Red sea CO2 Indicator help

[bmore]

I purchased a CO2 Indicator and installed it and its green i don't have any added co2 to the tank can this be right?.I tested my tap water and it turned blue. In my fish tank i am running a 60 gallon hob filter on a 30 gallon tank plus a 18 inch air wand so i would not think that much co2 is in the tank.

I have 8 plants in the tank and 8 cardinal tetras, the light is a 36inch t5 ho 10k 2x39 watt, one of the bulbs is a pink plant growth lamp. I have a co2 system 500, but not sure if i should install it since the test shows green. I plan on getting alot more plants.

 

[fort384]

Are u using 4dkh solution in the drop checker? It won't be accurate if you are just using tap or tank water.

If you are not using co2 in the tank than the co2 level will be at equilibrium with the air. That's usually ~10 ppm.

 

[bmore]

not really sure it came with a small bottle of solution says to add 2 drops i did that with 1 ml of fish tank water and its green

 

[fort384]

Yeah they don't tell you in the instructions but if you don't use water that is calibrate to 4 degrees carbonic hardness (kh) then it won't indicate accurately.

You can make solution if you have some distilled water, some baking soda, a gram scale and a graduated cylinder, or I have a ton of it if you paypal me $5 (cost of shipping) I will send you a bottle. I used to sell it and have bottles left over.

The small bottle it came with is bromothymol blue which is a ph indicating solution. But ph is only half the story when measuring co2.

 

[fort384]

Btw u need to add way more than 1 ml of solution. You want the drop checker almost full, and then add 3-5 drops of bromothymol blue.

 

[bmore]

ill get the water from you just need the info?. In the manual says fill it up with aquarium water

 

[bmore]

heres a link to the drop checker might be junk cant fit more then 1 ml of water in it
CO2 Indicator | CO2 System Components | CO2 Equipment | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

 

[fort384]

Yeah they all say that, but to be accurate the solution needs to be calibrated. There is a sticky in the plant forum that goes into further detail, but basically if your kh is lower or higher than 4d then your actual co2 content will be different than what the drop checker indicates.

I will pm you with the paypal address. Will ship priority mail so you should get it Tuesday or Wednesday if I ship tomorrow.

 

[bmore]

thank you

 

[fort384]

Any time. Welcome to AA by the way.

 

[fort384]

heres a link to the drop checker might be junk cant fit more then 1 ml of water in it
CO2 Indicator | CO2 System Components | CO2 Equipment | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

It should work fine. I prefer the glass ones but the concept is the same. Just fill it almost to the top.

 

[bmore]

the one that came with the co2 system has a hole going up from the middle so cant fill it up any more or the solution will leak in the aquarium maybe.I'll just invest in a better one.

 

[fort384]

I have a bunch of them, I will throw 1 in the box with the 4dKH solution. I upgraded a couple of my plastic ones to glass, so I have another plastic 1 you can have that works just fine.

 

[bmore]

thank you again, ill post pics one day

 

[jimenezlee]

Fort, I too just got one of these and its reading "high" levels of CO2 as well even though I took out my DIY yeast bottle and bubbled for hours even overnight. Can you help me out too please, I'm just learning about keeping planted tanks and didn't know the solution had to be calibrated, I too just used aquarium water and then added the 2 drops of liquid.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Same applies. I'm not sure if he will be able to ship you any or not, he's been traveling a lot lately. I got mine from ebay, $5 plus shipping. I just use that along with a couple drops of the api pH solution in my drop checkers.

 

[jimenezlee]

Ah, thanks for the reply. You got the calibrated solution from eBay? So if I understand correctly, what you suggest is to get the 4Kh calibrated solution from eBay instead of water from my tank and use a couple of drops of the pH solution instead of the solution that came with the indicator?

Will that still give the blue/green/yellow readings that I can compare against the markings on the plastic indicator or do I need a different reference? Thanks so much for the help. I'm sure my CO2 is not as high as indicated right now and I'm a little lost (newb).

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, you dont really need anything to reference. Blue is too low, green is good, lime green is great, yellow is too high.

Here's where I got mine- 4 dKH Reference Solution For Co2 Drop Checker pH | eBay

 

[jimenezlee]

Awesome! I'll give that a try, I really didn't want to go through making my own reference solution. (I'd end up buying all the equipment and spend $100 bucks) lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

If you have the supplies, it would be great. But, I dont, so I just buy it. One bottle will last a long time. It just takes a few drops ever 4-6 weeks or so.