CO2 recommendation

[YorkPADave]

If he doesn't know anything about it, its probably because he's collecting bottles and bringing them to a welding supply store and exchanging them. That's what my local homebrew place does...I just go directly to the welding gas place and save a buck or two on the homebrew shop's markup...the welding supply place is closer to home anyway.

The bottle certifications are regulated by law, the bottles have to be recertified periodically for safety.

Thanks to everyone helping me. CO2Art complete system and 5lb. tank arriving this week. Aquarium is 46g. and I only have an Aquaclear HOB filter currently. LED is Fluval 3.0. I dose Thrive twice weekly, change about 9g water once a week. Tank is heavily planted with less demanding plants(crypts, anubias, val, dwarf sag,a few small swords, etc.) I am slowly converting to more colorful, higher demanding plants. I added a couple bunches of Reineckii and L. Repens late last week. I will be very cautious with the start of the CO2 to avoid pitfalls ( 1 bubble per sec?). Can anyone give me some startup tips this dummy may not have thought about? I greatly appreciate your help.

 

[dougall]

tips... hmmmm

watch your aquarium, watch for algae growth showing too much light for the level of CO2, watch for plants not growing to show not enough light, watch for fish not breathing to show too much CO2.

For the amount of CO2, don't worry about bubbles per second, each case will be different depending on plant level, CO2 dissolving efficiency, and how much gas it lost from your aquarium, for something quick invest in a drop checker and an appropriate solution depending on your required CO2 level. Or use a good test for pH and hardness and look up on the table for amount of CO2.

And remember that changing the amount of CO2 injected will take a decent amount of time to reflect correctly in a test. this is where BPS will be more useful, just to see a change.


And pH controllers can be a wonderful thing.

 

[YorkPADave]

Thanks...system is up and running. I'm seeing a slight increase in BBA and will adjust accordingly

 

[dougall]

BBA will often result from changing CO2 conditions, or dissolved organics getting into the water column.

I would check that your CO2 is at a level you would want, there's likely a chart for CO2 resulting from a given pH and Hardness combination somewhere here from Plantbrain/Tom Barr, that will let you know how much is actually dissolved in the aquarium (I'm on a conference call now or would look for you)


I would also make sure that your filter is clean and there is little to no mulm or other stuff in there.


Maybe test your nitrates too