I am trying to test/determine how much CO2 is in my 180Gallon fresh
water tank. It has been running about one year with a 20 gallon tank
of CO2 with needle valve, electronic shutoff when lights go on plus
I have another pump that comes on at night that ruffs up the water at
night to try to release any left over CO2.

Only once was I putting to much CO2 into the system, I was able to
determine this by looking at the fish and seeing most of them were up
on top trying to get a fresh breath of air. (CO2 was on during the
night) that was a X10 unit that missed its call to shut off. Its now
on a mechanical timer with no problems.

But trying to test to make sure I am putting enough into it, seems to
be miss leading. I am using a Salifert CO2 tester. 5ml of water, 6
drops of #1, turns the water yellow, then add drops from #2 bottle
until water turns blue, it takes 25 drops, which seems excessive and
if I am reading it correctly 1 drop of number 2 = 5mg/L, I read 15-20
mg/L is the normal range. If I am doing this correctly, would mine be
125 mg/L?

The fish and plants look fine. Am I doing the math wrong?

Thanks

James

Check this site....

Bob
"James" wrote in message
...
I am trying to test/determine how much CO2 is in my 180Gallon fresh
water tank. It has been running about one year with a 20 gallon tank
of CO2 with needle valve, electronic shutoff when lights go on plus
I have another pump that comes on at night that ruffs up the water at
night to try to release any left over CO2.

Only once was I putting to much CO2 into the system, I was able to
determine this by looking at the fish and seeing most of them were up
on top trying to get a fresh breath of air. (CO2 was on during the
night) that was a X10 unit that missed its call to shut off. Its now
on a mechanical timer with no problems.

But trying to test to make sure I am putting enough into it, seems to
be miss leading. I am using a Salifert CO2 tester. 5ml of water, 6
drops of #1, turns the water yellow, then add drops from #2 bottle
until water turns blue, it takes 25 drops, which seems excessive and
if I am reading it correctly 1 drop of number 2 = 5mg/L, I read 15-20
mg/L is the normal range. If I am doing this correctly, would mine be
125 mg/L?

The fish and plants look fine. Am I doing the math wrong?

Thanks

James

Bob,

WHich site? did not see any in your message

On Sat, 15 Mar 2003 02:40:45 GMT, "Robert Flory"
wrote:

Check this site....

Bob
"James" wrote in message
.. .
I am trying to test/determine how much CO2 is in my 180Gallon fresh
water tank. It has been running about one year with a 20 gallon tank
of CO2 with needle valve, electronic shutoff when lights go on plus
I have another pump that comes on at night that ruffs up the water at
night to try to release any left over CO2.

Only once was I putting to much CO2 into the system, I was able to
determine this by looking at the fish and seeing most of them were up
on top trying to get a fresh breath of air. (CO2 was on during the
night) that was a X10 unit that missed its call to shut off. Its now
on a mechanical timer with no problems.

But trying to test to make sure I am putting enough into it, seems to
be miss leading. I am using a Salifert CO2 tester. 5ml of water, 6
drops of #1, turns the water yellow, then add drops from #2 bottle
until water turns blue, it takes 25 drops, which seems excessive and
if I am reading it correctly 1 drop of number 2 = 5mg/L, I read 15-20
mg/L is the normal range. If I am doing this correctly, would mine be
125 mg/L?

The fish and plants look fine. Am I doing the math wrong?

Thanks

James

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

Hmm. It was there;-) We'll see if this survives...

Bob
"James" wrote in message
news
Bob,

WHich site? did not see any in your message

On Sat, 15 Mar 2003 02:40:45 GMT, "Robert Flory"
wrote:

Check this site....

Bob

Pearling also requires that there are sufficient macro and micro nutrients
for the plants to photosynthesize for long enough to achieve an O2
saturation in the water. I've had my newly set up tank running for about 2
weeks now (w/ mature gravel). The CO2's been running for many days now, but
have only begun to adjust the nutrient levels to where they should be. Only
after a few hours after the final dosage did I notice pearling beginning.
Now the plants (crypt wendtii and E. cord.) are pearling nicely (well the E.
cord is at least).

Jeff


"E. Mito" wrote in message
...
Pearling is when your plants visibly produce oxygen as a result of
photosynthesis, which chemically oxidizes water into molecular oxygen and
H+
ions. Usually happens when you have lots of light and sufficient CO2.
Sometimes you'll notice small air bubbles starting to accumulate on the
undersides and/or tips of leaves, sometimes you'll see a stream of very
tiny
bubbles floating to the top from a point (sometimes a hole from damage) in
the
leaf or stem.

Dave Picklyk has some nice pictures on his website:

http://members.shaw.ca/davepicklyk/o2pearling-pics.html



Erica
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/mitoem/mitoem/index.htm

3) How long should it take before I notice a difference in the plants?


The change can be nearly instant, as far as pearling goes. But you may not
notice much of a change, with that level of CO2.

Could someonw please explain what pearling is ? I hear it talked about
but have
never had an explination.

Thanks

Mick

Pearling is when the water becomes reasonably saturated with oxygen and the
plants will release visible oxygen bubbles from their leaves or roots. It
occurs in moderately/heavily planted tanks after the lighting has been on
for a few hours at over 2w/g or thereabouts.

"Micky" wrote in message
...


3) How long should it take before I notice a difference in the plants?


The change can be nearly instant, as far as pearling goes. But you may
not
notice much of a change, with that level of CO2.

Could someonw please explain what pearling is ? I hear it talked about
but have
never had an explination.

Thanks

Mick

"Blake" wrote in message
...
I saw where someone had posted a link to a chart that showed the optimum
CO2 (I think). I've just started adding CO2 to my 155g tank the other day
and I've got the PH stable at 7.0 with 2dKH and 5dGH . Odd thing is, at
night, the CO2 turns off w/ the lights, but my PH stays the same.... I'm
running at about 2 bubbles per second on the CO2. OK, so on to the
question(s):

snip
3) How long should it take before I notice a difference in the plants?

Some plants will show a response in 24 hours... mine did
Bob