Carbonated water

[Booswalia]

Hi,
Would I be crazy to put some carbonated water into my newly planted tank? There won't be any fish going into it for about a week.

Right now I have DIY C02 running but I'm only getting about 18mg/L

Shirley

[Starry]

Pop your bottle open and put in more yeast. Why not?

[djlen]

I'm assuming you mean 18ppm CO2. Depending on the size of your tank, you may need to add another bottle for increasing CO2. What size tank do you have? Also, what kind of reactor are you using? And how much surface agitation do you have? Many times you can increase your CO2 saturation rates by fixing the kinds of things that cause the gas to leave the tank rapidly(commonly called "gassing off").
BTW, pouring a bottle of carbonated water into the tank would be kind of expensive. Carbonic acid gasses off quickly.
Len

[Starry]

ppm and mg/L are the same thing :)
other than that, go with what len said, i was just too lazt to type a lot. but really, the first thing you should try is put in more yeast. if it's still no good, then look into getting the CO2 dissolved better, or decrease surface agitation.

[Booswalia]

I have an under water fluval 2 with very little surface agitation in a 25 gallon tall. I'm using a DIY bottle of sugar and yeast with one of those Hagen bubble ladders. (Not sure what you call it)

I'm just thinking that giving the tank a real boost of C02 with the carbonated water would get the plants off to a great start, while there aren't any fish in there.

Then I can let it settle back to a "normal" pH before I put the fish in.

[djlen]

You can pour a bottle of carbonated water into the tank, but 1 it won't do much, and 2 it won't last long enough to be worth it. Sounds like you're doing everything right. For more CO2 you could try more yeast, but be aware that the more yeast, the faster it'll use up the sugar so the shorter time between bottle changes.
What is your kH and pH?
Len

[Booswalia]

My pH is now 6.8 (down a little from yesterday), and my kH is 5. That gives me a C02 of 23.

How quickly does C02 effect the pH? I did add some yeast into the bottle, about an hour before I did the tests.

I must say...... the plants are looking happy. :)

Shirley

[Starry]

Originally posted by djlen
For more CO2 you could try more yeast, but be aware that the more yeast, the faster it'll use up the sugar so the shorter time between bottle changes.


So put more sugar! Why not?

LOL :) All I'm trying to say is, don't worry about sticking to any particular "recipe." All you need to think about is whether the amount of CO2 produced will create so much pressure that it won't be able to go out the other end of the tube and will blow your bottle instead. I really don't see how people manage to do this, but they do. Also, be careful that nothing goes too close to the top of the bottle. You should leave at leasy a few inches, the more the better. In the end, the amount of water really doesn't matter much.

[djlen]

I would let it go at that and see how the pH balances out. 23ppm is a really nice starting point for you. Wait and see what happens over the next day or so before messing with it any more.
Just my $.02.
Len

[Sumpin'fishy]

Also, you should check your CO2 level early morning before the lights come on. This will tell you what your levels "max" at. You don't want it ever going over 30ppm (give or take 2ppm or so). I wouldn't do anything else for now and watch how that recipe rides out it's duration. That "passive reactor" is really your limiting factor. I really jumped up when I added an "active reactor".

[Booswalia]

Sorry, I don't know what you mean by a passive or active reactor. :confused:

[famman]

An active reactor is a device that uses something like a power head to churn up the water and force more co2 into the water. A passive reactor is something like a bell or a ladder that doesn't use power.
good luck
:)