Sounds like you've got yourself some CO2! Congratulations.
The next thing to do (IMNSHO) is to increase, as much as possible, the amount of absorption of the CO2 into the water. I assume that the bubble wand is an attempt to do this. What I initially did was to run the CO2 hose into a small concave decoration that was already in the tank. My reasoning was that by keeping it trapped I was increasing the contact with, and hence the absorbtion into, the water.
Many folks run the CO2 directly into their filter intake to accomplish this.
My latest approach was to break down and buy a CO2 kit from <somefishcompany>. It comes with a cannister and some secret sauce mix (yeah, I know, it's just some yeast and baking soda), and a really cool diffuser/bubble counter. The diffuser suction cups to the side of the tank and is a series of zig-zagging ledges that the CO2 bubbles are trapped under. The zigging and zagging cause the bubbles to gradually dissipate to the point that they are just about gone when they reach the top.
The 'kewl!' factor was a little too hard for me to pass up>
That said, the CO2 didn't start affecting my pH for about a week or so.
The next thing to do (IMNSHO) is to increase, as much as possible, the amount of absorption of the CO2 into the water. I assume that the bubble wand is an attempt to do this. What I initially did was to run the CO2 hose into a small concave decoration that was already in the tank. My reasoning was that by keeping it trapped I was increasing the contact with, and hence the absorbtion into, the water.
Many folks run the CO2 directly into their filter intake to accomplish this.
My latest approach was to break down and buy a CO2 kit from <somefishcompany>. It comes with a cannister and some secret sauce mix (yeah, I know, it's just some yeast and baking soda), and a really cool diffuser/bubble counter. The diffuser suction cups to the side of the tank and is a series of zig-zagging ledges that the CO2 bubbles are trapped under. The zigging and zagging cause the bubbles to gradually dissipate to the point that they are just about gone when they reach the top.
The 'kewl!' factor was a little too hard for me to pass up>

That said, the CO2 didn't start affecting my pH for about a week or so.