CO2 newbe ready to give up

[Ohad]

Hi there.

 

I am new to co2; I have a 95g small kit. 

I got a drop checker. After researching more, I decided to leave the co2 yesterday for 8 hours on one bubble per second.

After a few hours, the drop checker finally turned from blue to dark green; this morning, again, the drop checker was blue and, after a couple of hours, turned dark green.  I thought I hit the sweet spot

 

 

But then a package came in the mail from the aquarium co-op with the Dennerle co2 quick test. Right away, I tried it, and the result was bright yellow, like CO2 overkill 

 

I still don't have any fish in the tank.  But I need a way to know CO2 levels or it goes in the garbage 

 

Thank you 

[Janoš Bećar Pecaroš]

My understanding is that the co2 drop checker doesn’t directly measure co2 concentration, but the drop in ph value as co2 makes water acidic and it’s not very reliable. If you really want to know your co2 level there are charts that compare ph and dKh change and give you co2 concentration.

[Randall from Texas]

What's your tank size and parameters? Fertilizer schedule? I run co2 on my 100 gallon at only 1 bubble per second. My water is crazy hard, high buffer, and 82 degrees. I only run co2 for 6 hours with a 5 hour photo period. 1 fluval 3 and 1 coop light at full power. I dose easy green 10 pumps once a week and feed daily.

I don't have a drop checker or co2 testers. I run enough co2 for the plants to pearl for about 3 -4 hours and keep the nitrates around 50 ppm on the coop test strips.

Post your data and some of the experts will weigh in.

[Ohad]

On 2/1/2023 at 2:20 PM, Randall from Texas said:

What's your tank size and parameters? Fertilizer schedule? I run co2 on my 100 gallon at only 1 bubble per second. My water is crazy hard, high buffer, and 82 degrees. I only run co2 for 6 hours with a 5 hour photo period. 1 fluval 3 and 1 coop light at full power. I dose easy green 10 pumps once a week and feed daily.

I don't have a drop checker or co2 testers. I run enough co2 for the plants to pearl for about 3 -4 hours and keep the nitrates around 50 ppm on the coop test strips.

Post your data and some of the experts will weigh in.

Thank you!

 

I have a new 20 gallon, 60 I'm tank, fluval nano light on 50% from 8 am - 5 pm 

So far I am doing one pump of easy green a day and keep nitrate on 50.

Added a picture as a reference to the amount of plants right now 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

On 2/1/2023 at 10:14 AM, Ohad said:

Hi there.

 

I am new to co2; I have a 95g small kit. 

I got a drop checker. After researching more, I decided to leave the co2 yesterday for 8 hours on one bubble per second.

After a few hours, the drop checker finally turned from blue to dark green; this morning, again, the drop checker was blue and, after a couple of hours, turned dark green.  I thought I hit the sweet spot

 

 

But then a package came in the mail from the aquarium co-op with the Dennerle co2 quick test. Right away, I tried it, and the result was bright yellow, like CO2 overkill 

 

I still don't have any fish in the tank.  But I need a way to know CO2 levels or it goes in the garbage 

 

Thank you 

Hi @Ohad

Keep in mind that a drop checker provides a lagging indication of the CO2 concentration.  The lag varies with the design of the drop checker but it may take several hours for the drop checker to accurately reflect the CO2 level in the tank once the CO2 level in the tank becomes constant.  If a solenoid is used to turn off the CO2 at night and back on in the morning it could take a tank several hours to reach equilibrium and the drop checker several hours after that.  If it were me, I would only take the drop checker as an estimate until the end of day when it should be accurate assuming the use of a 4.0 dKH indicator solution.  Hope this answers your questions, -Roy

[Ohad]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:32 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Ohad

Keep in mind that a drop checker provides a lagging indication of the CO2 concentration.  The lag varies with the design of the drop checker but it may take several hours for the drop checker to accurately reflect the CO2 level in the tank once the CO2 level in the tank becomes constant.  If a solenoid is used to turn off the CO2 at night and back on in the morning it could take a tank several hours to reach equilibrium and the drop checker several hours after that.  If it were me, I would only take the drop checker as an estimate until the end of day when it should be accurate assuming the use of a 4.0 dKH indicator solution.  Hope this answers your questions, -Roy

Thank you and yes the drop checker is using 4.0 dKH 

 

But the drop checker never showed this high level of co2 as the dennerle ... It's weird to me though that I would have such high level from one bubble a second for a few hours so I wonder if the dennerle test does not work on my water .

 

I 6.4 Ph and moderate to high hardness. 

Out of the tap I get 25 and hardness goes higher on the tank due to rocks to about 75

[A3M0N]

I'm new to co2, aquariums in general really, so take my experience with a grain of salt. I don't have a drop checker, I kinda want to get one, but also kinda don't. I've been using this calculator at my weekly water changes to keep an eye on my co2 levels. 

https://rotalabutterfly.com/co2-ph-calculator.php 

[Mmiller2001]

Take an accurate KH and an accurate pH after the CO2 has been on a few hours and report back please.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Ohad

 

Based upon the size of the tank and the amount of CO2 I see coming out of the diffuser in the picture I would say that the Dennerle is probably the more accurate.  I have substantially less than that amount going into my 20 gallon.  -Roy

[Ohad]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:11 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @Ohad

 

Based upon the size of the tank and the amount of CO2 I see coming out of the diffuser in the picture I would say that the Dennerle is probably the more accurate.  I have substantially less than that amount going into my 20 gallon.  -Roy

Oh the bubbles in the picture are from an air stone I have on the opposite side of the co2