So with my Xmas goodies I now have a 216w T5HO light over my 72g, and a regulator w/ solenoid pressurized Co2 goodie. Ordering the 10 lb tank soon. Will I need a pH controller? what exactly is it? Enlighten me!
Will I need a pH controller?
- Thread starter unseenone00
- Start date
There are two common brands of pH controllers. One is PinPoint and the other is Milwaukee. Below are links to them and their user guides. This will tell you how they work.
PinPoint
schroll down to pH controller: http://www.americanmarineusa.com/
user guide: http://www.americanmarineusa.com/phcontroller.html
Milwaukee
pH controller: http://milwaukeetesters.com/SMS122.html
user guide: http://milwaukeetesters.com/pdf/product-specs/SMS122-510-125.pdf
I don't use pH controllers anymore, but when I was new to pressurized CO2, I used them. This is because my regulators weren't very good and their needle valves would not hold their output setting. I have since moved on to better regulators with excellent needle valves controlled by a simple on/off timer. I use 4 dKH drop checkers to tune them.
PinPoint
schroll down to pH controller: http://www.americanmarineusa.com/
user guide: http://www.americanmarineusa.com/phcontroller.html
Milwaukee
pH controller: http://milwaukeetesters.com/SMS122.html
user guide: http://milwaukeetesters.com/pdf/product-specs/SMS122-510-125.pdf
I don't use pH controllers anymore, but when I was new to pressurized CO2, I used them. This is because my regulators weren't very good and their needle valves would not hold their output setting. I have since moved on to better regulators with excellent needle valves controlled by a simple on/off timer. I use 4 dKH drop checkers to tune them.
A drop checker will be a better investment. You'll save enough to pay for several tank refills or swaps.
pH controllers are great for aquariums owned by scientists or the public.
Probes have to be calibrated or re-calibrated periodically and can be ruined if you let it dry during tank maintenance.
As for your tank, find out what you will be doing for refills or swaps before you purchase a tank.
Unless it's going to be showing, shiny new aluminum tanks can cost a lot. Now and later. If there is an AirGas or Purity dealer in the area, swapping tanks may be less expensive. If there is a fire extinguisher company near by, refills may be the easiest option. If neither is convenient, your local beer distributor can usually make you a deal.
pH controllers are great for aquariums owned by scientists or the public.
Probes have to be calibrated or re-calibrated periodically and can be ruined if you let it dry during tank maintenance.
As for your tank, find out what you will be doing for refills or swaps before you purchase a tank.
Unless it's going to be showing, shiny new aluminum tanks can cost a lot. Now and later. If there is an AirGas or Purity dealer in the area, swapping tanks may be less expensive. If there is a fire extinguisher company near by, refills may be the easiest option. If neither is convenient, your local beer distributor can usually make you a deal.
The answer to whether you need a pH controller is not an absolute. Many folks here cycle the CO2 off at night and on during the day at a constant flow rate. IMO, it is better (though I will not say necessary) to use a pH contoller. If you do not use a pH contoller, be sure your CO2 flow starts prior to your lights coming on, and that it goes off before they go off (the amount of time lag dependent upon the size of your aquarium and volume of plants).
The pH in your aquarium is a fairly complex dance between the carbonate concentration (hardness), CO2 concentration, and other factors (like phosphate concentration and the nitrification process). You already understand that plants require CO2 to generate carbohydrates and oxygen (photosynthesize); and, of course, they only do this when the lights are on. At night, they stop consuming CO2. Cycling the CO2 on and off will cause slight swings in your aquarium pH, and just leaving it on at a constant flow overnight will do the same, but in the oposite direction. Fish and other aquatic species, including plants, are generally pretty resilient to pH swings so long as osmotic pressures stay the same (which should be the case in your aquarium). So cycling the CO2 off at night will not generally cause great harm.
Cycling CO2 flows on and off with the lights will mean that when the lights come back on, it will take some time to get CO2 back to the optimum levels to adequately support photosynthesis -- though the plant demand just jumped. Controlling CO2 with a pH meter, on the other hand, to maintain a relatively constant pH will instead result in CO2 always being available to meet demand (and an avoidance of the pH swings). As demand changes, so does your CO2 useage, but always maintaining equilibrium of the gas with it's disolved analog, bicarbonate ion.
Anyway, that's my $0.02 worth on the subject...
