CO2 Set Up

[Dieboldly]

Hello,

I have a 20 gallon CO2 tank hooked up to a reactor and a ph monitor from Milwaukee MC122. The planted tank has dicus in it. I am confused on how I am suppose to set this up. I put the number switch to a 6.5ph for now and have the toggle switch set to above.

I dont understand what this means. Does it mean that the CO2 will turn off when the tank hits 6.0 or higher? or should i have it set to below 6.0 to turn off?

How do the plants get the CO2 if it stays off?

Maybe im over thinking this? lol

oh and the power is hooked up to my light timer so I dont waste the CO2 when the lights are out.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Not exactly sure what you're asking but if you are dosing the tank with proper fertilizers and keeping up with tank maintenance, I really see no reason to do anything other than have the co2 turn on and off with the lights. If you wanted to, you could hook it up to a separate timer so that it turns off about 30 minutes before the lights turn off. I've seen that done before.

Also, what is the ph of your water? Are you using chemicals to try to keep it down around 6.0-6.5 or is that your natural water?

 

[Dieboldly]

Not exactly sure what you're asking but if you are dosing the tank with proper fertilizers and keeping up with tank maintenance, I really see no reason to do anything other than have the co2 turn on and off with the lights. If you wanted to, you could hook it up to a separate timer so that it turns off about 30 minutes before the lights turn off. I've seen that done before.

Also, what is the ph of your water? Are you using chemicals to try to keep it down around 6.0-6.5 or is that your natural water?

Well the reason why I have it set up to a ph meter timer is because my LFS guy recommended I did so. My water ph is at 6.5ish right now and when I ran the co2, it dropped to 6.3. I just didn't know how to set up the ph meter to turn off the co2 when my ph hit 6.0. I have discus and I know they like 6.0ph water.

I'm not using any chemicals besides my iron and p something for my plants.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

If you've got regular water with a ph of 6.5 then great for you as a discus keeper. If it only drops from 6.5 to 6.3 with the co2 on, then I wouldn't worry much about it except to have it turn off with the lights. It kind of sounds like the ph meter you are talking about is supposed to be a failsafe that turns off the co2 if the ph ever gets too low, which would indicate excess co2 being dissolved in the water. This could cause harm to your fish due to a large ph swing, but more importantly due to a lack of oxygen in the water. If a large amount of excess co2 is dissolved into the water then it displaces oxygen, which will suffocate your fish.

You will probably get better responses if you post this up in the planted tank section. However, when I end up setting up my planted tank, I'm not going to be using a ph meter.

 

[Dieboldly]

If you've got regular water with a ph of 6.5 then great for you as a discus keeper. If it only drops from 6.5 to 6.3 with the co2 on, then I wouldn't worry much about it except to have it turn off with the lights. It kind of sounds like the ph meter you are talking about is supposed to be a failsafe that turns off the co2 if the ph ever gets too low, which would indicate excess co2 being dissolved in the water. This could cause harm to your fish due to a large ph swing, but more importantly due to a lack of oxygen in the water. If a large amount of excess co2 is dissolved into the water then it displaces oxygen, which will suffocate your fish.

You will probably get better responses if you post this up in the planted tank section. However, when I end up setting up my planted tank, I'm not going to be using a ph meter.

I actually don't know my ph from the tap. I have to check it. I wanted to use the meter to make sure the ph didn't drop below the 6.0ph. So yes it's a fail safe. The co2 only turns on when the light is on.

I guess I need to just test it over the weekend and see what works for me and doesn't. I don't want to kill the fish and that's why I bought the meter. Just don't know how to properly use it. Lol

 

[BIG-G]

The ph meter is just to shut the co2 off if the ph levels wer to get below a parameter that you choose . If you don't want the ph to drop below 6 then that's what you will set the meter to other than having the co2 to cut off with the light that's really all there is to it.
Usually if you have plants and decent surface agitation you wouldn't have to worry about O2 levels except when the lights are out because the plants will not take up the Co2 or produce O2 without light.

 

[Dieboldly]

The ph meter is just to shut the co2 off if the ph levels wer to get below a parameter that you choose . If you don't want the ph to drop below 6 then that's what you will set the meter to other than having the co2 to cut off with the light that's really all there is to it.
Usually if you have plants and decent surface agitation you wouldn't have to worry about O2 levels except when the lights are out because the plants will not take up the Co2 or produce O2 without light.

Okay so basically set my meter to 6.0ph and turn off when it goes below that? I have the meter hooked up to my timer for my light. So when the light goes out, the regulator will stop producing the co2 into the tank.

 

[BIG-G]

If the meter is set to 6.0 then it should stop co2 from entering the tank if the Ph drops below that.

 

[Dieboldly]

If the meter is set to 6.0 then it should stop co2 from entering the tank if the Ph drops below that.

YEa I think I figured it out. I set the dial to 6.0 and did the toggle switch to above. Meaning, it will only turn on the co2 if the ph is above 6.0. Hopefully this works. Just cut back my plants and cleaned the tank.

I must be doing something right because my Javan fern made 4 baby sprouts

 

[BIG-G]

Okay you got it. It want be long before your trimming plants back every week. Lol good luck with it.