Red Sea CO2 Test Kit?

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TonyN

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Mar 31, 2004
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Has anybody out there had any experience with the Red Sea CO2 Test Kit?
I have tested my kH and pH untill I'm blue in the face. I'm testing kH with the Lamotte test kit which gives very definite readings of 60 ppm (or 3.2 dkH) I'm testing pH with the Hanna pH Checker, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals pH test kit, and I'm getting 6.7.
According to the charts my CO2 should be about 20 ppm, but this stupid Red Sea kit keeps telling me its only about 10 ppm (and yes, I'm doubling the drop count as it says in the instructions)
I've done these tests over and over, and keep getting the same thing.
I have two Hagen Plant Grow CO2 sytems in my 20 Gallon tank with my own mixture of sugar and yeast, and I'm getting about 40 bubbles per minute total.
So is this Red Sea kit whacked out or am I :confused:
I would appreciate any input I could get on this,
Thanks,
 
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Richer

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Aug 7, 2002
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Do you have driftwood in your tank? Or filter with peat? Anything that would release tannins? Driftwood (especially in water with a lower KH) can lower the pH of your water, and will therefore give you a false CO2 reading if you're using the pH and KH method.

HTH
-Richer
 
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TonyN

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I dont have any driftwood in my tank and I'm not using any peat.
However, I just found out that the Stress Coat I've been using contains Phosphates. Do you think this could be screwing me up?
 
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