(As an afterthought, here's a link to a pretty good discusion on CO2 in the aquarium including a table on the relationship between pH and KH: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/co2-booth-faq.html )
The pH in your aquarium is a fairly complex dance between the carbonate concentration (hardness), CO2 concentration, and other factors (like phosphate concentration and the nitrification process). You already understand that plants require CO2 to generate carbohydrates and oxygen (photosynthesize); and, of course, they only do this when the lights are on. At night, they stop consuming CO2. Cycling the CO2 on and off will cause slight swings in your aquarium pH, and just leaving it on at a constant flow overnight will do the same, but in the oposite direction. Fish and other aquatic species, including plants, are generally pretty resilient to pH swings so long as osmotic pressures stay the same (which should be the case in your aquarium). So cycling the CO2 off at night will not generally cause great harm.
Cycling CO2 flows on and off with the lights will mean that when the lights come back on, it will take some time to get CO2 back to the optimum levels to adequately support photosynthesis -- though the plant demand just jumped. Controlling CO2 with a pH meter, on the other hand, to maintain a relatively constant pH will instead result in CO2 always being available to meet demand (and an avoidance of the pH swings). As demand changes, so does your CO2 useage, but always maintaining equilibrium of the gas with it's disolved analog, bicarbonate ion.
Anyway, that's my $0.02 worth on the subject...
(As an afterthought, here's a link to a pretty good discusion on CO2 in the aquarium including a table on the relationship between pH and KH: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/co2-booth-faq.html )
well i do have proper drop checkers already, and my CO2 will be on a timer, 15min on before lights come on and go off 15min before the lights go off. The thing im wondering is if I have a controller will it alarm if the pH spikes up during the night without the Co2 on? Dont think pH spikes night after night would be good
A pH controller is just a pH meter with control relays that can be set to trip at set pH points. You can always use a pH controller to trip an alarm if you so desire. Just plug a soundmaker of some sort to the appropriate high or low relay. If you had one, though, I'd just use it to control the CO2 as opposed to using a timer to control the CO2 and using the controller to trip an alarm. pH spikes aren't good, but they won't generally be all that large or sudden either -- more of a slow drift than a spike.
If money is no object, go ahead and pick one up. Otherwise I would never recommend one to anyone you can get equal results with a drop checker. You will also save yourself 16 hours of co2 use/day.
Here is another way to use a pH controller. You can put a timer between the part of the pH controller that the regulator's solenoid is plugged into (the sending unit) and the plug from the solenoid. This is the part that you plug in to an AC current. It sends the signal to turn whatever is plugged into it on or off. Like this:
power strip -> pH controller sending unit -> timer -> plug from solenoid
This allowed a few things:
- I set the timer to come on before the lights turn on and turn off before the light turn off.
- No CO2 was sent to the aquarium when the timer was off.
- This supplied CO2 when the plants needed it and not all the time.
- I could still read the pH on the controller 24/7.
- This was tuned with a 4 dKH drop checker.
You can tune your turn on time with your needle valve. A fast rate allowed more CO2 to lower the pH quicker and a slow rate did the reverse.
As I mentioned, I had mine set to where the CO2 turned on an hour before the lights and it turned off two hours before the lights turned off. This allowed the CO2 level to be at optimum when needed and off when not needed. This saved on the amount of CO2 used.
Using a 4 dKH drop checker made with baking soda and distilled water helped me to tune it keeping in mind that the drop checker has a few hours of lag time. You don't have to use a 4 dKH solution in your drop checker. You can use a 3 or 5 or whatever dKH solution that you want.
power strip -> pH controller sending unit -> timer -> plug from solenoid
This allowed a few things:
- I set the timer to come on before the lights turn on and turn off before the light turn off.
- No CO2 was sent to the aquarium when the timer was off.
- This supplied CO2 when the plants needed it and not all the time.
- I could still read the pH on the controller 24/7.
- This was tuned with a 4 dKH drop checker.
You can tune your turn on time with your needle valve. A fast rate allowed more CO2 to lower the pH quicker and a slow rate did the reverse.
As I mentioned, I had mine set to where the CO2 turned on an hour before the lights and it turned off two hours before the lights turned off. This allowed the CO2 level to be at optimum when needed and off when not needed. This saved on the amount of CO2 used.
Using a 4 dKH drop checker made with baking soda and distilled water helped me to tune it keeping in mind that the drop checker has a few hours of lag time. You don't have to use a 4 dKH solution in your drop checker. You can use a 3 or 5 or whatever dKH solution that you want.
Thanks coach! That is one way to use a pH controller that makes sense to me. I don't use them any longer though.