CO2 indicator problems

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
chonhzilla

chonhzilla

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2007
1,970
1
0
Fresno CA
i have a problem with my CO2 indicator.......i have the Red Sea Co2 "paint ball" kit..........i read the directions and followed it step by step.........1 ml of water and 2 drops of the indicator reagent....then the indicator is placed under the water level at about 5" down.......the directions say within 10 minutes the indicator will start working.....well i just put it in the tank and it was already reading blue.....blue means to reduce the amount of co2....but after 30 minutes i turned off the co2 and another 30 minutes after that it still reads blue....have i done anything wrong?


please help!..

thanks in advance...

Chonhzilla
 
I'm not sure about the red sea CO2 indicator but I've used the red sea CO2 test kit and had problems with my results (also involves drops of bottle A and then the addition of reagent B). When I initially used the kit when I first got it, it seemed accurate but when I used it again only a few months later, it was way off. I was trying to find my CO2 levels right before I turned my CO2 system back on after the bottle had been empty for a couple of days. I did the test and it indicated roughly 60 ppm of CO2 and I hadn't injected any for several days!! I did the test over again with similar results and have since thrown that kit away. A much better indicator of CO2 levels is water hardness and drop in pH.
 
Does this kit range from blue to yellow? If so then blue (basic conditions) means add more CO2 and yellow (acidic conditions) means you've got too much.

It also needs to be pointed out that the hardness of the water you use will greatly affect the results, so it's important to know what kH the kit is calibrated for.

Here's a great discussion on CO2 drop checkers and how they work. It also has some good plans on building your own, making the solutions yourself, what works best and what just won't work.
 
The Red Sea Co2 monitor does not work below 4 degrees KH. So you might want to check that. For my discus tank it is completely useless. However, there is a mathematical formula to check your co2 levels.

CO2 (in PPM) = 3 * KH * 10^( 7-pH ) KH is Carbonate Hardness in degrees

Here is a website that explains everything you need to know about co2 and this is where I got the formula from:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom