CO2 help

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Dieboldly

Dieboldly

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2015
574
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Buena Park, CA
Guys,

I bought a 20lb CO2 tank with a regulator and a Milwaukee mc122 ph meter. all is hooked up but i dont understand how to use the ph meter. I have discus in my planted tank. I set the ph number to 6.5. now do i choose the above or below on the toggle switch? which one will keep me at 6.5 and turn off the co2 if it goes below it? I figured below but it turns it off completely as if i put it on above it continues to work.

Maybe im over thinking this?
 
Its meant to turn off if it drops below a certain PH coz otherwise you maybe overdosing the Co2 and could suffocate the fish...
 
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So I think I overdosed on co2! My ph remained at a 6.2 and it turned off at night. I went to check my fish today and my qlgea eaters and rose line sharks were floating gasping for air. One roseline shark dead :/ turned off the co2 till I can monitor it more on the weekend.
 
What size tank do you have this on? What kind of filtration do you use? How many bubbles per second Co2 are you running? Do you have any surface agitation? Power heads or air stones? Is there a top on this tank? Does if fit tight?
 
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BIG-G said:
What size tank do you have this on? What kind of filtration do you use? How many bubbles per second Co2 are you running? Do you have any surface agitation? Power heads or air stones? Is there a top on this tank? Does if fit tight?
Click to expand...
It's a 40 gallon tank. I have a marineland 360 canister filter that's rated for like 100gallons or something. I was doing 1 bubble a second but it is a new system. Never ran it before. No surface agitation because I thought when running co2, you didn't want that. No power heads but I do have a airstone but it was turned off during the day while co2 ran and I didn't turn it on during the night. Maybe that's why. Tank is covered by a glass lid and it's tight but the back corners are open for my inlet and outlet of the canister filter
 
Yeah you will want to be sure and have some aeration at night. When the light go out the plants will stop producing O2 and with no aeration and very little surface agitation the O2 levels will drop.

Their is some debate about the surface agitation when running Co2. Some believe that it will cause the Co2 to gas off and lower the levels. Others believe that it will not gas off the Co2 but only add O2.

I have found that in my 75 plant tank at 1 bubble per second I have no problems keeping Co2 levels high enough for my plants to have great growth and lots of pearling. Even with lots of surface agitation, without any lids at all.
I run an Aquaclear 110 and a small power head thats rated for about 250 gph and another powerhead rated for 500 gph pushing a DIY Co2 reactor.
 
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If this is a brand new setup
The plants may not be able to use all the Co2 you are introducing into the tank. If that is the case you are just wasting the Co2. You may want to lower the Co2 levels till your plants grow in a bit.
 
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BIG-G said:
If this is a brand new setup
The plants may not be able to use all the Co2 you are introducing into the tank. If that is the case you are just wasting the Co2. You may want to lower the Co2 levels till your plants grow in a bit.
Click to expand...
Well it's not a brand new set up. These plants have been growing for a while. Just never introduced co2 this way. I only did it here and there during February with a smaller co2 unit.

My issue was that I turned off the air bubbler for sure! Hopefully when I get home from work they are all alive and swimming normally
 
I would run the areation all the time if you still get good growth then don't worry about it.
Or you could set a timer for an air pump opposite of the light cycle.
 
That way you wouldn't have to think about turning on the air pump.
 
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