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not lime green by lights on.

Dan-CR4

Dan-CR4

Member
Joined
5 Dec 2011
Messages
132
Location
Mitcham, Surrey, UK
My setup consists of :

41" x 18" x 24" (266 Litre) tank.
4x 39w tubes
2x eheim 2073 (pro 350)
1x Hydor Koralia 1600
1x inline heater

Co2 Fire ext setup.
Up Inline Diffuser
2x drop checkers either side of tank.

I am also dosing EI.
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now onto the problem. Im bit worried im not hitting the lime green colour when lights come on, but wary of over gassing my fish.

I am injecting 2.5 bps of Co2. Co2 comes on at 1pm and lights on at 3.30pm Co2 off at 7.30pm, lights off 9.30pm.

My colour of my drop checker before lights and co2 come on is a dark green/blue. by lights on the colour is a lighter green. but does not go to lime green until about 6.30, thats 3 hours after lights on.

my ph before lights on (morning) is 7.6 and an hour after lights on its 7.2.

any ideas what to do, should I up the bubble rate to where i cant count how many bubbles im injecting or should i extend the co2 longer before lights on. Just bit scared of gassing me fish. just dont know what the best option would be.

any advice is appreciated. Thanks
 
Sounds like you need to start your Co2 earlier and probably increase your injection rate. Some people on here have had Co2 on 4 hours before lights. I'd start with switching on earlier.
 
Ignore your DC, it's just a guide. Your fish are the true indicator.

Just be ready to do a massive water change if it looks like they're struggling.
 
My drop checker is like this, fish don't seem to mind..more yellow than green.
WP_20140306_18_15_07_Pro_zpsa44848f1.jpg


This is it just a moment ago....
2b21264a-77b8-48e1-a927-0531cac854e8_zps76f2382a.jpg
 
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Larger volumes of water need longer for the co2 concentration to get up to where you want it.
First off before you go changing things how are you plants doing? do you need more co2?? DC's are just a rough guide, dont get tunnel vision on it, your plants will tell you far more.
Your fish are not the indicator, as suggested, increasing until your fish suffer then backing off slightly isnt the friendliest thing to do.
Assuming your plants are struggling or you have algae issues then...
Depending on your water hardness, you roughly want a 1 ph drop before lights on. Buying a Hanna PH pen is a great investment and something id recommend to everyone. When you increase co2 the ph pen reading will change within a minute or two so is far more accurate than a DC which can take 2 hours.
The fact your Ph drops to 7 by lights off would suggest to me that is a good place to aim for at lights on, seeing as you arent going to start injection 8 1/2 hrs before lights you probably need to increase injection rate. Bare in mind as you increase injection rate you may well need to increase surface movement to allow good gas exchange.
Play with the injection so you hit 7 then use surface movement to balance the injection rate so it doesnt continue to climb. Having co2 go off 2 hours before lights may be necessary but isnt an issue, if you look at you plants most will start to 'close up' after 5 hours anyway so their demand on co2 will be far less and co2 left in the water column will suffice.
Lights on is the most important hour, focus on that.
 
Isn't the accuracy the same on both of those meters?
The second one is self calibrating, has a replaceable probe, reads temp, and you can drop it in the tank. Is it worth the extra pennies thats your call. Or should you just go the whole hog and buy the one that measures tds as well.
I had the one in your first link and i never had a problem with it. It rarely needed adjusting when i checked it in ph buffer
 
i have the 98103, if i remember right it was the cheapest i could find. Holds calibration pretty well, reset once in 8 months.
I have it attached to the light rail so probe always in tank and just switch it on a couple of times a day to see whats going on. Its actually quite helpful to see daily as it will tell you when you need to up the co2 due to plant mass.
 
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I upped my co2 slowly over the last two days and also changed the Co2 to come on 2 hours before lights on and now I got got my ph hitting 7.2 by lights on and 7.0 an hour after lights on. The drop checker is a nice lime green also after an hour after lights on and it stays like that til lights off.. I have my Co2 coming on 2 hours before lights on today, but think i will extend the time to 2.5 hours before lights on tomorrow and see if I can get the ph to hit 7.0 by lights on rather then up the Co2 anymore.

So i cant count how many bubbles I am dosing now, but heres my ph and drop checker colours.

1pm -before Co2 comes on : 7.6.ph and drop checker is dark green/blue.
1.30pm - Co2 comes on.
3.30pm - Lights on : 7.2ph and drop checker lighter green but not lime.
4.30pm - 7.0ph drop and checker lime green.
7.30pm - Co2 off. 7.0ph and drop checker still lime green
9.30pm - lights off : again same as 7.30.

all fish are doing fine, none are doing anything different to what they usually do.
 
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Yep, set it to come on 2.5 hours before the lights- that's what mine is set to.
 
I have altered the hours slowly over the last four days for the Co2 and yesterday and today I am now getting ph at 7.0 by lights on. The drop checkers are lime green as well by lights on and stay lime green till lights off. The Co2 switches on 3 hours before lights on and goes off 2 hours before lights off, I cant count how many bubbles per second but I am guessing its around 3bps.
 
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