Drop checker misleading

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ricardo48

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Nov 6, 2008
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UPPER RISSINGTON
Anyone have any idea why my drop checker is now giving mis leading information?

My checker has 5dkh solution inside and is a constant lime green / yellow colour. This would indicate a good co2 level of around 30ppm HOWEVER my PH is only 7.5 and my KH is 12.

Normally my PH always use to be 7.0 with diy co2 and my drop checker use to be a light green colour, so why has my PH gone up by 0.5 and yet the drop checker seems to have got even more light green????


Nothing has been added or changed in tank and my co2 is giving almost 2 bps diffusing through my powerhead.
 
How old is the indicater fluid?
It does get diluted over time.
I change mine after about 4 months.
 
3 months old at the most. Never heard of people saying brothemyl blue indicator goes out of date. Do I need to add more drops instead of just 5 now?
 
They don't go 'out of date' as such.
Over the course of several weeks they will absorb tank water out of the air bubble in the DC and weaken.

I can't tell you how many drops you need to add, as Justonemore20 says, you should be using 4 dkh solution.
The only advice I can give is to go to Tom Barr's site and ask him. He's forgotten more than most will ever know.

Rick

3 months old at the most. Never heard of people saying brothemyl blue indicator goes out of date. Do I need to add more drops instead of just 5 now?
 
Are talking about the drop checker solution that you made up all on your own?

Or did you purchase some?

EDIT:

Here is one of your older posts:

Hi Everyone.


For my drop checker I boiled some tap water in a kettle a few times and then tested it for KH.

My normal tap water comes out at 14KH so is fairly hard.

After boiling several times I got it down to a KH of 4 when I used my test kit on it.

I have added this to my Drop checker which after an hour or so went a nice yellow/green colour to indicate sufficient Co2 ( about 20-30ppm)


However my drop checker seems to always stay this colour day and night and I am only use a Diy co2 system with no air stone at night.

Previously I used aquarium water in my checker which is KH14 but the solution never changed from a blue colour day or night.


Is using the boiled water ok? I am not getting false readings for whatever reason? As long as any water solution is a KH of 4 it will work in a drop checker?


Any help greatly appreciated.


Thanks
 
Last edited:
My own using tap water boiled down to 4dkh.

I have also noticed my PH is steadily rising in my tank.. Im at 7.7 now and I use to be at 7.0.


Both co2 bottles have been replaced new and im diffusing the same method as always yet co2 wont go below 7.5 now!!

Any help?
 
might want to take some water out over night and get a stable reading of what your tank is now. i would also go and buy some distilled water to make up the 4dkh solution just to make sure.
 
My guess is that while the water may test at 4dKH after boiling it's either slightly higher or lower, due to the accuracy of your test kit. This would throw off your reading. Mixing up a 4dKH solution according the directions in the sticky will give you much more accurate results.
 
Well my PH pen show me at 7.1 and my KH i measured with liquid kit at 12 so im around 25-40 ppm taking into account inaccuracies of test kit?
 
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