CO2: How can I tell it's working?

ChiaJesus

ChiaJesus

Aquatic Metalhead
May 20, 2008
316
0
0
Regina, Canada
www.riderfans.com
First and foremost, here's the details of my aquarium:

125G long
4 CoralLife 36" T5 strips, all equipped with 2 21W 6700K bulbs
2 Rena XP3 filters
1 Aqua Medic 1000 CO2 reactor connected inline on one of the filters
Milwaukee CO2 regulator

I got the CO2 system hooked up this afternoon - very first time I have ever done it. I finished about an hour ago.

Everything appears to be working OK - the bubble counter is indicating about 15 bpm (is that enough?). The reactor is full and and there is no splashing or anything. A few of the bio-ball thingys have small bubbles on them but not very many. I did not cut down the tubing that came with the regulator, and the CO2 tank is right beside the reactor - there are no kinks but the tubing loops a couple of times.

How long should it take for the pH to start dropping so that I know that everything is working OK and that there aren't any leaks or points of failure?
 
You need a drop checker to determine how much Co2 is actually dissolved. It is a device filled with a fluid of 4kdh and pH indicator,and submerged in the tank(inverted), it will turn from a blue to green when the concentration of Co2 gets to about 30ppm.

But you really want to watch your fish to make sure they are not stressed. I would do very small incremental changes and wait a couple of hours or more before adjusting it again.

BTW this is a drop checker: http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/co2-drop-checkers/gleaf-drop-checker.html


Edit: 15bpm is probably really low, I would probably start at 1 bubble per second.
 
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Thank you for the replies. I have adjusted the amount of CO2 going into the reactor to about 60 bpm. I knew about the drop checker but completely forgot to get one. I'll have to see if an LFS has one. In the meantime I'm going to be stuck measuring CO2 by checking pH and KH values.
 
if you forgot it i would say monitor the fish if thay start gasping at the serfice lower you CO2 if thay are fine bump it up a little, but do this slowly. i actually ended up doing this on my 20 gallon when i set it up in my dorm because i fot alot of stuff at home.
 
you'll probably find you will do alot more then 60bpm probably but good luck and make sure to watch the fish and some fish might react better to the CO2 then others. (my killi's hate higher levels but the corries to pretty well in the same level)
 
How long is your light on? I'd start running the CO2, 2-3 hours before the actual light come one so there is a CO2 build up and just turn it off an hour or so before the light turns off.
 
Chrisinator said:
How long is your light on? I'd start running the CO2, 2-3 hours before the actual light come one so there is a CO2 build up and just turn it off an hour or so before the light turns off.
Click to expand...

He is using a ph/CO2 controller, so he doesn't have to start running the CO2. The controller takes care of that issue by itself. When the ph rises, the controller turns the CO2 on until the ph falls to the set value.
 
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