veedubdude
Seedling
Ive recently been trying to increase growth and create a properly planted tank after getting inspiration from some of the great examples around at the moment.
I have experimented with CO2 in the past; but around two weeks ago bought a JBL refillable bottle system with night time shut off solenoid.
Everything seemed to be going great - gradually upped the CO2, and monitoring the pH against my kH, I believed I had reached around the 20 -25 mg/l range, which seemed to be confirmed by my drop checker.
Then two weeks after starting with the CO2, disaster struck - I came downstairs yesterday (christmas morning of all) to find all fish gasping at the surface, with three of my larger geophagus altifrons and two cardinals already dead. So I grabbed an air pump and within 30 mins or so the tank was returning to normality. To say I was gutted is an understatement.
I know that the solenoid went off around an hour before lights out, and I always check before heading up to bed. It comes on two hours before lights on, which at the time I found the tank was a few hours away from turning on. I checked the pH and found that my pH had dropped to 6.7-6.8, where it normally sits around 7.0-7.2 whilst co2 is being injected. My kH is around 6 - 6.5, so from looking at the co2 tables I found that to be the problem.
Checking the CO2 bottle gauge I found the pressure to be down to 30 from 55-60, and came to the conclusion that with the bottle starting to empty out before lights out, it had pushed the co2 a bit high, but then after lights out the additional respiration of the plants and fish had then caused this to reach hazardous levels.
So I left the CO2 off all day yesterday, with an air pump running. (So paranoid I was about the tank, I even set up a webcam stream so I could check on the fish whilst we were out having christmas dinner with the family).
All seemed ok, so I presumed a rookie mistake of not keeping an eye on the bottle pressure. This morning, I switched bottles to a new 2kg CO2 bottle. (After lights had come on, and began to adjust the BPS down, to be sure I was well within safe limits. So this did not happen again. Within 5 - 10 minutes all fish started to gasp once again - not at the surface but clearly laboured. So Ive once again switched off the CO2 and switched the air pump back on. Ive just checked pH and it is showing around 7.4, which makes no sense as that should be well within CO2 limits at my kH of 6-6.5. So I checked the kH and that is spot on, as it always has been, no change!
So, firstly, I don't understand why the fish are gasping? I have one of my filter outlets constantly breaking the surface for gas exchange, and the other outlet creates circulation around the tank.
The night before the co2 incident, I did a water change in my normal way, with pre-prepared water, and then added JBL ferropol weekly fertiliser dosed as described - a certain amount for the top up of whats been used, and a certain amount for the new replacement water. Apart from that Ive been dosing ferropol 24 every day at the dosage described on the bottle, and easycarbo at the dosage described on the bottle.
Only other recent changes to the tank are the evening of the 22nd I added colombo flora-base 2L to part of the tank, with around 6 new potted plants. I know this can act to reduce pH, so I have been monitoring this each day with no change to normal shown until christmas morning after the incident. I also added some new pre-soaked bogwood.
My tank stats are:
Nitrate around 20,
Ammonia / nitrite 0,
kH 6 - 6.5
pH (out of the tap) 7.6-7.8, in tank when co2 running 7.0-7.2, and when not running (since starting co2 injection) around 7.4.
Temperature 26 deg.C.
Size 240L, guessing 200-210L of water volume taking into account whats in the tank.
I change 90-100L of water once a week.
Tank filters have been running for around two years now, this tank was actually setup with fresh substrate, plants and decor around 9/10 months ago.
Water is pure HMA with added water conditioner to ensure no chloramines.
I am at a loss to what the cause could be, can anyone see what Im doing wrong, or any suggestions? Im going to perform another water change first thing tomorrow, and leave out the plant fertiliser. Is it possible that an overdose of the ferropol could cause this, if my plants aren't using it up fast enough?
A few quick phone pics of where Im at with the tank at this moment:
Any comments welcome and greatly received,
Andy
I have experimented with CO2 in the past; but around two weeks ago bought a JBL refillable bottle system with night time shut off solenoid.
Everything seemed to be going great - gradually upped the CO2, and monitoring the pH against my kH, I believed I had reached around the 20 -25 mg/l range, which seemed to be confirmed by my drop checker.
Then two weeks after starting with the CO2, disaster struck - I came downstairs yesterday (christmas morning of all) to find all fish gasping at the surface, with three of my larger geophagus altifrons and two cardinals already dead. So I grabbed an air pump and within 30 mins or so the tank was returning to normality. To say I was gutted is an understatement.
I know that the solenoid went off around an hour before lights out, and I always check before heading up to bed. It comes on two hours before lights on, which at the time I found the tank was a few hours away from turning on. I checked the pH and found that my pH had dropped to 6.7-6.8, where it normally sits around 7.0-7.2 whilst co2 is being injected. My kH is around 6 - 6.5, so from looking at the co2 tables I found that to be the problem.
Checking the CO2 bottle gauge I found the pressure to be down to 30 from 55-60, and came to the conclusion that with the bottle starting to empty out before lights out, it had pushed the co2 a bit high, but then after lights out the additional respiration of the plants and fish had then caused this to reach hazardous levels.
So I left the CO2 off all day yesterday, with an air pump running. (So paranoid I was about the tank, I even set up a webcam stream so I could check on the fish whilst we were out having christmas dinner with the family).
All seemed ok, so I presumed a rookie mistake of not keeping an eye on the bottle pressure. This morning, I switched bottles to a new 2kg CO2 bottle. (After lights had come on, and began to adjust the BPS down, to be sure I was well within safe limits. So this did not happen again. Within 5 - 10 minutes all fish started to gasp once again - not at the surface but clearly laboured. So Ive once again switched off the CO2 and switched the air pump back on. Ive just checked pH and it is showing around 7.4, which makes no sense as that should be well within CO2 limits at my kH of 6-6.5. So I checked the kH and that is spot on, as it always has been, no change!
So, firstly, I don't understand why the fish are gasping? I have one of my filter outlets constantly breaking the surface for gas exchange, and the other outlet creates circulation around the tank.
The night before the co2 incident, I did a water change in my normal way, with pre-prepared water, and then added JBL ferropol weekly fertiliser dosed as described - a certain amount for the top up of whats been used, and a certain amount for the new replacement water. Apart from that Ive been dosing ferropol 24 every day at the dosage described on the bottle, and easycarbo at the dosage described on the bottle.
Only other recent changes to the tank are the evening of the 22nd I added colombo flora-base 2L to part of the tank, with around 6 new potted plants. I know this can act to reduce pH, so I have been monitoring this each day with no change to normal shown until christmas morning after the incident. I also added some new pre-soaked bogwood.
My tank stats are:
Nitrate around 20,
Ammonia / nitrite 0,
kH 6 - 6.5
pH (out of the tap) 7.6-7.8, in tank when co2 running 7.0-7.2, and when not running (since starting co2 injection) around 7.4.
Temperature 26 deg.C.
Size 240L, guessing 200-210L of water volume taking into account whats in the tank.
I change 90-100L of water once a week.
Tank filters have been running for around two years now, this tank was actually setup with fresh substrate, plants and decor around 9/10 months ago.
Water is pure HMA with added water conditioner to ensure no chloramines.
I am at a loss to what the cause could be, can anyone see what Im doing wrong, or any suggestions? Im going to perform another water change first thing tomorrow, and leave out the plant fertiliser. Is it possible that an overdose of the ferropol could cause this, if my plants aren't using it up fast enough?
A few quick phone pics of where Im at with the tank at this moment:
Any comments welcome and greatly received,
Andy
