Is it possible to have too much CO2?

[Jason01]

I have a 2.5 gal. tank that used to house a betta. I recently put some aquatic soil it in, put a 15 Watt CF screw in bulb in the hood, and added several plants. I got home today, and it looked like my anarchis was melting. The leaves had all most all turned white! I am using a DIY CO2 on the tank, with the CO2 being fed into the intake of my internal filter. I checked the PH with my strips, and found that the PH appeared to be ~7.2. My tap water is 8.4, with a KH of ~240 PPM. I got out my real test kit(the dip strip said that my KH was over 300 PPM), checked the PH, and it is 6.6! Ok....Lot of CO2! I checked the KH, and it is ~200 PPM, which gives me about 85 PPM of CO2.

The only inhabitants in the tank are a few pond snails, which are doing fine(or appear to be fine, they still move). Should I keep the CO2 on, or pull it, and go with Flourish Excel?

 

[Jay]

I did not check your calculation, but 85ppm CO2 is way high.
You should shoot for about 30 ppm.

FYI… Anacharis will react poorly to elevated CO2 levels as well as Flourish XL.
Seachem admits to this but does not offer other plants that will also suffer.

 

[Karnaaj]

In a tank that size it would be very difficult to control a DIY set up so that you can keep the CO2 in a safe range. With a CO2 tank and regulator, no problem. Go with the Excel. With a 2.5g tank you won't be spending much especially if you get it from Big Al's or another online store.

 

[Mooch28]

I keep my C02 too about 30-35 ppm, and the fish are just fine. Any higher though, and it could mean trouble.......

 

[Swimfins]

10ppm is, I think, minimum for spurring plant growth. I would go with excel in that little tank, excel should provide enough co2 without endangering fauna.

 

[Jason01]

That is what I was thinking. I honestly didn't think that it could get that high, especially with the filter on it(all sorts of surface disturbance). I'm gonna pull the DIY, and go with excel. Thanks!

 

[Lauren]

with that much light in that little space, just take out the co2.

 

[tuchon35]

I have a stupid question. Would decreasing the bottle size from a 2 litre to a 20oz soda bottle make a difference in the co2 output or the co2 duration.

 

[Ems]

well yes, but also no
yes there would be less actual CO2 being produced, however, something like that might be hard to control, seeing as it would stop producing C02 much sooner and much more suddenly then a larger container, leaving your tank susceptible to massive PH swings.
More so because of the small tank size