although some die off is to be expected post flood, the plants should be stronger and quicker to adapt.....especially if you provide an excess of co2, along with nutrient dosing and water changes. You can slowly tweak down your co2 to get a nice lime green coloration to the dc solution throughout your photoperiod for introduction of livestock. In my experience you may need to adjust the time periods and injection rates to do this as sometimes you need to inject earlier but at a reduced bubble rate to ensure you dont get a toxic level throughout the photoperiod. This all depends on factors such as water surface movement and oxygen availability.
Alternatively keep lighting intensity low so injection rates do not need to be as high as demand for co2 is then reduced.
hope this helps a little.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
thanks a lot ady they are 2 x t5 bulbs, here is link to my journal so far if anyone wants a look
ADA 60F iwagumi First aquarium PICS | UK Aquatic Plant Society
firstly at the moment as only dry starting i have lights on from 11.00am till 9.00pm but i know i will require a lot less light when flood, i also know that is a lot of light and have already had a thread about the lighting and as i got light unit very cheap and it will have to do as cannot afford another one, i will fit it very high and someone worked it out to be 75cm above the tank and as you see in journal i have fit a shelving system to raise and lower lighting unit so hopefully it will be ok.so when i flood should i drop the lighting period to around 5-6 hours to start with and start the co2 2 hours before lights on and have 2-4bps and 1 hour before lights off and try to tweak until lime green, as you say there will be no live stock so not worried about gassing
how oftendo you change solution in drop checker ?

sorry if not enough info provided if you need anymore just ask
Thanks dean
 
thanks a lot ady they are 2 x t5 bulbs, here is link to my journal so far if anyone wants a look
ADA 60F iwagumi First aquarium PICS | UK Aquatic Plant Society
firstly at the moment as only dry starting i have lights on from 11.00am till 9.00pm but i know i will require a lot less light when flood, i also know that is a lot of light and have already had a thread about the lighting and as i got light unit very cheap and it will have to do as cannot afford another one, i will fit it very high and someone worked it out to be 75cm above the tank and as you see in journal i have fit a shelving system to raise and lower lighting unit so hopefully it will be ok.so when i flood should i drop the lighting period to around 5-6 hours to start with and start the co2 2 hours before lights on and have 2-4bps and 1 hour before lights off and try to tweak until lime green, as you say there will be no live stock so not worried about gassing
how oftendo you change solution in drop checker ?

sorry if not enough info provided if you need anymore just ask
Thanks dean

I only change dc solution every month or so, but I try to lift the dc out at every water change to refill the air gap for consistency in reaction times.
As for photoperiod and co2 I'd do as you've just said and see how it goes unless someone who's dry started suggests otherwise.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
thanks for help ady any other opinions welcome

thanks dean
 
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