Ahhh CO2 help!

[Dave88]

I bought a jbl pro flora 160 yesterday. Set it up and read the instructions to turn off the bubblers during the day as it gets rid of the CO2 that's being made.
I got up at 7 this morning turned the lights on and stuff in the tank and turned the bubbler off.
Came back at 12 and all the fish had lost their colours and were sitting at the top struggling for air. I lost one clown loach.
I turned the air stone back on and the fish got their colours back Nd have slowly started to drop down to the bottom again.
What's gone wrong here? Every post I've seen states you don't need the air stones on during the day as the plants produce the oxygen.

Is it a case of needing more plants? I've got quite a few in there already. Or maybe have the air stone going at a reduced rate?


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[Brookster123]

You're running the co2 at night? Air stone during the day??

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[jetajockey]

How much co2 is going in the tank?

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[Cthulhu]

Do you have a drop checker?

 

[Dave88]

It's the first day of using it. I'm using CO2 during day airstone at night. I haven't got a co2 checker or anything. The kit just comes with every and says just it's good to go.


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[Cthulhu]

Then did you check how much CO2 you have from your pH and KH?

 

[Dave88]

I've discovered my PH has dropped from 7.5-8 to 6!


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[Brookster123]

Do you have a bubble counter?.is the output adjustable?

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[Dave88]

Nope


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[Dave88]

My misses went to the lfs today and asked about the issue they just said leave the air stone on and the co2 going for about a week to sort the levels out then start tom gradually reduce the air stone during the day see if it helps?


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[Brookster123]

No.. no.. running co2 in a tank may as well be playing chicken.. you want enough gas for the plants to benefit while not killing the fish.. you need to closely, very closely monitor the levels.if co2 entering the tank. My advise would be disconnecting this system and taking it back. Than kindly ask for a proper co2 system..with a regulator, bubble counter, drop checker and such..

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[Dave88]

Really? My friend has had good success with this system. I might just buy a counter and see how it goes as I don't really want to pay a load more as I can't see them taking it back.


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[Cthulhu]

It seems to me you are just doing it blindly. You have no idea how much CO2 is in your tank and you don't seem to care.

 

[jrc0528]

If you're going to use CO2 you must also use a drop checker. A drop checker is just a small chamber that you add a few drops of indicator into and place inside the tank. It will trap an air bubble between the indicator and the tank water. You then adjust the CO2 rate slowly higher until the indicator turns green. Blue is too little and yellow is deadly to the fish. Green means you have 15-30 ppm of CO2 (based on 4dkH indicator solution, the standard). Don't use a drop checker kit that instructs you to use tank water in it, they are useless as you cannot know the true dkH and associated chemistry (another whole thread entirely); just get a kit online that comes with premixed indicator solution or at least with 4dkH solution to which you can add the pH test drops.

The way a drop checker works is this... as the CO2 level increases it causes a decrease int he water's pH. The rate of this decrease is related to the carbonate hardness of the water (measured in dkH), the higher the carbonate hardness, the less the pH changes. RO water buffered to 4dkH will turn the pH indicator green at 15-30 ppm because it's pH will be around 6.6-6.8. If you have only 1 or 2 dkH the same CO2 levels can drop your pH to around 6!

Also, if you're just starting the tank, your plants are likely still too small to produce all the oxygen demanded by the fish. Along with this is the available nutrients in the tank, the less nutrients the less oxygen that will be produced. Add to this the light levels, it takes a lot of light, CO2, and ferts before you'll see the plants bubbling tiny oxygen bubbles up into the water. I haven't had any air stones in my 75G in many months, but it is very heavily planted, fertilized, and has about 150W of light on for 2 separate 4hr periods.